Sunita Narain, the environmentalist fighting for greener development models in India

She lives in one of the most polluted countries in the world, and for this very reason she has decided to dedicate her life to promoting sustainable development . A decidedly arduous undertaking if the country in question is India , yet environmentalist Sunita Narain has decided not to give up, traveling millions of kilometers to study, for example, forest management and maintenance.

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SUNITA NARAIN

Pollution is a deep-rooted problem. In India, for example, according to Sunita Narain, it's not just due to short-sighted local policies, but also to the effects of globalization on developing countries. The activist believes that Western countries and their fossil-fuel-based economies are the cause of this environmental crisis, highlighted by climate change. This dependence on coal has also been adopted in India, where green energy sources (with very few exceptions) are still very rare. For this reason, to further her fight, the activist founded an NGO, the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which she now directs in New Delhi.

FIGHTING FOR A SUSTAINABLE WORLD

Over the years, her activism, fueled by a perpetual passion, has earned her international recognition, so much so that she was named one of Time magazine's most influential people . In addition to this recognition, Sunita Narain also contributed to the success of " Before the Flood ," Leonardo DiCaprio's documentary about protecting the planet . In the film, the actor and the environmentalist engage in dialogue, examining possible solutions for spreading increasingly sustainable development models . In this regard, Sunita has repeatedly argued that India should forge its own path to growth rather than imitate richer countries. The goal must always be development, so that well-being can be spread, but it is essential to do so differently because, at this rate, we risk achieving the opposite result in the long run . In this regard, she has identified food as the strategic element of sustainable development.

FOOD: A STRATEGIC ELEMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

According to Narain, food determines how we use land and water, and how we develop our economies. For this reason, it is at the heart of the challenge of sustaining our countries . More and more people are abandoning agriculture for cities, but according to Narain, we should take a step back and develop strategies that take the poorest into consideration, learning to valorize those techniques that in the past allowed for the development of a low-resource agriculture. This, however, has a very high value in terms of environmental sustainability.

The cover photo is taken from the Down to Earth website

HOW TO SAVE THE PLANET:

• Climate refugees: 15 million people fleeing natural disasters
• The sailing boat vacuums up ocean plastic: it collects 600 cubic meters per trip.
• Julia Butterfly Hill, the girl who lived in a tree and saved an entire forest (photo)
• Maramao, a Piedmont-based social farming startup that reclaims uncultivated land and transforms it into community gardens.