There is a need to "reinvent" growth which is both "affordable and sustainable", noted environmentalist Sunita Narain today said and asserted that "environmentalism" should be for the poor.
"We will have to reinvent the way we work with people and we will have to reinvent growth in a way that is both affordable and sustainable," Narain, who is also the Director General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said on Earth Day.
CSE experts said that virtually all infrastructure and industrial projects-from mining to thermal and hydel and nuclear power to cement or steel- were under attack from communities who fear loss of livelihoods and these communities are at the forefront of India's environmental movement.
"For them, the environment is not a matter of luxury. It is one of survival. They know that when the land is mined and trees are cut, their water source dries up or they lose grazing and agricultural land. They know they are poor.
"And they are saying, loudly and as clearly as they can, that what others call development will only make them poorer. This is what I call environmentalism of the poor. This is the environmentalism that we have to practise," Narain, who has been listed by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential people the world, said.
She said that when the world is observing the Earth Day, there is a need to ask whether the "ritualistic" displays really mean anything.
"As the world closes down on another Earth Day today, it is time we ask ourselves whether these ritualistic displays really mean anything. What is the kind of environmentalism that we are practising today?,"she said.
