Dose of Realism: Review of ‘Decolonizing Environmentalism: Alternative Visions and Practices for Environmental Action’

You favor public transportation and barely use your electric car. You recycle, buy FSC-certified furniture, consume sustainably sourced food and household supplies, use cloth diapers and purchase clothing from consignment stores. Yet, you are plagued with doubt. Against the backdrop of global warming, democratic decline and the economic hardships of the post-pandemic world, trying to reduce our individual carbon footprint seems to be riddled with diminishing returns and no rewards in sight. The Sisyphus slog feels quite real anytime we hear of forest fires, floods, water shortages, landslides and power disruptions. 

What then, does environmentalism mean to an individual? This question was on my mind when I picked up the book “Decolonizing Environmentalism” by professors Prakash Kashwan and Aseem Hasnain. I expected a dense treatise on environmental policy and research. Instead, I found it was an easy but absorbing read. With no jargon and plenty of examples, the book presents how mainstream environmentalism has proven ineffective in preventing a fearful climate crisis. Instead of false hope, the authors offer a healthy dose of realism with real-world insights, and inspiration for alternative, anti-racist approaches to climate action that all of us can be part of.

The book confronts the failures of mainstream environmentalism head on, and leads us to find the root causes in the philosophical foundations of modernity and colonialism. When ideas of modernity first emerged in the 15^th century, they created a schism between nature and culture in the minds of Europeans. In the late 15^th century, the Americas experienced large-scale colonization by European settlers. In 1620, when the British East India Company was first chartered, capitalism took root, and its interests became entwined with the British empire. Later, the industrial revolution fueled capitalism and imperialism all across Asia, the Americas and Africa. Everywhere they were, European powers did not hesitate to dominate and control nature. 

In the name of modernity and progress, colonial settlers violently took over the land and relentlessly extracted whatever they valued, destroying anything that hindered profits. Colonized peoples were made to work in farms, plantations, factories, railroads and mines. Enslavement in the name of growth was not just economic but also deeply racialized. In their mission to civilize the “barbaric” natives, the recently enlightened Europeans dismissed native knowledge systems as irrelevant. Settler colonials were unable to understand the deep connections and non-coercive relationships that native cultures had with nature. The resulting extermination of human and non-human lives was neither incidental nor accidental. As we read on, it becomes easy to connect the historical processes that caused hunger and economic insecurity in the 1600s with the poverty that we see in the Global South, as well as the accelerated environmental decline that we see everywhere, including the Global North. 

Myopic Technologies

The book renders a compelling critique of market-based and technocratic solutions to environmental crises, ranging from sustainable farming and fair trade to social entrepreneurship and pursuing carbon offsets. For me, it was somewhat relieving to read about how hopelessly limited individualistic environmentalism is, especially given how it promotes consumerism, increases the use of fossil fuels, and masks capitalist agendas. Are we then to turn to the technological solutions that are propagated by governments and media? No, say the authors, cautioning that many of these technologies are speculative and myopic in their benefits, and none of them address the root causes of environmental decline. Some of these technological solutions have even caused harm to forests and the water rights of millions of people.

Insights from this book can help educated professionals question their assumptions and make course corrections. For someone who is in high school or college, the book is a great primer on indigenous resistance movements that are fighting the climate crisis.

The authors point to how global nonprofits, multilateral institutions and even science, can be controlled by the global elite, and weaponized by vested interests. What, then, do we make of global environmental policy? The Paris Climate Agreement, for example, calls for voluntary reductions in carbon emissions to the extent possible. Since 1990 when climate negotiations first began, global carbon emissions have more than doubled. The majority of emissions are from industrialized countries, where consumers relish fast fashion and SUVs, and the global elite flaunt their private jets and yachts. The Paris Agreement did not merely fail to regulate global capitalism; it delayed progress towards its own goals, and imposed disproportionate risks and costs on developing nations.

