Exploring Sustainability in the Indian Context
There are rapid and widespread environmental, economic and social changes in the world that have led to urgent global questions of sustainability. These concerns take on different contours in developing countries like India, different from questions in industrialised countries. In developing countries, equity and social justice with regard to environmental concerns are central in the process of addressing sustainability.
What you will learn
This interdisciplinary, multi-instructor course provides an introduction to sustainability within the context of development in India. We develop an integrated perspective on sustainability along ecological and social dimensions and use these to examine critical themes of importance to India, like population, food, and climate change.
We explore how our imagination of culture, markets, state, and even of nature itself influences sustainability action. We end with examining how to take sustainability action — as individuals, communities and larger collectives, and across all scales, from the local to the global.
You are expected to watch video lectures, join interactive video-discussions with faculty, and participate in discussion forums.
This course is designed for those interested an integrated and multi-disciplinary understanding of sustainability both in theory and practice. It is ideal for if you are curious about sustainability, especially as a development practitioners who wishes to deepen your understanding.
Course Faculty
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Harini Nagendra
Harini Nagendra is Director of Research Center at the University, and leads the University’s Center for Climate Change and Sustainability. Over the past 25 years, Harini has been at the leading edge of research examining conservation in forests and cities of South Asia from the perspective of both landscape ecology and social justice. For her…
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Richa Govil
Richa Govil is the Director of the School of Development at the University.Richa has worked for about 20 years in roles spanning research, business strategy, school education, financial inclusion, agriculture interventions, teaching and training.
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Narayan P S
P.S.Narayan is a visiting faculty with the School of Development. He is a part of the ‘Ecology / Sustainability’ faculty, at the University. He helped design the ‘Ecology and development’ course and has taught it since inception. His areas of focus in teaching pertain to (i) Biophysical boundaries and planetary thresholds (ii) Industrial ecology and…
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Manu V Mathai
How to achieve well-being for all, on a planet that has finite ecological (energy and material) space? This is the overarching question that informs my research and teaching. I am particularly interested in the political economy of Development as expressed in energy policy and governance, energy technology or infrastructure choices and their implications for justice…
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Radha Gopalan
Radha Gopalan is a visiting faculty at the School of Development. She was trained as an Environmental Scientist and has a PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering from IIT, Mumbai. For over 20 years, Radha worked in environmental consulting both in India and overseas. The projects she was involved in included environmental and social assessment,…