A future of its own...

Without travelling to India and experiencing the culture and people first-hand, it is difficult for a westerner to fully grasp the dependence that the people of India have on the environment.  Entire villages and communities still attribute their survival to a thriving relationship with agriculture and what the earth can provide.  With 70% of people in India living in rural areas, it doesn’t take a scientist or a scholar to recognize that the survival of the country itself rests in the protection and conservation of the environment which sustains it.  This is why things like ecotourism are so crucial to the progress that India will make in the future.  Something as seemingly small as saying “We are going to protect our land” has the potential to impact millions of lives in the future.  Indian cities are becoming rapidly congested, much of this due to the fact that people are being forced out of the rural areas because environmental issues and degradation are leading to rapidly declining rates of success in the agricultural sector.  Environmental concern is crucial for India as it progresses in the future and tries to balance its growing population.   Unless the environmental issues are put at the forefront, India will surely struggle to see prosperity in its growth.

One of the issues that came up many times in our lectures was that of flood plains and water bodies disappearing because of urbanization.  As we saw more than once, in Tamil Nadu there is an area where there used to be ample room for rice paddy and flood zones some 20 years.  Now, any signs that it used to be an environmentally crucial area are gone.  There are now buildings and construction in place of what was.  These practices are detrimental not only to the environment and its availability to the people; they also have an effect on the urbanized areas.  When flood zones are taken over by industrialized zones, there are multiple issues that need to be dealt with, including increased flooding in the surrounding areas and sinking of the buildings placed in that zone. 

One of the professors who spoke to us spoke about Kaattuppalli Island, just to the northeast of Chennai.  This island has been largely affected by the industrial plants that have built up around it.  The water is now highly polluted and many of the species in the ocean are dying off rapidly.  Similarly, the villagers in the area who have been making their living for centuries from fishing are now becoming sick and seeing both minor and major health problems due to the pollution.  These villagers are losing their way of life because a supposedly “new and better” life is being implemented in the name of industrialization. 

Neglect of the environment leads to multiple issues no matter where you are in the world. However, in a country where more than two thirds of the people rely directly on the land in some way or another, the demands and concerns become increasingly high.  It is my view that India needs to stop looking to the Western world for examples of how to grow.  While growth is necessarily to a country, especially economically, it should not require the country to sacrifice its people and its culture as the cost.  India is a country which is very different from the U.S. The United States has its own slew of environmental issues, however it also has the money to make these problems less noticeable or to cover them up for a time with some “quick-fix” solution.  India, in my opinion, should not see urbanization as the only path to success.  There are many cultural practices in India, going right into religion, which have a much more innate and worldly environmental view than the practices in the West.  India needs to embrace these aspects of its culture and use them as the catalyst for environmentally conscious growth.  There are many ways to reach the top of a mountain, but tearing the mountain down is not one of them. India has the chance to learn from more “developed” countries and to see the multitude of negative impacts that urbanization has had.

Trash, trash, everywhere!

One of the biggest problems that India currently faces is issues regarding sanitation.  As was visible on the trip, one of the leading contributors is the lack of infrastructure when it comes to waste management systems.  With people defecating on the street and trash scattered everywhere, it is certainly difficult to maintain visual and practical cleanliness, but even more difficult to keep things like water sources clean.  However, the issues seem to go much deeper than just installing more toilets or allowing for more accessible waste management.  It was clear to see through many of the lectures in India and first-hand experience that many of the issues regarding sanitation in the country are rooted in a complex web of cultural habits and lack of enforcement.  Without change in both, changes are seemingly impossible. 

A common problem throughout many of the NGOs working in India is the struggle to find a way to get villages and individuals to actually use sanitation facilities once they are brought about.  Many of these organizations expressed concerns that even if they have the money and resources to build toilets in villages, most are never put to use because the villagers don’t have any incentive to utilize them.  This is due to many reasons; often, the villagers believe it to be “dirty” to use the bathroom in the house, the same place where they cook, but many times it is simply because it is easier for them to go outside and not have to worry about emptying any bins or toilets.  The disconnect that appears in many of these cases results because “western” practices are being brought into villages where cultural habits and practicality outweigh almost anything else. 

