In the early 1970s, three things happened in global environmental history: at the institutional level, the United Nations convened the first Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm; at the academic level, Rachel Carson’s silent spring Gained notoriety for advocating environmentalism; at a local level, the Chipko (tree-hugging) movement emerged in northern India as a response to the country’s neglect of ecological issues. While the Stockholm Conference and Carson’s seminal work remain references for global environmentalism, Chipko’s novel formulation of environmental activism is often forgotten. After independence from British colonialism in 1947, India’s leadership focused on rapid development centered on modern industry and agriculture. The Indian state once actively opposed colonial policies. After independence, the Indian state retained most of the autocratic aspects of colonial rule. These include regressive forest policies that deny the rights of farmers, forest dwellers, pastoralists, women, indigenous peoples, etc.
Although the Forest Policy of 1952 made high demands for forest conservation and sought to convert 33% of India’s land into forests, few alternatives were proposed – and in much of the area colonial structures of exploitation remain exist. The idea of ”preserving forests” is maintained in the name of “national needs”. However, forest resources are exploited and commercial felling of trees is allowed. The state’s preference for commercial interests also comes at the expense of farmers and forest dwellers’ “subsistence needs for fuel, fodder and small timber.” As a result, Chipko launched a peasant movement seeking to reclaim and defend the community’s rights to the forest.
The Chipko movement began in 1973 in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (later Uttarakhand). Cut down trees. The movement was born in Mandal, an inland village in the Garhwal Himalaya, where loggers of the Allahabad Symonds Company were hampered from felling ash trees. Led by Chandi Prasad Bhatt, Sundarlal and Vimala Bahuguna and Gaura Devi among others The popular movement protested the unfair treatment of local residents for using forest resources to make a living, while allowing large corporations to profit from cutting down trees.
The movement soon struck a chord with many parts of northern India, with people (men, women and children) hugging trees to protest against national forestry policies that disenfranchised local communities and favored commercial interests. The movement successfully promoted the interests of local communities and helped solve their ecological problems. As a result, Chipko is often called “poor man’s environmentalism.” Thus, historian Ramachandra Guha writes: “Before Chipko, environmentalism was considered a symbol of the rich and the middle class. Farmers were believed to lack knowledge of ecological processes and understanding that while India was too poor to go green, the movement had widespread and widespread success in regulating commercial forestry and the contractor system and reclaiming community rights over forests. However, despite Chipko’s success. There is virtually no scholarly discussion in the fields of international relations and political science that explores how Chipko’s activism shaped our understanding of environmentalism today.
In this context, I wrote an article titled “Feelings of the Anthropocene: Emotional Relations and Ecological Activism in the Global South” international affairs. In this article I try to understand how eco-activism can be thought of/understood differently. Therefore, I ask: ‘How do emotions shape ecoactivism in the Global South?’ I build on the growing academic focus on relationships, emotions and the Anthropocene in international relations to fully capture the essence of different ways of thinking about ecoactivism. Through my empirical discussion of the Chipko movement, I argue that scholars and activists must move beyond “dominant rationalism” technocratic fix” and understand environmentalism through “emotional relationships.” I have argued that “emotional relationships” can become a framework for locating and maintaining relationships between humans and nature. Specifically, I believe that emotions connect humans and nature. Furthermore, the Chipko movement allows us to consider how feelings expressed through hugging trees, wrapping bandages on trees, singing and chanting slogans can serve as nonviolent practices and bring about social and political change.
Today, as society grapples with the onslaught of (ongoing) environmental disaster, the Chipko movement offers some lessons for global environmentalism. This brief article documents four important lessons from this movement for ecological activism today and into the future. First, Chipko’s ecological activism points us to the interconnectedness of humans and nature, which needs to be acknowledged in our understanding of environmentalism. Global environmentalism often sees humans and nature as two different realms, with economics and ecology at odds with each other, and that humans can solve ecological problems no matter how ugly they are. In Chipko, however, we see an interconnectedness between humans and nature that is consistent with the Anthropocene understanding of the world. This understanding of the interconnectedness of humanity also resonates with other communities in the Global South. Ecological practices in the Global South therefore help to position what Bruno Latour calls “Earthlings.” For example, the Yanomami people of Brazil consider themselves one among the many creatures of the forest; their stories, songs, myths, and dreams all reflect the pain and suffering they feel when their forests burn. Global ecological activism should actively utilize this knowledge in its knowledge dissemination practices. It should actively promote ideas about how humans and nature are interconnected rather than being seen as opposed to each other.
Second, Chipko’s activism points to how emotions draw on people’s relationship with nature. In Chipko we saw an act of resistance, with bodies inserted between trees and axemen. Given the important role that forests play in their lives, with their reliance on dry leaves and grasses for fodder, twigs and branches for cooking fuel, wood for farm tools, and nuts and herbs for consumption, these activists see the forest as a teacher role, nurturing and nourishing them. Emotions, as felt experiences, help connect humans to nature and help them experience nature. To experience nature is to accept our inseparable attachment to it. While emotions help situate and sustain human relationships, they also become active sites of activism and resistance. In this space, people can feel, share and express their collective anxieties about the environment. Emotions both affect and affect each other. Furthermore, emotions towards nature often “emerge through relationships, participation and practices in ecological spaces”. Environmentalism today can therefore further tap into the emotional power that binds humans together, and humans to nature, and counter coercive state structures.
Third, Chipko points us to new ways of carrying out ecological activities. In Chipko’s activism, emotions are used to maintain people’s relationship with nature, actively engage people on environmental issues, and effectively engage with policymakers and governments. The tree-hugging movement is not only an act of resistance for these communities, but also a means of survival. On this premise, the practice of hugging trees, shouting slogans, and singing songs actively evokes a sense of solidarity among communities over shared anxieties. In one such practice, for example, Chipco activists tie bandages to trees that are being felled or marked for felling. This approach evokes a strong sense of responsibility to protect forests from destruction and shows how trees can be damaged and need healing, just like humans. Furthermore, this approach marked the role of the non-violent Gandhian movement in the face of state power.
In recent years, global environmentalism has harnessed the power of affective practices. In her 2019 Davis speech, Greta Thunberg, who spearheaded the climate movement’s school strikes, called Friday is for the future, Declare: “I don’t want you to get your hopes up. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to take action. The emotional value of this type of speech is critical in driving environmental awareness . Similarly, climate activists also use emotional slogans such as “Climate justice knows no borders,” “Planet B does not exist,” and “Climate change is real” to incite environmentalism. From making posters to singing to evoking public emotions, affective practices further help build solidarity within and between societies. More needs to be done.
Ultimately, Chipko’s insights teach us that policymakers and practitioners must be empathetic. They must be prepared to listen—to hear what the “lower ones” have to say. Governments must focus on ecocentric communities when dealing with environmental issues. In such a community, nature understands humans and vice versa. As governments respond to the looming ecological crisis, they must tap into the knowledge inherent in these communities. They must listen, empathize and engage with the local communities that depend on their ecology. By doing so, they will be able to understand how humans and nature depend on each other for sustenance.
Further reading on electronic international relations
