What Villages Taught Me About Climate Change.

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My Sustainable Encounter with Shivani Mehta

by Albert Schiller

Academia's Shifting Sands

Conventional career paths in India often guide young professionals towards medicine or engineering. Shivani Mehta, however, chose a different trajectory. Her early inclination towards the environment, a discernible preference rather than a fleeting interest, set her course. She pursued environmental science at Ferguson College, a choice then considered pioneering, with only a handful of Indian universities offering such courses. This academic foundation provided theoretical knowledge. However, a deeper, more substantive understanding rarely emerges from theory alone. The true genesis of a comprehensive perspective typically lies beyond the confines of structured education.

The Unvarnished Classroom

The pivotal shift, a critical turning point in Mehta's intellectual development, occurred during her Master's in Sustainability at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). The curriculum there mandated immersive "field visit[s] every semester". This was no distant observation. It demanded living "in a village along with the villagers", with the explicit task of understanding their problems and devising solutions. Mehta confronted reality unadorned: she "lived without bedding, without electricity, without a proper toilet facility". She shared their daily existence, eating "local food that they eat". This intimate immersion, a stark confrontation with fundamental human survival and resource management, constituted an "eye-opening experience".

Sustainability: A Lived Truth

It was within these villages that a fundamental truth about sustainability crystallized. It manifested not as a contemporary construct to be implemented, but as an inherent, lived reality, deeply interwoven into traditional existence. "The rural people have the lifestyle that we should have," Mehta observed. Their practices, born of necessity and generations of intimate interaction with their immediate environment, showcased an inherent, often overlooked, wisdom in resource management and ecological harmony. This direct, unfiltered education laid bare the urban disconnect from foundational ecological principles. It instilled a razor-sharp understanding: the human element, unvarnished by corporate jargon or policy briefs, fundamentally underpins environmental challenges. How does a society reconcile technological advancement with the elemental wisdom often dismissed as primitive?

The Enduring Imprint

Mehta's subsequent pursuit of a second Master's in Climate Change at the University of East Anglia, UK, represented a deliberate attempt to "get back into science again". Her objective: to bridge scientific understanding with the social impact observed firsthand. Yet, despite this academic pivot, the vivid lessons from the villages "stuck with [her] so strong". Blending empirical scientific rigor with empathetic grassroots understanding, this dual perspective became her guiding framework. It led directly to her work with the Government of Maharashtra and as a UNICEF representative. Policy was compelled to confront the ground realities she intimately understood in these roles. This trajectory indicates that genuine comprehension of climate challenges consistently transcends academic theory. It is forged in the crucible of direct, lived experience, where abstract concepts acquire tangible, often inconvenient, truth.

The Architect of Policy's Reach

My discussions with Shivani reveal a critical dedication to making policy practical and relevant, rather than merely theoretical. Her tenure with the Government of Maharashtra, supporting the "Mag" state climate action program as a UNICEF representative, was formative. She engaged directly with "politicians, with his officers... with all the line departments, and then with the local bodies implementing the program". This broad engagement, spanning high-level governance and local execution, solidified her conviction: practical, adaptable solutions emerge only when policy genuinely integrates with the human context. Climate change is a "huge looming challenge the world faces". The more dedicated individuals in this field, the more robust our collective response. Her journey explicitly demonstrates that integrating diverse experiences cultivates a nuanced understanding, essential for bridging the gap between grand ambitions and ground realities. Does the prevailing policy framework adequately account for this crucial ground-level wisdom?

So what can we take from her approach?

Questions for Audience

1. Shivani's immersion in village life highlighted the inherent sustainability of traditional practices. How can industrialized societies, accustomed to abundant resources and conveniences, cultivate a similar intrinsic understanding of environmental limits and resourcefulness, driving voluntary shifts towards more sustainable consumption?

2. The blog underscores the transformative power of direct "field visits." Beyond academic programs, what scalable mechanisms can corporations, governments, and NGOs implement to ensure their decision-makers and policy crafters gain similar firsthand exposure to the environmental realities faced by vulnerable communities?