BENGALURU: Outlining three urgent interventions that the state can no longer afford to ignore, Nagesh Hegde, environmental writer and science journalist, pointed out that dazzling infrastructure projects are dominating while urgent environmental concerns are being ignored, allowing the “Earth itself to speak back” through disasters.
Speaking at a session titled ‘Me and You and Climate Change’ at the Bengaluru Literature Festival on Sunday, Nagesh Hegde, while questioning why governments are not announcing any ‘dazzling’ green projects, proposed three actions that can and should be taken to address the burning issue of climate.
First, Karnataka must build its own “Great Green Wall”, modelled on Africa’s 7,800km ecological barrier against expanding deserts. Districts like Bidar, Kalaburagi, Ballari and Chitradurga face the alarming prospect of turning arid. A 350km long, 2km wide green belt, he argues, is no longer optional, it is survival.
Second, Bengaluru must reinvent itself as a ‘Sponge City’, retaining the rain it already receives instead of racing toward expensive river-intervention projects. With 870mm rainfall and nearly 300 lakes, the city has the natural infrastructure it needs, but only if it is restored and managed.
Third, he calls for reversing India’s destructive “cut now, compensate later” (Parihara Aranya) approach. Karnataka has 66 lakh hectares of barren land, enough to build future forests before development begins, creating livelihoods and long-term ecological buffers, stated Nagesh.
Tracing the evolution of ecological thought in Kannada literature, from Kuvempu and Shivaram Karanth to KP Poornachandra Tejaswi, Gururaj Davanagere, Professor of Applied Mathematics and Director of the National Academy of RR Institutions, noted that writers long warned against human excesses.
The speakers also recalled Karnataka’s once-strong environmental movements, from anti-nuclear protests to Western Ghats campaigns, and that the momentum faded after globalisation shifted society toward consumption and careerism.
Turning to the future, Gururaj said students today show genuine concern but are disillusioned by contradictory government signals. “We ask children to plant saplings while governments allow the clearing of hundreds of acres of forests. They ask us ‘If those in power don’t care, how can we make a difference?’”
Calling for political courage, both speakers emphasised that environmental policy can no longer be treated as an optional agenda. “The crisis is here. It is personal, political, and immediate,” they said. “If humans don’t speak for the planet, the planet will continue speaking through disasters we can no longer control.”