December 4, 2017 - "Contested Realities: India's Environmental Movement and the Politics of Change" with Sunita Narain, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi
The STS Program at HKS presents a lecture by Sunita Narain, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, followed by a panel discussion featuring Sunil Amrith, Mehra Family Professor of South Asian Studies, Harvard University; Jody Freeman, Archibald Cox Professor of Law and Director, Environmental Law Program, Harvard Law School; David S. Jones, A. Bernard Ackerman Professor of the Culture of Medicine, Harvard University, as part of the Science & Democracy Lecture Series.
The Indian environmental stories that are making international headlines are the ghastly air pollution and the nation's inability to control filth, garbage and sewage that are overwhelming its cities, rivers and fields. The other narrative linking India to the rest of the world is that India is the major villain in climate change. Narain asks, can India can beat the pollution game by following the trajectory of the western world? Won't capital and resource-intensive methods of environmental management simply add to the burden of inequality, and so to unsustainability? Also, is India the villain or the victim in international climate politics? Are there lessons in India for the global community in its fight against climate change? Narain will discuss how democracy and dissent must work together so that the environmentalism of the poor dictates the politics of change. Not just change in India, but change in the world.
Once a semester, the STS Program, with co-sponsorship from other local institutions, hosts an installation in its Science and Democracy Lecture Series. The series aims to spark lively, university-wide discussion of the place and meaning of science and technology, broadly conceived, in democratic societies. We hope to explore both the promised benefits of our era's most salient scientific and technological breakthroughs and the potentially harmful consequences of developments that are inadequately understood, debated, or managed by politicians, institutions, and lay publics.