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