The final lecture in a series of lectures at ABV Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management, Gwalior, delivered in February/March 2014. This lecture explores hypothetically the possibility for India of a "cultural" rather than technological tunnel through what economists and others describe as the Environmental Kuznets Curve.

1. Fulbright Lectures
ABV IIIT-M Gwalior
30 Jan-12 Mar
2014
Humans
Environment
Sustainable Development
Stephen Zavestoski, PhD
Associate Professor
Sociology and
Environmental Studies
University of San Francisco
San Francisco, California USA
smzavestoski@usfca.edu

2. An Alternative Development Path:
India and the “Cultural Tunnel” Turnoff
Lecture 3
Stephen Zavestoski, PhD
Associate Professor
Sociology and Environmental Studies
University of San Francisco
San Francisco, California USA
smzavestoski@usfca.edu

3. An Alternative Development Path
A cultural tunnel through the Environmental Kuznets Curve
Source: adapted from Munasinghe 1995a (also see http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/155728/)

4. India’s Alternative Development Path
❖ In 1992, India seemed poised to pursue an alternative
development path, “one that steers between the
destructive consumerism of the free market and the
spiritual and political suffocation of the formerly
communist states.”!
❖ Who won the battle of the Nehruvian bureaucratic
state vs. the Gandhian self-sufficiency of villages?!
❖ Neoliberalism
Jasanoff, Sheila. 1993. India at the crossroads in global environmental policy, Global Environmental Change.

5. Breaking down development
❖ In arguing for the right to fair share of atmospheric space, what are non-
Annex 1 countries really seeking? !
❖ They want to burn fossil fuels because that’s what the development
model calls for; and the model also tells them they need the material
standard of Annex 1 countries. !
❖ There are two assumptions built into this logic: !
❖ (1) That the most efficient way to achieve Annex 1 standards of living is
through burning of fossil fuels; and !
❖ (2) that the material standard of Annex 1 countries is a prerequisite for
the health, education, social development, and happiness that are the
underlying goals.

6. Breaking down development
❖ Let’s begin with the flaws in (2) (wealth is a prerequisite for happiness and
well-being)!
❖ Happiness in U.S. peaked in 1956 despite annual increases in GDP !
❖ Excess wealth has brought diseases of affluence (e.g., obesity, diabetes,
mental health) and increased inequality (which is responsible for
additional social ills). !
❖ If one accepts the flaw in (2), then (1) (wealth must be achieved through
burning of fossil fuels) ought to be reframed in the form of the following
question: !
❖ What is the most efficient way to achieve the actual goals of health,
education, social development, and happiness?

7. Social Movements
❖ Based on my previous research on environmental health
social movements…!
❖ People become mobilizable when they link their ill
health to a pollution source!
❖ Groups of people collectively identifying structural
causes of illness organize into environmental health
social movements

8. Social Movements
❖ Prospects for a climate health movement?!
❖ Weather events are experienced as random, acts of
god!
❖ Even if linked to carbon emissions, targets of activism
are unclear (corporations? governments? individual
lifestyles?)!
❖ Reactive and slow; ultimately not a viable form of the
kind of resistance Werner hopes for

9. Mistakes of American-style Development
Mistake Consequence Related Illnesses
Industrialization of
agriculture
High-calorie/high-fat
foods; low
nutritional value!
Obesity-related
disease; diabetes;
ADD; autism
Corporate control of
food system
Inequality in food
access (e.g., food
deserts)
over- and under-nourishment

10. Mistakes of American-style Development
Mistake Consequence Related Illnesses
Automobile-centric
growth
auto-dependency;
normalization of auto-related
fatalities; transpo-related
inequality!
Obesity-related disease;
crash morbidity/
mortality
(sub)urbanization
social isolation; inactivity;
mallification;
homogenization of culture;
loss of farmland furthering
corportization of ag
Obesity-related disease;
mental illness; drug use

11. Cultural Movements
❖ Urban livability/walkability/bikeability!
❖ “Complete Streets” (redesign of urban
transportation infrastructure for all modes of
travel)!
❖ Bicycle renaissance!
❖ Reclaiming public space!
❖ Decline in car ownership!
❖ Demographic shifts in urban populations!
❖ Sharing economy/collaborative consumption

13. Cultural Movements
❖ Urban Agriculture/Sustainable Agriculture/
Food Sovereignty!
❖ Farmers markets!
❖ Reclaiming brown fields for growing food
(more than 700 urban farms in NYC)!
❖ Replacing food deserts with food oases!
❖ Heirloom and heritage fruits and vegetables!
❖ Edible schoolyards and school nutrition programs

14. Intersections and Outcomes
❖ Urban planners, public health professionals and policymakers are embracing
“livability” trends!
❖ [T]he Michigan Department of Community Health created a five-year strategic
plan to reduce childhood obesity in Michigan. One of its first initiatives? A
statewide effort to address Complete Streets!
❖ New York Chapter of the American Association of Family Physicians:
“Pedestrian plazas, car-free spaces, neighborhood bike networks and world-class
bicycle lanes…are vital to the public health of our city. These changes help pave
the way for a city that breathes cleaner air and is in better physical condition”.!
❖ SF “parklets” policy!
❖ 488 Complete Streets policies across the U.S.!
❖ all levels of government, including 27 statewide policies!
❖ more than 25% of the existing policies were passed in 2012 alone

15. Lessons Learned
❖ Technology has reduced mobility needs
(e.g., transit; mapping; remote sensing;
data sharing)!
❖ Youth will respond to decline in economic opportunity
creatively!
❖ Urban land-use policies and practices of auto-centric
development hinder urban ag and complete streets (e.g.,
zoning and LOS)

16. Relevance for India?
❖ Mostly veg, low-carbon diet !
❖ What will happen if culture shifts to meat diet?!
❖ 700 million rural population; 500-600 million working in
agriculture!
❖ How much of this population can India’s cities accommodate?!
❖ What would a balanced urban/rural India look like?!
❖ How would you get there?!
❖ Who are the cultural drivers? Salman Khan? Kejriwal? You?

17. An Alternative Development Path
Culturally speaking, has India passed the “cultural tunnel” turnoff?
Or here?
Is India here?
Source: adapted from Munasinghe 1995a (also see http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/155728/)

18. Thank You!
❖ Dr. Pradip Swarnakar and ABV IIITM Gwalior!
❖ U.S. Fulbright Program and United States-India
Educational Foundation!
❖ You, the students, and my new friends!