Environmental Psychology: Lessons from Gandhi

Abstract

A large number of thinkers have emphasized that many of the twenty-first-century problems can be solved by using strategies and techniques delineated by Gandhi way back in the early 1900s. While technology was still at a very nascent stage and the globalized, boundary-less village had yet to take shape, he could envisage the problems that we were giving an invitation to. In Volume 2 of this book, we focus on some of these problems and the ingenious ways in which they can be countered, with Gandhian thinking as the base. Chapter 1 deals with the problem of climate change and the rapid degradation of the environment. It starts with the concept of the tragedy of the commons and how personal selfishness brings in its wake both individual and societal loss, as well as the idea that for some problems there is no technological fix. We then move to the concept of the Anthropocene, as put forward by Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen and how today, it is no longer “we against nature.” Rather it is “Nature is us” and elaborates how we are bringing on the destruction of our own species and that of other flora and fauna. Further, the chapter highlights the difficulties with some of the solutions being offered for creating temperance, such as the Earth Charter, ecological citizenship and deep ecology, revealing, in the process, how environmental psychology stands to gain from Gandhi’s methods for inculcating pro-environmental behavior through concepts such as aparigraha (nonpossession), self-reliance and the twin concepts of Vasudeva Kutumbakam (Nature is our family) and self-control. At the same time, the chapter emphasizes the enormity of our responsibility as stewards of the Earth and discusses the ways through which Gandhi, the environmentalist, promoted trusteeship, paving a path for both theory and research in environmental psychology in the twenty-first century.