
Environmentalism

India today is an environmental basket-case, marked by polluted skies, dead rivers, falling water-tables, ever-increasing amounts of untreated wastes, disappearing forests. Meanwhile, tribal and peasant communities continue to be pushed
Ramachandra Guha • Environmentalism
and the Jamuna are effectively dead. India and China have also witnessed, in recent years, the large-scale depletion of groundwater aquifers, the loss of biodiversity, the destruction of forests, and the decimation of fish-stocks.
Ramachandra Guha • Environmentalism
economic growth. Open-cast mining and the ever-growing appetite of industry decimated forests and wild-lands. New and dangerous chemicals were excreted into rivers and the atmosphere.
Ramachandra Guha • Environmentalism
two Asian
Ramachandra Guha • Environmentalism
In India, we are now in the middle of what might be called an ‘Age of Ecological Arrogance.’
Ramachandra Guha • Environmentalism
Industrialization had an organic connection with imperial expansion, as white colonists took possession of large parts of the globe, re-orienting local economies towards the demands of the metropolis. British ships were built of Burma teak, their sailors wearing clothes of cotton grown in India, drinking Kenyan coffee sweetened with sugar planted i
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off their lands through destructive and carelessly conceived projects. The short-term orientation of electoral politics, the strong influence exercised on public policy by resource-extractive industries, and the apathy of the media all contribute to a lack of attention to environmental issues.
Ramachandra Guha • Environmentalism
The third challenge is that posed to the environments of these countries themselves. Chinese cities have the highest rates of air pollution in the world. Rivers such as the Ganga
Ramachandra Guha • Environmentalism
In a densely populated country like India, environmental issues have both an ecological and a human dimension. Programs to clear-cut natural forests and replace them with exotic species deplete the soil even as they deprive peasants of access to fuel, fodder and artisanal raw material. Mining projects, if not properly regulated or carried out with
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