Environmental Communication from the Fringes to Mainstream: Creating a Paradigm Shift in Sustainable Development

Abstract

Most of the agrarian countries of the developing world, including India, have concentrated on economic issues, leading to the neglect of the social, political and cultural contexts of development (Bottomore, 1975). Many countries in Asia, including India, have adopted development patterns based on Western conceptions of modernization and development that have eroded indigenous ways of life and ecological traditions. In the course of development, what attitudes different societies assume toward the environment are determined by the value systems and political processes of decision-making that operate in their respective cultures. All societies are founded on religious, cultural and social mores which govern their attitudes, values and lifestyles. But these fundamental structures have been pushed to the background in the competition for rapid economic growth, mass production and a rich lifestyle. In the race among nations for fast economic growth and prosperity, there has begun a serious introspection where development ends and destruction begins in the context of the natural environment.

“The earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not every man’s greed.”

Mahatma Gandhi