NB: We recorded this conversation before the crash of London-bound Air India Flight 171, in which at least 274 people have died. Our thoughts are with the families grieving their loss. I just want to make clear why it did not feature in our conversation. I spoke with a couple of people who suggested delaying the episode’s release further. But the best time to include the perspectives of people outside the Western climate narrative ‘bubble’ would be forever ago; the second best time is now.
Dr. Genevieve Guenther, in The Language of Climate Politics, sets out six key tropes that are used to manipulate climate politics. Number four is (paraphrasing):
“Why should ‘we’ [read: the US, UK, Germany, etc] act on climate while emissions are rising in India and China?”
How people in those countries feel about being used as an excuse by Western companies and politicians to delay climate action isn’t some grand mystery. You can just ask them - or their best climate/energy reporters, like Rishika Pardikar in Bengaluru, India.
Mostly I wanted to explore some of her on-the-ground reporting, from the Western India ‘solar belt’ to the Central ‘coal belt’ to the far-eastern Andaman Islands archipelago where tribal land rights over carbon-sink conservation areas are threatened with displacement because developers want to build a resort destination for the rising middle class of Earth’s most populous nation.
In this Conversation
00:58 Meet Rishika Pardikar: Environmental Journalist
01:47 Rishika's Journey into Environmental Reporting
02:21 Land Rights and Tribal Communities 03:24 Mega Projects on Tribal Lands
05:06 Challenges in Reporting from India
11:56 India's Coal Belt and Energy Transition
16:59 The Future of Energy in India
22:51 The Efficiency of Indian Appliances
24:00 The Politics of Climate Science
24:36 Challenges in India's Forecasting Capabilities
27:54 The Intersection of Religion and Science
28:53 Controversial Studies and Their Implications
32:01 The Role of Journalism in Climate Action
36:36 India's Climate Action Plans
40:10 Future Reporting and Closing Thoughts
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#NoKings
Final thought: if you are in the US thinking about going to a #NoKings rally today, go. It will be fine. First time I went to one was 2017, in London, with a decomissioned bodhran. Previously I would have, at best, written snarky colour pieces about demos. The more people in the streets today, the harder it will be for others to pretend it was something other than it was. It should - and will - be almost entirely joyful, fun, and completely on the right side of history.
All the Outros
We like outros. And we didn’t think it would be right to lead with the beautifully anarchic outro track from the French Biriyani soundtrack, “The Bengaluru Song”, by Danish Salt vs Vasuki Vaibhav, but it’s a grower.
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