In her detailed retelling of three iconic movements in India, Professor Emerita Krishna Mallick, PhD, gives hope to grassroots activists working toward environmental justice. Each movement deals with a different crisis and affected population: Chipko, famed for tree-hugging women in the Himalayan forest; Narmada, for villagers displaced by a massive dam; and Navdanya, for hundreds of thousands of farmers whose livelihoods were lost to a compact made by the Indian government and neoliberal purveyors of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Relentlessly researched, the book presents these movements in a framework that explores Hindu Vedic wisdom, as well as Development Ethics, Global Environment Ethics, Feminist Care Ethics, and the Capability Approach. At a moment when the climate threatens populations who live closest to nature--and depend upon its fodder for heat, its water for life, and its seeds for food--Mallick shows how nonviolent action can give poor people an effective voice.

Krishna Mallick is a Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Salem State University. She has co-edited two books with Dr. Doris Hunter: An Anthology of Nonviolence: Historical and Contemporary Voices (Greenwood Press, 2002) and Nonviolence: A Reader in the Ethics of Action (University Press of America, USA, and Gandhi Peace Foundation, India, 1990). She has also published several articles on environmental issues in India. Her research interests are in the interdisciplinary area of philosophy, women's studies, peace studies and environmental studies.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOREWORD
GLOSSARY
INTRODUCTION: Three Grassroots Movements that Made a Global Impact. Principles of Environmental Philosophy
1 Historical & Cultural Contexts in India
1.1 'Legal' Destruction of India's Forests
1.2 A Cultural Leader Emerges
1.3 Conclusion
2 Chipko (Hug the Trees) Movement
2.1 A Physical Act of Survival
2.2 Preconditions & Formation of the Chipko Movement
2.3 Laudable Leaders
2.4 Critical Reception of Chipko Movement
2.5 Conclusion
3 Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA): Save the Narmada
3.1 Common Good in a Cost-Benefit Analysis
3.2 Regional Tensions from the Start
3.3 Gender & the Narmada Case
3.4 Gendered Dimensions of Neoliberal Capitalist Development
3.5 Reasons for the Success of the NBA
3.6 Conclusion
4 Navdanya (Nine Seeds) Movement
4.1 The Terrible Human Toll of GM Crops
4.2 Emergence of Anti-GM Movements
4.3 Food Sovereignty
4.4 Biodiversity & Climate Change
4.5 Navdanya & Social Justice
4.6 Shiva's View of Earth Democracy
4.7 Genetically Modified (GM) Crops & the Future
4.8 Conclusion
5 Moral Implications of Environmental Movements
5.1 The Mesmerizing Power of Nonviolence
5.2 Defining Views of Globalism
5.3 Core Values of Development Ethics
5.4 Ecofeminism: Ethics of Mutual Care & Connection
5.5 Conclusion
6 Hindu Ethics & Ecology
6.1 Historical Background of Hinduism
6.2 Comparison of Hindu Dharma & Ethics in the West
6.3 Hindu Dharma, Ecology, & Sustainability
6.4 Highlights of Ways Hindus Connect to Nature
6.5 Influence of Symbolic Traditions on Some Environmental Cases
6.6 Is Hinduism Eco-friendly?
6.7 Influence of Hinduism & Other Literature on Gandhi
6.8 Conclusion
CONCLUSION: Symbiosis of Natural Resources and Local Needs. Theoretical Views of the Global South
INDEX