I’ve been putting some thought recently on my future plans … To give the context, i’am currently on a rather long break from work, in “independent-study” mode. Just read whatever interests you at the moment .. and if nothing does on a particular day, just go for a walk on the beach or a hike on one of the hills nearby. Full day at ones disposal. I love it 
I wasn’t just lazing around though .. my efforts have some sort of focus (as one can hopefully make out from this blog) around environmental issues. I’ve enjoyed this mode of work greatly (it fits my personality), and still do, but i started wondering recently if i should try out more formal work .. or something different .. to diversify my experience and not stagnate.
So i started googling a bit on whats going on in India on environmental front … trying to get a pulse, if you will. Interestingly, just browsing around has brought a great deal of clarity on where my efforts of recent past fit in , and where my future interest might lie. First, where i’ve clearly not been engaged in. Let me call it a top-down approach — this would focus on environmental legislation / implementation of laws / monitoring / filing public-interest-litigations etc. An active issue-based putting-off-the-fires approach. This involves more-or-less working within the current political-economic system, and accepting some of the assumptions that support the system.
I realized i’ve instinctively gravitated to bottom-up topics — questions that address the systemic / philosophical aspects of environmental issues. Stuff like:
- What is the level of environmental awareness of the people, especially in urban areas. What does “environment” mean to them ? (For example, for my local municipality of vizag, it appears that “green” means having well watered lawns on road dividers, while gorgeous lush-green hills on the outskirts of town are being razed for all kinds of activity from real-estate to “IT parks”).
- What has contributed to the lack of environmental consciousness ? What is the role of agriculture, which enabled building up of cities and distancing people from ecological foundations.
- What are processes that are feeding on this lack of awareness ? Globalized economy ? — which conveniently distances important players from consequences of destructive economic activity ? Can a modern industrial global economy really co-exist with the goal of environmental health ?
- Where does the question of evolution fit in ? Has the technological society anyway furthered the process of evolution, as some people argue ? Could there be more ecologically harmonious paths ?
- Can environmental issues be seen in a larger context of the setup of our consciousness. In the sense, does our structure of consciousness limit our sensitivity towards the environment, other species, infact other people. Here comes the question of subject – object dichotomy. The subject being the conscious individual being and object being everything around. The relevance of Yoga philosophy to environmental (and infact social) issues comes here.
Huge questions, i know. For which, i won’t claim to know answers to. They may sound very theoretical, but i think these are the depths we need to go into, to have any chance of decent environmental health. I doubt that fire-fighting by a few committed people has enough force behind it to counter the juggernaut of economic-activity-as-we-know-it. The forces of consumption-driven-growth are so strong today and are being unleashed even more at a rapid pace, without even a pause to consider the long term ramifications.
Iam in no way disparaging the efforts of people who are working within the assumptions of the current system. They are necessary short term measures. Infact, i realize its much more hardwork than just floating alternative utopias on paper. For a real solution though, i believe we need to address tougher questions.
Anyway, back to the topic, iam weighing a few options on my future course, one of which is to spend an year to meet lots of people around the country — from NGO’s involved in dealing with specific issues, to scientists, to industry, to policy people, to man-on-the-street — just to get a 360 degree perspective. If all goes well, and if there’s enough material, put up some experiences on the blog. Needless to say, i think this would be a fantastic learning opportunity, and would mean coming out of my comfort zone of doing all the thinking by-myself from one location.
We’ll see how it goes … Meanwhile, the floor is open for comments on anything .. the blog .. my style of thinking .. my blind spots (?) .. ideas .. opportunities to learn .. anything of relevance.
