Editing The root of Indic Environmentalism (section)

==== The Challenge ====
<blockquote>When productive capacity grew faster than consumer demand, there was very soon an excess of this capacity and hence, there were few profitable domestic investment outlets. Foreign investment was the only answer. But, insofar as the same problem existed in every industrialized capitalist country, such foreign investment was possible only if non-capitalist countries could be “civilized”, “Christianized”, and “uplifted” — that is, if their traditional institutions could be forcefully destroyed, and the people coercively brought under the domain of the “invisible hand” of market capitalism. So, imperialism was the only answer.<ref>History of economic thought by E.K Hunt</ref></blockquote>Modernity is like the churn of the ocean which produces many things, good and bad. The technological breakthroughs and the return of individual agency have undoubtedly benefited humanity. To prohibit it from reaching the unreached sections of the society would be a crime. But the deliberate injection of it into such sections, through denigration of their traditions and proclaiming modernity as the messiah must be checked. '''A commendable instance in this is the Indian government’s treatment of the Sentinelese tribe, who are left alone on their island as a State policy.'''

To respect the boundaries of nature and allow habitat space to other creatures, while veering humans off from the self destructive path is the challenge before environmentalism. The two pronged approach of infusing viveka through śikśa and checking the many factors which promote wanton consumption are needed. A quick look at marketing, planned obsolescence and mindless scaling can help analyse the consumerist issues we face as a collective and help devise solutions for that.

Seeing the unnatural alteration of landscape around us today in the form of mining, urbanisation, industrialization etc., we must objectively analyse the benefits and drawbacks of any project with respect to Life as a whole before embarking on it. Perhaps through a framework measuring harmony with Ṛta as opposed to using only GDP as a metric. Many villages in India still retain the principle of coexistence with nature amicably. More than their conservation efforts, lessons can be learnt from them on their ethics, and such must be tried to be replicated by people in their lives. An example of balancing modernity with environmentalism maybe seen in Japan, which has seamlessly tied infrastructure with natural beauty.

The real world challenges in the restoration of the dhārmika path are many, and the original factors which led to its loss through colonizations have only become more widespread and amplified with the passage of time. Therefore more than the State, it is for the people to temper their desires which arise with the accumulation of artha, and put it to use in the form of service to others. '''Living consciously is the true essence of Indic environmentalism.'''

Authored by Anshuman Panda.
Published by Brhat.[[Category:Social Sciences]]