On the other hand, it was clear to see that the infrastructure was also lacking, especially in terms of waste management.  Even if people desired to throw their trash away properly, the availability of proper receptacles is so low, that it is a difficult thing to do.  I am adamant about not littering and I don’t know if it’s something that I have ever done in the U.S. However, when looking for a trashcan in India, there were many times where none was available and I had the urge to just throw my trash down with the rest of it, thinking that it wouldn’t make a difference.  This just reinforces the idea that environment also reinforces cultural practices.  In essence, India cannot make changes without the two ideas working hand in hand; culture and infrastructure.  There needs to be participation from the people, on a level where they actually feel moved to make changes, but there also needs to be incentive to actually take those actions and reasonable resources to such.   

India has seen such rapid growth and urbanization in the past few decades and it is clear to see that the environment has suffered in many ways.  The country is moving more and more quickly towards the “western world.” However, India also has thousands of years of history and culture behind it, which cannot simply be forgotten in the name of globalization.  This causes tension because there is a constant struggle between the way things have been done for centuries, and the direction that the country is now going.  In order for India to be successful in the future, both within its own economy and in regards to the larger picture (such as the environment) there needs to be a compromise  A transition needs to be made somewhere along the way that focuses on finding a balance between the two competing cultures; traditional India and modern India.  If approaches can be made which simultaneously address policy/infrastructure and cultural habits, India has much hope in the future. 

Urban Sprawl

Urban sprawl is a looming issue in India, especially as the availability for economic growth decreases in the rural areas and increases in the cities.  With environmental issues affecting weather patterns and agriculture (ironically, much of it is due to the results of urbanization), the demand for jobs in the cities is rapidly growing.  India certainly has many issues nationwide when it comes to infrastructure, but these problems are most prominent in regards to urbanization.  The cities in India seem to be growing faster than the planning can keep up with, and this is leading to many environmental, social and economic issues. 

                 With more people moving to cities, expansion can either occur within the already existing city limits (thereby increasing population density) or the expansion can occur laterally, spreading out to the surrounding areas of the cities (Bartl).  While lateral expansion (which is what often occurs in Indian cities, as well as cities around the world) would seem to be the most practical, it introduces issues of creating more land space, increasing the availability of transportation to surrounding areas and extending the infrastructure of the city outwards.  One of the largest concerns when trying to implement these things is the effect that they have on the environment.  For example, increased transportation leads to a rise in pollution and therefore a decline in air quality.  Delhi is a perfect example of this. As the city continues to expand outwards in order to accommodate more people, the poor air quality becomes more and more noticeable throughout the entire area. Along with air quality, the surrounding land is being degraded as these cities expand.  Agricultural land is being destroyed and industrialized, cutting out economic opportunities in the area in regards to agriculture.  The destruction of these lands threatens India’s sustainability as a nation, not just the economic and environmental future of individual cities.  In Varanasi, for example, if the city follows their plan in the future then 40% of the surrounding agricultural land will be taken over by urbanization within the next few years (Bartl).  This pattern creates a vicious cycle because it puts farmers out of jobs and forces them into the urban areas, putting more stress on the cities and their expansion. 

                With urban sprawl also comes the issue of slums.  Since people are moving to the cities faster than the area can accommodate appropriately, many people find refuge in the slum areas. Slums have become more prominent in larger cities of India, for example Mumbai and Delhi.  A large concern regarding slums is the lack of infrastructure, especially when it comes to sanitation.  Often, there are open sewage systems and trash everywhere, with no plan or accommodations to clean such areas.  In fact, slums can spring up almost overnight, which allows for even less planning as far as maintenance and infrastructure go.  On top of that, the government does not wish to implement proper sanitation because it gives the slum dwellers incentive to stay in the illegal housing.  However, many of these people have been pushed out of their previous living areas and are forced to move to the city to try and survive.  As the director of Tata Institute of Social Services said, “new migrants have no place to settle down and hence we see sprawling slums. Look at the number of people who sleep and live on railway platforms, on pavements, under flyovers” (Chhapia and Rajadhyaksha).  If the cities do not supply these people with places to live or cease expanding into their already existing homes and survival, then they have no choice but to move to the city and do whatever it is they need to in order to get by, even if that means living in slums. 

                The issues that India currently faces, especially in regards to things like urban sprawl, are daunting and often hard to face optimistically.  However, if changes can be made to implement better infrastructure in the already existing cities, be it in the slums or the high-class areas, order will begin to materialize.  With things like better sanitation and more subsidized, affordable housing, there will be less of a demand to continually move outwards into the surrounding areas of the city.  This will decrease the villages and surrounding areas of the cities that are affected negatively, and in turn less people will feel the need to migrate to the cities in search of work.  On top of this, in order to help keep the population and migration of the cities down, governmental implementation must be enacted into the agricultural sector, to give the Indians who make their livings as farmers more incentive to stay where they are.  

