Sustainability has imploded as an agenda with unprecedented scope and significance. India's movement for a Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) is now in the global spotlight as a premier NSE -4.04 % initiative for nurturing a "pro planet people". It is emerging as a consciously tailored policy for climate change focusing on reducing consumption at an individual level. Embers of LiFE already exist in the country, and there is much to learn from In ..
Each country will play to its strengths to achieve ambitious targets, and India should also tap into its rich body of indigenous knowledge. There is no one ideal way to practice sustainability in the country. India has diverse physical and social divisions. The history, experience, and expectations of sustainability in Meghalaya will significantly differ from Kerala's. The first step is toward building environmental literacy within communities. When we talk about changing individual behaviour an ..
In every vertical of sustainability, be it food, clothing, housing, or resource conservation India already has a rich repository of practices evolved for a particular context. In 2021, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation recognised eight sustainable food systems worldwide, out of which two are from Meghalaya and Uttarakhand in India. The Khasi tribes from Nongtraw village in Meghalaya received global attention for their diverse traditional food systems like Jhum supported by liv ..
Finally, the only way to build a long-standing climate policy is by tapping into the strength of the grassroots and understanding the extent to which environmental movements can empower individuals on the ground. Chipko movement received global attention and is a landmark in the Indian environmental movement, but the starting point was at the community level. A social and yet personal struggle of Chandi Prasad Bhatt to preserve the local forest ..
Lifestyle for Environment should therefore emanate from India's pre-existing pockets of indigenous knowledge, and the rest of the country should embrace these learnings from the ground. India has the right policy ecosystem and governance support for reinventing its sustainability movement. All Indian states incentivise eco-friendly practices like organic farming, electric mobility, and renewable energy infrastructure. Adapting them to local contexts, linking sustainability with community practic ..
Amit Kapoor is chair, Institute for Competitiveness; visiting scholar and lecturer at Stanford University. Meenakshi Ajith is researcher, Institute for Competitiveness.
Source Name:-Economic Times