Tackling climate change can be messy

The Assembly elections for India’s second-largest state by population concluded this month.

- SUBHOMOY BHATTACHARJEE

In the high-decibel campaigns, many issues figured but climate was not one of them. This, however, does not mean the people don’t care; in fact, surprising many observers, the changes needed in people's lives are not contested. Yet, across India, while city dwellers are hugely reluctant to change transport, dwelling and other norms to avert climate disaster, people in peri-urban and rural areas find no reason to fight climate change needs. Politicians are shrewd; any divisions and they would have exploited the climate agenda but there are none. India’s late urbanisation might possibly be the best insurance to work on policies to enable a sustainable transition.

“The stories illustrate the messiness of real progress, with meaningful steps forward, never moving in a straight line but often in a tortuous squiggle,” was the phrase that jumped out from Ani Dasgupta’s The New Global Possible: Rebuilding Optimism in the Age of Climate Crisis.