The Yale Centre for environmental law and policy and the Center for international earth science information network at Columbia University recently released the environmental performance index for 2022. The university ranked India at the bottom of a group of 180 countries. The ranking was based on India’s dwindling climate change scores, environmental concerns, and ecosystem energy levels.
According to a report by the Economic Times, India’s rapidly growing poor air quality and gas emissions were the main reasons behind our country’s lowest ranking in the environmental performance index of 2022. The report claims, “India, with increasingly dangerous air quality and rapidly rising greenhouse gas emissions, falls to the bottom of rankings for the first time.”
Today, environmental abasement is a primary concern for the country, especially in the Indian agro-life, with the increasing use of harsh chemicals – insecticides and pesticides. These chemicals have adulterated soil and groundwater, thereby causing severe damage to India’s water bodies. As a result, either they are being damaged or shrinking. Moreover, the climate crisis’s ramifications are visible in agriculture, with India Meteorological Department (IMD) stating a steadfast increase in dangerous weather situations like hailstorms, excessive deluges, and thunderstorms.
This is just one of the concerns. There are many: air and sound pollution, global warming, forest fires, poor sewage systems, extreme weather conditions, brown industries, extinction of wild species – animals and planets – perpetual use of plastic, deforestation, and much more. This is a warning for the country. Today, our country is grappling with numerous environmental issues which have only escalated in the last few years. It is time we take the onus of these concerns and handle them without turning a blind eye.
Can we make India green again? Of course, we can.
Numerous universities in the country offer environmental studies or courses. And doesn’t it sound good and morally encouraging? However, research has consecutively shown that only offering environmental studies alone have hardly yielded fruitful results. The programme will make a difference only when it is complemented with prudent classroom debates on ecological concerns at the local/city/district/state level. It should also discuss social, economic, and gender gaps. In short, the curriculum should be good enough to discuss environmental problems.
Unfortunately, India does not have such educational institutes. This means India does not have enough educators to discuss crucial issues like rising temperature, abrupt rainfall patterns, growing water blight, the biodiversity crisis, extinction odds, etc. However, fewer academic institutions have started responding to global environmental needs to allow young students to trace and track the causes and pitfalls of the contemporary ecological crisis. Most of these courses have an interdisciplinary approach. Why? To enable students to research, teach and scrutinize India’s resources and its interconnection with environmental science.
Earn an environmental degree from India’s no. 1 private university
O.P. Jindal Global University (JGU), a non-profit, multi-disciplinary, and research-focused varsity, offers a three-year residential BA (Honours) in Environmental Studies under its Jindal School of Environment & Sustainability with a complete focus on outstanding teaching, research, and practice-oriented engagement. The university is India’s number 1 private varsity and has received a ranking from the prestigious QS World University Rankings. It has as many as 114 full-time international faculty members from 43 countries with exceptional educational experience.
The undergraduate BA (Honours) in Environmental Studies course at JGU focuses on interdisciplinary research work covering distinctive environmental concerns such as:
- Environmental justice
- Climate change concerns
- Environmental management
- Ecology and conservation
- Environmental laws & ethics
- Environmental health issues
- Natural resources management
- Environmental policy & regulation
Students, while pursuing the undergraduate course, will also focus on topics like:
- Biodiversity
- Food security
- Sustainability
- Wildlife protection
- Environmental crimes
- Toxic chemical pollution
- Race, poverty & environment
- Transport & transport fuels
- Natural resources conservation
- Sustainable food & agriculture
- Wetlands and delta management
- Oceanography & marine biology
- Forest ecosystems & management
- Globalization, labour & environment
- Geochemistry: Understanding earth’s environment
There is more to the course and university.
Why choose the Jindal School of Environment & Sustainability to pursue BA (Honours) in Environmental Studies?
- Students will learn from exceptional teachers and industry experts. They will also study under the guidance of research faculty members from one of the world’s leading universities: Harvard. Yale, Oxford, etc.
- The school believes in producing world-class environmentalists and sustainable experts. And for this, it offers students experiential learning through practical learning, debate and discussion sessions, etc.
- The school offers a diverse career options after environmental studies. Students can apply in industries like agriculture, apparel & fashion, food, cosmetics, academics & research, wildlife, science and technology, biodiversity, etc.
- The course will also allow students to collect, examine and communicate complicated technical data to others in the environment and sustainable sector and develop research, analytical and problem-solving techniques.
- Jindal School of Environment & Sustainability has collaborations with the leading corporate houses of the world that will help its students build ingrain industry-driven education and desired corporate exposure.
- Geographer, geologist, Solar installer, wildlife expert, agricultural scientist, environmental specialist, marine biologist, or even urban planner; you could be anything after pursuing a BA (Honours) in Environmental Studies.
- Students will develop a comprehensive understanding of local, national, and international environmental issues (the ones stated in the article’s introduction).
- Apart from core courses, students can also choose from more than 100 interdisciplinary social science & humanities subjects.
- It also allows students to grab a dual degree, semester exchange, and intensive course at JGU’s international academic partners worldwide.
It is a collective effort.
In the present, where fresh and critical environmental concerns are spreading faster than bushfires by gagging sombre challenges, it is indispensable. As the citizens of our country, it is indispensable that we come together to combat this severe threat of ecological degradation that is constantly threatening our existence. Careers in environmental studies are infinite. But for some time, let us focus on “giving” instead of “receiving,” just like Sunderlal Bahuguna, the Indian pioneer of the Chipko movement, did and brought a significant change. It is certainly not too late to conserve the planet and its species.
