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Emergence of Environmental Movements in India
Emergence of Environmental Movements in India
An Analysis
September 28, 2007 by Aviram Sharma
The first lesson is that the main source of environmental destruction in the world is
the demand for natural resources generated by the consumption of the rich (weather
they are rich nations or rich individuals and groups within nations)….
The second lesson is that it is the poor who are affected the most by environmental
destruction.
(Anil Agrawal, 1986)
Environmental movements of various countries have emerged due to different
reasons. It is basically due to prevailing environmental quality of the locality. The
environmental movements in the north are basically on the issue of quality of life.
Whereas the environment movements in the south arise due to some other reasons,
such as due to conflicts for controling of natural resources and many more. It is being
said that the, environmental movements in U.S.A arises, when the book silent spring
written by Rachel Carson came in the market in the year 1962. In this book she had
written about the impacts of poisonous chemicals, particularly the DDT on the
environment. This book had raised the public consciousness. And it leads to the
emergence of environmental movements in the U.S.A. The participants of these
movements in North are the middle class and upper class people, who have concern
for the nature. But in the south the protesters are generally the marginal population –
hill peasants, tribal communities, fishermen and other underprivileged people. The
different environmental movements in our own country support this argument. The
examples could be taken as Chipko, N.B.A. , Mitti Bachao Andolan, Koel-Karo
Andolan etc. That is why the environmentalism of the North is refereed as “full
stomach” environmentalism and the environmentalism of the south is called as
“empty – belly” environmentalism.
It is largely accepted that these advances have not translated into any fundamental
change in consumer lifestyles in wealthy countries. Environmental degradation
continues at an alarming rate, brushing aside even the most powerful tools of
international law, the UN Conventions on biodiversity and climate change.
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Traditional Strategies
A wide range of traditional strategies and tools remains at the disposal of
environmental activists in the search for democratic change. Petitions and letters to
policy-makers or business polluters are the bedrock. Consumer boycotts of products
associated with environmental abuse are extremely effective and greatly feared by
the corporate sector.
Membership groups also engage in protests, often involving visual stunts to capture
media attention.
Activists are deeply ambivalent about relationships with the corporate sector, aware
of the adverse impact of the powerful fossil fuel lobby on climate change legislation in
the US and on European regulations for vehicle emissions.