Environmental Studies

Environmental Studies is the study of the relationship between human societies and the natural world, examining ecosystems, resources, climate, biodiversity, water, land, settlements, and the ways human activity affects ecological systems. It seeks to understand environmental challenges not merely as technical problems, but as questions involving social behaviour, institutions, economy, culture, and patterns of human life. An Indic approach further explores Prakriti, Panchamahabhuta, Rta, Dharma, Vanaspati, Jala, Bhumi, and Lokasangraha, asking how Bharatiya traditions understood ecological interdependence, restraint, stewardship, sacred landscapes, and the responsibilities of human beings towards the larger living world.

Interrogating Environmental Studies

1. What exactly are we teaching as “Environmental Studies” today? Syllabus and analysis of school-level Environmental Studies and Environmental Education, undergraduate and postgraduate Environmental Studies, and major themes and fields of environmental study

2. Whose theories and frameworks are we using to understand human–nature relationships? Indian Environmental Theories and Frameworks, Western Environmental Theories and Frameworks

3. Whose environmental thinkers and scholars are we reading? Indic Environmental Thinkers and Scholars, Westernized Environmental Thinkers and Scholars

4. What are the sources of our environmental knowledge? Indian Sources of Environmental Knowledge, Western Sources of Environmental Knowledge

5. Whose ecological, environmental and human–nature experiences are we studying? Indian Ecological, Environmental and Civilizational Experiences, Western Ecological and Environmental Experiences

6. How are we studying and understanding human–nature relationships? Indian Approaches to Understanding Nature, Ecology and Environment, Western Environmental Methods and Approaches

Decolonizing Environmental Studies

Articles examining the colonial assumptions, categories, theories, models, and curricula through which Environmental Studies is conventionally taught. This section reconsiders nature, ecology, resources, sustainability, and human–environment relationships through Bharat’s ecological traditions and historical experience.

What Is Sustainable Development?

What Is Sustainable Development?

Beyond Growth, Green Labels and Environmental Management “Sustainable development” sounds like one of the least…
August 12, 2026
What Is a Resource?

What Is a Resource?

From Extraction to Ecological Responsibility Environmental Studies usually introduces resources through a seemingly simple classification.…
August 12, 2026
What Is Nature?

What Is Nature?

Beyond the Human–Nature Divide One of the strangest features of modern Environmental Studies is that…
August 12, 2026

Paryāvaraṇa Dṛṣṭi

A space for exploring ecological life through Indic understandings of Prakṛti, Bhūmi, Ṛta, Dharma, and the interdependence of living systems. It moves beyond syllabus-bound Environmental Studies to develop contemporary approaches to ecology, conservation, sustainability, and human responsibility towards the natural world.

Bhoomi: The Ethics of Living on the Earth

Bhoomi: The Ethics of Living on the Earth

From Ownership to Stewardship What does it mean to live on the Earth? Modern environmental…
August 12, 2026
Rta: The Order That Sustains Life

Rta: The Order That Sustains Life

Ecology, Reciprocity and Balance What if ecology is not merely the study of nature, but…
August 12, 2026
Prakriti: Rethinking Our Relationship with Nature

Prakriti: Rethinking Our Relationship with Nature

Beyond “Environment” What changes when nature is not understood as something outside us, but as…
August 12, 2026