Page 126 - Vogue - India (January 2020)

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VIEWPOINT
WHAT
SUSTAINSUS?
The climate emergency is real. Journalist and
activist Simran Sethi reminds us that protecting
our world is the only way ahead
First, accept the truth as it is: we are
“WEARENOT not sustainable. The world we are leav-
ing for future generations is compro-
SUSTAINABLE. mised. The sacred Ganga is profaned
THEWORLDWE with poison, the Sundarbans are being
ARELEAVING swallowed by the sea, and our cities
are choking.
FORFUTURE Then, take time to ponder the ways
GENERATIONSIS our systems have failed us—the indus-
COMPROMISED” tries and politicians distended with
wealth and power. Calibrate the im-
pact of billionaires against impover-
ished billions. Consider the monocul-
126 VOGUE INDIA JANUARY 2020www.vogue.in
ture of crops and thoughts that have
taken root. What have you dug up
and swallowed whole? Let this sorrow
burrow into you. Feel the ache in
your heart and the weight in your
bones. Do not turn away from this
heaviness. Grieve.
India and the world need support.
We are home to seven of the world’s 10
worst polluted cities, giving us the du-
bious distinction of being the planet’s
most polluted country. Recent mon-
soon rains swelled to the highest levels
in a quarter century, while months
earlier groundwater and lakes suc-
cumbed to drought that impacted over
half of the country’s access to drinking
water. The Western Ghats, a biodiver-
sity hotspot teeming with more than
30 per cent of the country’s species, are
being systematically razed in service of
mining and commodity agriculture.
Food purchases in rural India have de-
creased by nearly 10 per cent. Poverty
and malnutrition are on an upward
climb. This is our new normal. We are
depleted, overwhelmed, and primed
for transformation.
TIME TO ENGAGE
The promise of sustainability, embed-
ded in a 1992 United Nations report
on sustainable development titled Our
Common Future, was built on the
ideals of environmental protection,
economic growth and social equity.
“Sustainable development,” the au- BIKRAMJIT BOSE; GETTY IMAGES
thors proclaimed, “meets the needs of
the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet