In her detailed retelling of three iconic movements in India, Professor Emerita Krishna Mallick, PhD, gives hope to grassroots activists working toward environmental justice. Each movement deals with a different crisis and affected population: Chipko, famed for tree-hugging women in the Himalayan forest; Narmada, for villagers displaced by a massive dam; and Navdanya, for hundreds of thousands of farmers whose livelihoods were lost to a compact made by the Indian government and neoliberal purveyors of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Relentlessly researched, the book presents these movements in a framework that explores Hindu Vedic wisdom, as well as Development Ethics, Global Environment Ethics, Feminist Care Ethics, and the Capability Approach. At a moment when the climate threatens populations who live closest to nature--and depend upon its fodder for heat, its water for life, and its seeds for food--Mallick shows how nonviolent action can give poor people an effective voice.

"With the increasing population and industrialization, the world is witnessing tremendous pressure on its natural resources. Protection and preservation of the environment has therefore become a prerequisite and integral part of the development process at local, national and global level. All over the world, Environmental Movements (also termed as New Movements) are spreading their wings and rewriting the social and economic history. In India too, people in different parts of the country are organizing themselves into pressure groups and articulating their demands for just and equitable development without undermining their natural support systems. The current volume is aimed at disseminating knowledge and information on some critical issues on the theme of environmental movements, their strategies and practices."

Contributed articles presented at a workshop convened at Department of History, Delhi University in September 2005.

This longue durée survey of the Indian subcontinent's environmental history reveals the complex interactions among its people and the natural world.

This volume paints a general picture of the environmental situation in Asia, backing it up with several case studies. Two major points are made in this general picture. The first is that environmental campaigns in Asia tend to have a local focus; they react to very concrete problems in the immediate neighbourhood and as such usually people are engaged in a cause for practical rather than idealistic reasons. Such can be seen in case studies from the volume dealing with campaigns against logging and tree plantations, tourist facilities and factories and in support or defence of nature reserves. This pattern is in marked contrast to the profile of the most successful Western movements (in terms of fund-raising at least) for whom the focus is on perceived problems in distant parts of the world. The second point is evidence in several of the case studies in the volume, namely that environmental campaigns cannot be understood in terms of environmental issues alone. Rather, they should be regarded as a form of cultural critique and frequently are a form of political resistance in situations where open political action is too risky.

"In this volume, through case studies of forest conflicts and water conflicts in India, the authors have exposed the grim situation in a forceful and logical manner. Its logic does not remain confined to the Indian boundaries alone but extends to all over the world in general. . . . Dr. Vandana Shiva and her colleagues deserve profound admiration for their excellent work. It is a prize book, worthwhile to read and possess." --Indian Book Chronicle "Relatively little has been written on India's ecological problems as they relate to political struggles: Shiva's stands apart as an essential treatise on the subject." --The Bookwatch "The authors are some of the well-known experts in the field. . . . The book is worth reading, as it provides a comprehensive and in-depth current discussion on the issues of water and forest in India." --Development Update Due to thoughtless acts, our environment has endured harsh treatment, and in many cases, irreversible damage. Only now are we beginning to see some of the damage we have caused. Sponsored by the United Nation University's Programme on Peace and Global Transformation, this insightful volume analyzes ecology movements in contemporary society and the resulting conflicts over vital natural resources. The discussed theme relates to societies universally, and specifically addresses the intense and emerging social contradictions related to conflicts over natural resources rapidly surfacing in India. Looked at from a direct Third World perspective, rather than speculated by an outside perspective, the book examines how ecology movements have questioned the validity of dominant concepts of economic development in the world today. Shiva discusses the fundamental assumptions of modern economic development responsible for the conflicts and environmental degradation, and proposes a new development theory which supports sustainable development and the people's rights to justice and peace. Ecology and Politics of Survival will interest students and professors alike in ecology, environmental studies, development studies, sociology, and social studies of science. "This work provides insights into the interlinkages between natural resource utilization and developmental priorities in India. . . . The book is an excellent contribution as it supports ecologists' sentiments with scientific data. It provides an insight into the unseen dimension of development programs." --Productivity "The author provides systematic conceptual framework for analyzing the processes and structures of modern economic development from an ecological perspective." --Finance India "The book under review by an author, who is both a scholar and an activist herself, is an eloquent expression of the ecological critique. The book, written in association with seven others, including the late B. V. Krishnamurthy, offers a well-articulated theoretical critique as well as a documentation of the conflicts over natural resources that took place in India in the seventies and the eighties." --Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics "Indian writers about ecology and development, and Vandana Shiva in particular, are beginning to achieve the international attention they deserve. . . . It is a pioneering work because it provides an accessible set of explanations against which other case studies can be established and tested. . . . This powerful text by Shiva and colleagues . . . can help realize a change in training and thinking which we are all waiting for." --Pacific Affairs

An acclaimed historian of the environment, Ramachandra Guha in this book draws on many years of research in three continents. He details the major trends, ideas, campaigns and thinkers within the environmental movement worldwide. Among the thinkers he profiles are John Muir, Mahatma Gandhi, Rachel Carson, and Octavia Hill; among the movements, the Chipko Andolan and the German Greens. Environmentalism: A Global History documents the flow of ideas across cultures, the ways in which the environmental movement in one country has been invigorated or transformed by infusions from outside. It interprets the different directions taken by different national traditions, and also explains why in certain contexts (such as the former Socialist Bloc) the green movement is marked only by its absence. Massive in scope but pointed in analysis, written with passion and verve, this book presents a comprehensive account of a significant social movement of our times, and will be of wide interest both within and outside the academy. For this new edition, the author has added a fresh prologue linking the book’s themes to ongoing debates on climate change and the environmental impacts of global economic development.