Noted historian, Dr. Ramachandra Guha, will be giving a public lecture on 2nd April 2025 at NCBS. In his talk titled, 'The Three Waves of Environmentalism', Dr. Guha will be talking about his recent book "Speaking with Nature: The Origins of Indian Environmentalism". He will also be signing copies of his book.

About the book:

By the canons of orthodox social science, countries like India are not supposed to have an environmental consciousness. They are, as it were, 'too poor to be green'. In this deeply researched book, Ramachandra Guha challenges this narrative by revealing a virtually unknown prehistory of the global movement set far outside Europe or America. Long before the publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and well before climate change gained currency as a term, ten remarkable individuals wrote with deep insight about the dangers of environmental abuse from within an Indian context. In strikingly contemporary language, Rabindranath Tagore, Radhakamal Mukerjee, J.C. Kumarappa, Patrick Geddes, Albert and Gabrielle Howard, Mira, Verrier Elwin, K.M. Munshi and M. Krishnan wrote about the forest and the wild, soil and water, urbanization and industrialization. Positing the idea of what Guha calls 'livelihood environmentalism' in contrast to the 'full-stomach environmentalism' of the affluent world, these writers, activists and scientists played a pioneering role in shaping global conversations about humanity's relationship with nature. Spanning more than a century of Indian history and decidedly transnational in reference, Speaking with Nature offers rich resources for considering the threat of climate change today.

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TIME and VENUE 

Date : 2nd April 2025
Time : 05:00 pm
Venue: DASHERI, NCBS 
(The talk will be followed by High Tea)