Combo of Sick Planet and ELEMENTAL INDIA by Subramanian Meera (Set of 2 Books)

This combo product is bundled in India but the publishing origin of this title may vary.Publication date of this bundle is the creation date of this bundle; the actual publication date of child items may vary.Neoliberals often point to improvements in public health and nutrition as examples of the success of globalization but this book argues that the corporate food and medicine industries are destroying environments and ruining living conditions across the world.Scientist Stan Cox expertly draws out the strong link between Western big business and environmental destruction and tells us of the huge damage that drug manufacturers and large food corporations are inflicting on the health of people and crops worldwide. On issues ranging from the poisoning of water supplies in South Asia to natural gas depletion Cox shows how the demand for profits is always put above the public interest.While individual efforts to 'shop for a better world' and conserve energy are laudable Cox explains that they need to be accompanied by an economic system that is grounded in ecological sustainability if we are to find a cure for our sick planet.'What happens in India may turn out - even more than China - to be the key to the kind of environmental future the planet faces. Very few people are qualified to tell the story with as much clarity compassion and character-driven power as Meera Subramanian.'- Bill McKibben author of Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist 'Meera Subramanian has written an eye-opening and even inspiring book about a country that is so often terribly misunderstood by the West. Her serious but never morose storytelling introduces us to an India that is neither basket case nor Shangri-la but a diverse land full of ordinary people questing for an extraordinary goal: a happier greener future for 1.2 billion of their fellow citizens and for the rest of us too. We should all be rooting them on.'- Dan Fagin Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation 'Elemental India is at once sweeping and intimate - a smart informative richly reported book full of memorable characters.'- Elizabeth Kolbert author of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History 'This is a necessary book. And Meera Subramanian is the perfect person to be writing it.' - Suketu Mehta author of Maximum City: Bombay Lost and FoundAround the world people are increasingly facing a future that is crowded and hot thirsty or drowning subject to violent weather extremes and a changing climate where the rich and poor inhabit separate spheres and governments are unable or unwilling to confront the most vital challenges their citizens face. For India this reality is the very tangible present.In this lyrical exploration of life loss and survival Meera Subramanian travels in search of the ordinary people and micro-enterprises that are determined to revive India's ravaged natural world. An engineer-turned-farmer brings organic food to Indian plates. Villagers resuscitate a river that had run dry. Cook stove designers persist in their quest for smokeless fire. Biologists bring vultures back from the brink of extinction. A bold young Bihari woman teaches young adolescents the fundamentals of sexual health. Through an investigation of these five crises Subramanian finds renewed hope for a nation that has the potential to create a sustainable and prosperous future - for itself the Earth and all her inhabitants.