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Journalism of Courage
It has become easy to believe that we need to choose in some imagined toss-up between the environment and growth. But that is a false,self-defeating choice because the two reinforce each other. That is a point we seem to have missed in India. Some hold that to protect our ecological interests,we have to make hard,life-denying choices. Others worry that environmental concerns will inevitably stifle growth and poverty reduction. Both views are wrong. Yet we are beset by the possibility of a paralysing confrontation between people putting their faith in these two misguided sets of beliefs a paralysis that will harm both Indias economy and the vital need to protect its environment and,indeed,to roll back environmental degradation. We must instead internalise the third,more forward-looking way. The prime minister put it sensibly,when he emphasised the need for economic development to be sustained through solid environmental regulation. Rather than focusing attention on newer ventures,mostly more environmentally evolved anyway,isnt it better
directed towards those industrial units still in operation that are vestiges of the smoky,anything-goes environmental attitude of the past? We should look hard at,for example,old and dirty power plants,or incentivising them to convert to cleaner technologies. And at fixing our real,existing problems carbon-belching factories,ruined rivers,denuded forests.
The concerns associated with growth,too,are actually those which will have positive environmental repercussions. For instance,boosting electricity generation and supply means we also reduce our use of diesel gensets,and the destructive subsidy system on which they depend. We would,too,shrink the need for wood-fire and coal-fire,and Indias infamous black carbon,so dangerous and destructive.
There are myriad ways in which ecological improvements converge with growth-enhancing reform,and vice versa. The greening of industry frequently revs up commerce,and trade and income growth increases the space for environmentally sensible policy. Germany,for instance,has turned its environmental innovation into economic advantage,
exporting pollution control technologies. Greens need to embrace entrepreneurship and market forces; growth-boosters need to understand that preparing for a greener future will be profitable,too. We shouldnt allow a false choice between sustainability and development to be cynically used. Bust that tendency,in favour of a brighter shade of green.
