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Ramachandra Guha, a sociologist and historian from India who has written widely on environmentalism and its impact on the developing world, delivered a lecture Feb. 13 as Visiting International Scholar with the Center for Humanities and Arts. Some highlights:
“Environmentalism is principally a secular and modern phenomenon . . . a response to the industrial revolution. . . .
“Chronologically, the first environmental philosophy is agrarianism, the back-to-the-land movement. . . . The second great environmental philosophy goes by the name of scientific conservation. In contrast to agrarianism, it was a pro-active movement. It sought to control the excesses of capitalism. . . . The third great environmental philosophy is known by various names—wilderness thinking, deep ecology, primitivism.
“Each of these philosophies has a global reach. Each has a vision of the past, the present and the future. . . . And each is unsustainable. . . . Agrarianism ignores the role of liberty and democracy, especially of women. . . . Scientific conservation worships expertise, has contempt for local knowledge, does not question the need for growth. . . . Wilderness thinking relies on central control, has contempt for local communities and is anti-democratic. . . .
“One way to understand the environmental movement for the last 40 years is as a debate among these philosophies. . . . Each has something valuable to offer. . . .
I am convinced that the debate between them is now rather pointless. We need to develop a new integrated vision—based on sustainability, equity and diversity. . . .”
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