The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens

Reality and Perseverance in India: Pollution, Poverty, and Policy with Sunita Narain

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Jan 15, 2025

Sunita Narain, Executive Director of the Centre for Science and Environment, sheds light on India's pressing environmental challenges. She discusses the urgent need for inclusive solutions to sanitation, pollution, and urban mobility. Narain emphasizes the connection between India's rich cultural history and sustainable development, advocating for innovative water management and empowering marginalized communities. She highlights how India's approach can position it as a global leader in the fight against climate change, calling for actionable resilience amid escalating crises.

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INSIGHT

Intertwined Issues

Environmentalism in India is deeply connected to development.
It focuses on making development sustainable and affordable for everyone.

ANECDOTE

Sanitation and Rivers

Sunita Narain focuses on sanitation, highlighting India's polluted rivers.
She advocates for affordable, inclusive sanitation systems to address this.

INSIGHT

Wealth and Externalization

Wealth doesn't solve environmental problems; it externalizes them, like climate change.
Cleaning up local air while contributing to global emissions is a flawed approach.

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(Conversation recorded on December 4th, 2024)

It is an unfortunate reality that the countries least responsible for the climate and ecological crises we face are often the ones most vulnerable to their effects today and in the future. India – with its population of 1.4 billion, rapidly rising temperatures, and limited resources compared to many developed nations – finds itself at the crossroads of these challenges. What do India’s leading scientists and advocates have to say about coping with these extreme pressures?

In this episode, Nate is joined by environmentalist and policy advocate Sunita Narain to discuss the intricate relationship between environmental issues and development, emphasizing the need for economically inclusive solutions. She highlights India’s challenges with sanitation, urban mobility, and climate change, while pushing for wiser approaches to governance and community planning.

How can the moral and cultural history of India combine with science and innovation to guide policy making decisions? Why does ‘sustainable development’ need to go beyond environmental considerations to include the economic availability for each nation’s poorest citizens? And perhaps most importantly, how could today’s challenges position India as a global leader in creating an economic system that prioritizes the health and well-being of all life on Earth?

About Sunita Narain:

Sunita Narain has worked at the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a research and advocacy centre based in New Delhi, since 1982. She is currently Executive Director of the Centre, Treasurer of the Society for Environmental Communications and Editor of the bi-monthly magazine Down To Earth.

She is a writer and environmentalist who uses knowledge for change. In 2005, she was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India. She has also received the World Water Prize for her work on rainwater harvesting and for her political influence in developing paradigms for community water management. In 2005, she also chaired the Tiger Task Force, at the request of the Prime Minister, to develop a conservation action plan for the country after the loss of the tigers in Sariska. Sunita Narain was a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change as well as the National Ganga River Basin Authority.

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