Ashoka University Organises ‘Healing Earth 3.0’, Exploring Ways to Tackle the Climate Crisis
New Delhi : Ashoka University’s Centre for Climate Change and Sustainability (3CS) hosted the third edition of ‘Healing Earth’, a conference to facilitate conversations around the effects of climate change and its wider impact on our world. The two-day event, held on February 24th and 25th, focused on two major themes. It discussed climate mitigation policies and their interactions with other sustainable development goals, given that such policies may not always align with environmental conservation or social justice. It also addressed the problem of communicating the science behind climate change, looking into experiences of practitioners from fields as diverse as climate policy, the media and lived experience.
Describing the aims of of 3CS, Professor Gautam Menon, co-Director, 3CS and Dean of Research at Ashoka University, said, “Climate change is settled science. It requires an interdisciplinary approach in order to mitigate its worst consequences. This will involve cutting-edge research into areas such as ecological shifts, monitoring local environments, socio-economic issues connected to climate change, sustainable lifestyles, as well as development of effective teaching and awareness tools.”
Outlining the objectives of the conference, Professor Iain Stewart, co-Director 3CS, said, “Previous editions of events have focused on economics, one-health and environmental humanities. This year the focus is on ecology conservation, and on communicating the effects of climate change on health, society and the environment.”
While speaking about the promise and pitfalls of land-use related climate mitigation in India, Ruth DeFries, Professor of Ecology and Sustainable Development at Columbia University, said that, “climate mitigation policies are often like a double-edged sword, like fencing to improve plantation cover may also restrict access to the grazing grounds for local herders.” Tracing the development of mitigation policies historically, Paul Robbins, Dean of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madision, stated that afforestation is a good idea, but that selection of the right species for plantation is important. He said that we need to re-examine the policies determining percentage of the total green cover in the country, which are still rooted in notions dating back to the 19th century.
While summarizing the discussions on day 1, Mahesh Rangarajan, Professor of Environmental Studies and History at Ashoka University mentioned that, “we must adapt to the effects of the climate in order to safeguard ourselves and our communities, in addition to doing everything in our power to reduce emissions and slow the rate of global warming. Adaptation would still be required even if global efforts are sufficient to keep warming to 2°C. Many communities are poorly adapted to the climate of today. In some ways, adaptation is a much simpler course of action to pursue than emissions reduction. The day 1 of the event also witnessed participation from eminent speakers such as Professor Navroz Dubash, Centre for Policy Research (New Delhi) and Harry Fischer, Associate Professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.
Delivering the keynote address on day 2, Jane Davidson, Chair, Wales Net Zero 2035 and Pro Vice Chancellor Emeritus, University of Wales Trinity Saint David said, “Climate change is here. And I am a stubborn optimist who wants to find a way by engaging with people, making their lives better as we respond to climate change.” She has been a force behind the ‘Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act, 2015’. She spoke about her experiences of working to change policies in her home country, and lessons drawn from the same for such public movements. Jacob Koshy, Deputy Editor, The Hindu, described his own lessons from covering climate change, pointing to the increased importance of on-line news, describing how media can spur government response through coverage of environmental issues.
Day 2 of the event witnessed participation from Tisha Srivastav, Programme Coordinator & Head of Department, Media Studies at Ashoka University; Malavi Sengupta, Visiting Faculty, Environmental Sciences at Ashoka University; Nithya Subramanian, Visiting Faculty, NID & SPA, Bhopal; and Malika Virdi, farmer, mountaineer and a former-Sarpanch. A movie supported by the 3CS Media Fellowship was also screened.