About Mysore's environment

Hi all,
I just came back from Mysore, India where I’ve stayed there for a month. It is a small ‘city’, well, it’s not like a urban city with tall and glassy buildings you would have imagine if you have not gone to India.
The thing that struck me is that in urban cities, where we are trying to save the environment by reduce, reuse and recycle, but ironically, we are contributing to a lot of trashes consciously and subconsciously. We use disposable wooden chopsticks, plastic spoons and forks, styrofoam boxes for takeaways, plastic boxes for soups, etc. Talk about reducing waste. In India, just the banana leaf is disposed off, which is organic and bio-degradable. No cutlery required as we use hands to eat.
The climate in Mysore is wonderful (in Dec). It is slightly cold in the early mornings and late evenings, but during the day, it is dry and not too hot. The quality of air is quite good at places with green trees. Although in places like the bus stand, Deveraja market area is quite polluted.
Mysore could be much better off if there is a device which can convert or reduce the smelly fumes emited by the rickshaws (like tuk-tuks in Thailand).
Without the air pollution by the traffic, I thought there is a higher oxygen content there. 2 examples to proof my point:
1) The matchstick stays lighted for a longer time
2) I feel much more energetic and lighter practicing the Ashtanga Vinyasa Primary series there compared to in Singapore.
Or have I put on weight after eating too much of high carbohydrates Indian food?