Ramachandra Guha, "Speaking with Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism" (Yale UP, 2024)

Feb 1, 2025

Ramachandra Guha, a renowned historian and public intellectual, dives into the origins of Indian environmentalism. He challenges the notion that developing nations lack ecological awareness, highlighting historical figures like Rabindranath Tagore and their profound insights on environmental issues. Guha discusses concepts such as 'livelihood environmentalism' and critiques the intersection of colonialism with grassroots activism. The podcast also addresses contemporary challenges like climate change, emphasizing hope through rising youth activism and a richer understanding of India's unique ecological consciousness.

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ANECDOTE

Guha's Environmental Origins

Ramachandra Guha began his career studying the Chipko movement, a grassroots forest protection protest in India.
After diversions into political history, he returned to environmental history, completing a full circle in his research career.

INSIGHT

Modernity Shapes Environmentalism

Environmentalism emerged from confronting modern industrialization and urbanization.
India's environmentalism also involved grappling with European colonialism, making it distinct from Western forms.

INSIGHT

Environmentalism Demands Modern Context

True environmentalism is a modern political philosophy advocating sustainable relations with nature.
Pre-modern eras had nature appreciation but lacked collective environmental movements or philosophies.

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From one of the world’s leading historians comes the first substantial study of environmentalism set in any country outside the Euro-American world.

By the canons of orthodox social science, countries like India are not supposed to have an environmental consciousness. They are, as it were, “too poor to be green.” In Speaking with Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism (Yale UP, 2024), Ramachandra Guha challenges this narrative by revealing a virtually unknown prehistory of the global movement set far outside Europe or America. Long before the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and well before climate change, ten remarkable individuals wrote with deep insight about the dangers of environmental abuse from within an Indian context.

In strikingly contemporary language, Rabindranath Tagore, Radhakamal Mukerjee, J. C. Kumarappa, Patrick Geddes, Albert and Gabrielle Howard, Mira, Verrier Elwin, K. M. Munshi, and M. Krishnan wrote about the forest and the wild, soil and water, urbanization and industrialization. Positing the idea of what Guha calls “livelihood environmentalism” in contrast to the “full-stomach environmentalism” of the affluent world, these writers, activists, and scientists played a pioneering role in shaping global conversations about humanity’s relationship with nature. Spanning more than a century of Indian history, and decidedly transnational in reference, this book offers rich resources for considering the threat of climate change today.

About the Author:

Ramachandra Guha is the author of many books, including India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy and Gandhi: The Years That Changed the World, 1914–1948. Guha’s awards include the Leopold-Hidy Prize of the American Society of Environmental History, the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography, and the Fukuoka Prize for contributions to Asian studies. He lives in Bangalore.

About the Host:

Stuti Roy has recently graduated with an MPhil in Modern South Asian Studies at the University of Oxford.

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