Power imbalances between the Global North and the Global South, established via colonialism and imperialism, are still very much alive and well in the world of environmental action. Even within the Global North, race, gender, class and other sociopolitical realities operate to create power imbalances. The authors call for institutional changes at local, regional, national and global levels to ensure that indigenous communities are empowered to create, guide and implement environmental science and policy. 

If technological hubris and capitalist obsession with profits are at the root of environmental decline, solutions need to cut the umbilical cord to global capitalism. The book highlights the specific characteristics of grassroots movements in the Global South that have successfully confronted forces that overpower the natural world and manipulate the environment to serve pernicious human purposes. We see how activists have questioned multilateral organizations and large global NGOs that were allowed to co-opt state machinery (at times, even diplomats and the military) to support corporate interests with no accountability. 

The book illustrates the exemplary work of movements such as La Via Campesina to emphasize the need to work across the urban/rural divide, and build solidarities across race, class, gender, and even national borders. Readers are invited to consider “degrowth” ideas, and anti-racist, queer and ecofeminist movements that are building broad coalitions to transform environmental policy. 

Social Justice

A unique feature is that the book does not distinguish between climate justice and social justice. For climate justice to be realized, communities need to exercise sovereignty over policies related to food, energy, water, housing, education, health and safety. A radical transformation of mainstream environmentalism is called for. Elected officials and climate experts do not automatically respect the ways in which indigenous cultures operate to conserve, regenerate and protect the planet. 

As Desis, we profess belief in inclusive approaches, but our blindness to power imbalances causes us to devalue the knowledge and wisdom of women, tribal, Dalit and oppressed caste leaders in South Asia. South Asian professionals in America are cognizant that Native and Latin American, black, immigrant and working-class people are often excluded in spaces where their wisdom and ingenuity are needed the most. In the rush to make conservation and climate action work in the face of numerous financial, legal and bureaucratic constraints, we sometimes wind up reinforcing the prevalent hierarchies of caste, race, class and gender – or worse, entirely excluding or harming marginalized communities – without meaning to. Why, then, are we surprised by how environmental actions are stymied? 

Insights from this book can help educated professionals question their assumptions and make course corrections. For someone who is in high school or college, the book is a great primer on indigenous resistance movements that are fighting the climate crisis, as well as elite youth movements such as Fridays for Freedom and Extinction Rebellion that are working hard to be more inclusive of BIPOC voices. The book will help to ground youthful energy and passion in philosophies that promote long-term solidarity with marginalized communities. Readers of all ages will come to understand the importance of environmental policies that treat humans and non-humans equally. Some of us with philanthropic appetites will likely learn how we can support land reparation to indigenous communities, and fund rights-based grassroots movements that respect indigenous sovereignty and promote environmental stewardship (as opposed to resource extraction). 

Decolonizing is not a metaphor. We need to transform the material basis of our lives. We can do this by learning to plan, finance and build housing, schools, roads, transportation networks, mines, waterworks, parks and playgrounds – or by learning to fund and manage conservation lands, fisheries, farms, mountains and grasslands – in ways that preserve and regenerate, rather than deplete and extract. Above all, the book shows engaged citizens how important it is to center inclusion, equity and justice as we consider local and regional decisions related to land use. At the very least, the book inspires us to begin to question our values and privileges, how we connect with nature, how we raise our children, and how we care for self and community. When it comes to climate justice, perhaps we will begin to question where we must rebel, and conversely, where we must empower and follow the lead of others who have greater wisdom and ingenuity than us. Either way, understanding how to decolonize our hearts and minds will be necessary. And reading this book will set us on this journey. 

Top image: courtesy of Community Commons.

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Uma Murugan has master’s degrees in architecture and in social work from Washington University in Saint Louis. She worked for a national nonprofit engaged in urban revitalization in and around public housing communities. She lives in Somerville, MA and served two terms on the Community Preservation Committee for the city. Currently she is involved with the Somerville Carbon Free and Healthy Schools Initiative, the PTA, Mothers Out Front and other local advocacy groups.