CAMPUS EVENTS CULTURE ADVENTURE ‘ECO-TOURISM? NO SUCH THING’

Amitav Ghosh says eco-tourism is an ironic concept that actually contributes to environmental issues

He’s brought the Dhaka of 60s to life in his book, The Shadow Lines. He raised questions about the concept of nationhood with The Glass Palace. He has even written the powerful medical thriller, The Calcutta Chromosome. Amitav Ghosh, who was in the Capital for an environmental conclave chooses themes and ideas that affect him deeply.

In recent years, Ghosh has voiced his opinions on the pressing issue of climate change, a topic he touches upon in The Hungry Tide, which is part of his famous Ibis trilogy. “I don’t know why we elude this topic in fiction. I was writing The Hungry Tide, and that’s when the urgency of the situation hit me. It’s as if we are running towards the edge of a cliff with a blindfold on,” he says.

In his last book, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016), he’s written powerful essays on the subject. Why did he use the term deranged to describe humanity? He answers, “I can give you a million examples. We are getting so many signals, but we ignore them. Right after Chennai floods, I was told that a grand luxury building was going to be built…close to the sea.”

“Look at Fukushima, Japan for instance. The Aneyoshi tablets or ‘Tsunami stones’ near the coastline, have straightforward warnings telling people to seek higher ground and not to build below this line. And what did people do? They built a nuclear reactor there. Isn’t this deranged? ” he says.

Amitav adds, “Despite the progress of science and technology, we still don’t take care of the environment. Scientists are shouting their heads off in the US and Australia, and now they’re being suppressed by governments. In India, at least our climate research community is making an effort.”

Speaking about the conclave, Ghosh says eco-tourism doesn’t mean responsible tourism. “I don’t know what it is, or how it lessens the impact on the environment. Tourism is in itself a huge industry which contributes to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Look at it this way, you go on a plane, travel a million miles, just to be near nature. The plane itself contributes to problems in the environment. So, you want to be near nature, but how to get to it? So yeah, I don’t believe in it. We can all save the environment in our own little ways, and that can make a difference.”