Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
The final lecture in a series of lectures at ABV Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management, Gwalior, delivered in February/March 2014. This lecture explores hypothetically the possibility for India of a "cultural" rather than technological tunnel through what economists and others describe as the Environmental Kuznets Curve.
Citation preview
Fulbright Lectures ABV IIIT-M Gwalior
30 Jan-12 Mar 2014
Humans Environment Sustainable Development
Stephen Zavestoski, PhDAssociate ProfessorSociology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of San FranciscoSan Francisco, California [email protected]
An Alternative Development Path: India and the “Cultural Tunnel” Turnoff
Stephen Zavestoski, PhDAssociate ProfessorSociology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of San FranciscoSan Francisco, California [email protected]
Lecture 3
An Alternative Development Path
Source: adapted from Munasinghe 1995a (also see http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/155728/)
A cultural tunnel through the Environmental Kuznets Curve
India’s Alternative Development Path
❖ In 1992, India seemed poised to pursue an alternative development path, “one that steers between the destructive consumerism of the free market and the spiritual and political suffocation of the formerly communist states.”!
❖ Who won the battle of the Nehruvian bureaucratic state vs. the Gandhian self-sufficiency of villages?!
❖ Neoliberalism Jasanoff, Sheila. 1993. India at the crossroads in global environmental policy, Global Environmental Change.
Breaking down development❖ In arguing for the right to fair share of atmospheric space, what are non-
Annex 1 countries really seeking? !
❖ They want to burn fossil fuels because that’s what the development model calls for; and the model also tells them they need the material standard of Annex 1 countries. !
❖ There are two assumptions built into this logic: !
❖ (1) That the most efficient way to achieve Annex 1 standards of living is through burning of fossil fuels; and !
❖ (2) that the material standard of Annex 1 countries is a prerequisite for the health, education, social development, and happiness that are the underlying goals.
Breaking down development❖ Let’s begin with the flaws in (2) (wealth is a prerequisite for happiness and
well-being)!
❖ Happiness in U.S. peaked in 1956 despite annual increases in GDP !
❖ Excess wealth has brought diseases of affluence (e.g., obesity, diabetes, mental health) and increased inequality (which is responsible for additional social ills). !
❖ If one accepts the flaw in (2), then (1) (wealth must be achieved through burning of fossil fuels) ought to be reframed in the form of the following question: !
❖ What is the most efficient way to achieve the actual goals of health, education, social development, and happiness?
Social Movements
❖ Based on my previous research on environmental health social movements…!
❖ People become mobilizable when they link their ill health to a pollution source!
❖ Groups of people collectively identifying structural causes of illness organize into environmental health social movements
Social Movements❖ Prospects for a climate health movement?!
❖ Weather events are experienced as random, acts of god!
❖ Even if linked to carbon emissions, targets of activism are unclear (corporations? governments? individual lifestyles?)!
❖ Reactive and slow; ultimately not a viable form of the kind of resistance Werner hopes for
Mistakes of American-style Development
Mistake Consequence Related Illnesses
Industrialization of agriculture
High-calorie/high-fat foods; low nutritional value!
Obesity-related disease; diabetes; ADD; autism
Corporate control of food system
Inequality in food access (e.g., food deserts)
over- and under-nourishment
Mistakes of American-style Development
Mistake Consequence Related Illnesses
Automobile-centric growth
auto-dependency; normalization of auto-related fatalities; transpo-related inequality!
Obesity-related disease; crash morbidity/mortality
(sub)urbanization
social isolation; inactivity; mallification; homogenization of culture; loss of farmland furthering corportization of ag
Obesity-related disease; mental illness; drug use
Cultural Movements❖ Urban livability/walkability/bikeability!
❖ “Complete Streets” (redesign of urban transportation infrastructure for all modes of travel)!
❖ Bicycle renaissance!
❖ Reclaiming public space!
❖ Decline in car ownership!
❖ Demographic shifts in urban populations!
❖ Sharing economy/collaborative consumption
Cultural Movements❖ Urban Agriculture/Sustainable Agriculture/
Food Sovereignty!
❖ Farmers markets!
❖ Reclaiming brown fields for growing food (more than 700 urban farms in NYC)!
❖ Replacing food deserts with food oases!
❖ Heirloom and heritage fruits and vegetables!
❖ Edible schoolyards and school nutrition programs
Intersections and Outcomes❖ Urban planners, public health professionals and policymakers are embracing
“livability” trends!
❖ [T]he Michigan Department of Community Health created a five-year strategic plan to reduce childhood obesity in Michigan. One of its first initiatives? A statewide effort to address Complete Streets!
❖ New York Chapter of the American Association of Family Physicians: “Pedestrian plazas, car-free spaces, neighborhood bike networks and world-class bicycle lanes…are vital to the public health of our city. These changes help pave the way for a city that breathes cleaner air and is in better physical condition”.!
❖ SF “parklets” policy!
❖ 488 Complete Streets policies across the U.S.!
❖ all levels of government, including 27 statewide policies!
❖ more than 25% of the existing policies were passed in 2012 alone
Lessons Learned
❖ Technology has reduced mobility needs (e.g., transit; mapping; remote sensing; data sharing)!
❖ Youth will respond to decline in economic opportunity creatively!
❖ Urban land-use policies and practices of auto-centric development hinder urban ag and complete streets (e.g., zoning and LOS)
Relevance for India?❖ Mostly veg, low-carbon diet !
❖ What will happen if culture shifts to meat diet?!
❖ 700 million rural population; 500-600 million working in agriculture!
❖ How much of this population can India’s cities accommodate?!
❖ What would a balanced urban/rural India look like?!
❖ How would you get there?!
❖ Who are the cultural drivers? Salman Khan? Kejriwal? You?
An Alternative Development Path
Source: adapted from Munasinghe 1995a (also see http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/155728/)
Culturally speaking, has India passed the “cultural tunnel” turnoff?
Is India here?
Or here?
Thank You!
❖ Dr. Pradip Swarnakar and ABV IIITM Gwalior!
❖ U.S. Fulbright Program and United States-India Educational Foundation!
❖ You, the students, and my new friends!