Works Cited

Bartl, Hannes. Water & Megacities. 29 August 2011. 5 September 2011 <http://www.waterandmegacities.org/some-thoughts-on-urban-sprawl-in-indian-cities/>.

Chhapia, Hemali and Madhavi Rajadhyaksha. "Mumbai: Growth Lags in City Bursting at the Seams." The Times of India (2011).

 

Urbanization and Energy Crisis.

  Source: (ICLEI South Asia, 2007)

Note: Population and Energy Distribution Throughout the World

The figure at left shows the distribution of population in comparison to the distribution of energy across the world.  Clearly, it shows that there is a large imbalance between the percentage of developing countries in the world, which is more than three-quarters of the total population, and the amount of energy those countries use, less than half of the total energy consumption of the world.  

India is currently having issues regarding distribution of their energy resources. Currently, their energy mainly stems from coal-based plants, which has been shown to be very ineffective as far as renewable and clean energy is concerned.  Simultaneously, India is currently facing a surge of urbanization and industrialization across the nation.  This new urbanization could lead to many more issues regarding energy distribution and consumption.  The more urbanized India becomes, the higher the demand will be for easily accessible energy resources.  As India is already struggling with these issues, they will face many more in the future if they do not address the seemingly inevitable crisis facing them in the future. 

One of the issues with urbanization is that it seems to be transforming many developing countries into replicas of the Western World.  In many ways, this is a wonderful thing.  Economically it provides for more opportunities and tends to integrate the nations more smoothly into things like globalized trade, putting them into the mix of the global market place, rather than on the outskirts.  However, there are many negatives that can result from countries becoming “more like the United States.” One of the main problems surrounds energy consumption.  The average person in the world uses an amount equivalent to 2.2 tonnes of coal throughout their lifetime (ICLEI South Asia, 2007).  However, this is distributed across all countries, from the native cultures to the most industrialized.  The disparities between the extremes of this spectrum are astonishing.  In fact, the average American uses about 32 times more energy in their life than the average Indian (ICLEI South Asia, 2007).  As India moves further and further into the process of urbanization, this enormous gap in energy distribution will likely decrease, which will increase the overall energy consumption of the world. 

India is rapidly increasing when it comes to urbanization. Currently, the population is about 30% urban, compared to 1951, when the population was a mere 17% urban (Datta, 2006).  In 2008, India alone accounted for 3.8% of total global consumption of energy (Arora, et al., 2010), yet their country hasn’t even reached 50% urbanization.  Most developed countries are about 70% urban (Datta, 2006).  As India continues to make its way towards becoming a developed country and continues to expand its urban population, the country will undoubtedly increase its energy consumption by large amounts.  Therefore, it is extremely pertinent that India look to renewable resources that benefit not only the environment, but that will also help India in the long run for their growing needs in terms of abundant energy resources.  

One of the benefits of renewable energy is that it doesn’t necessarily depend on a grid system to be effective.  Many rural communities in India are currently seeing plans being implemented that rely heavily on the fact that a central energy infrastructure is unnecessary (Arora, et al., 2010).  In fact, there is a very interesting surge of recycled and renewable energy going through parts of South America and the Philippines that could be well utilized not only by the rural people in India, but also by the slum population (and unless big policy changes are implemented soon, the slum population will continue to grow as people move from rural to urban areas) (Datta, 2006).  The innovation is based on the utilization of liter soda bottles.  They are filled with bleach and water, a hole is cut in the roof of the dwelling and the soda bottle is then secured in this hole.  Thanks to the reaction of the sun and the bleach, this makeshift contraption can give off the equivalent of a 50 watt light bulb.  These “bulbs” are long lasting and very easy to make, an ideal situation for poor and rural people.  For more information on these bulbs and how they are being implemented across the world you can visit this website: http://isanglitrongliwanag.org/ .

While large scale renewable energy efforts are extremely important, small changes are just as crucial.  If individuals can take charge of their own energy needs through practices such as personal water-mills or soda bottle light bulbs, the problems of energy distribution can be largely improved, if not close to solved. 

Works Cited

Arora, D. S., Busche, S., Cowlin, S., Engelmeier, T., Jaritz, H., Milbrandt, A., et al. (2010). Indian Renewable Energy Status Report.

Datta, P. (2006). Urbanisation in India.

ICLEI South Asia. (2007). Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Status in India.