Democratising the Science and Technology of Climate Change

a case study on Indian Network for Ethics in Climate Change

Case StudyTeam Leaders: Walter Mendoza & John DSouza

No other problem in history has sought the services of Science and Technology as

desperately as Climate Change.

In its search for a solution to the climate crisis, Big Science has by and large ignored the survival

economy in which more than 60 percent of the people in this planet earn their livelihood without contributing to the climate crisis.

Civil Society sees Climate Change as an indictment of the current development paradigm .

Climate Change is a result of the mineral based, fossil fuel reliant economic system.

INECC, sees that the real solution to the problem of climate change seem to lie in the search for an alternative or rather alternatives to

the “high density energy” based system that we have.

INECC has explored options for decentralised energy system for remote areas.

the Tribal Context in 2007.

micro-energy needs of the tribal communities required to sustain their livelihoods in the Eastern Ghats

Following the success of micro-hydro plant in Putsil, the technology has been taken up by six organisations in north Andhra and South Orissa;

Now: concept of renewable energy hub for a cluster of villages

Geographically, if one area is ideal for micro hydro, it is linked to other energy initiatives of other villages. depending on the local conditions.

These include introduction of solar lighting (LED based solar lanterns), micro-hydro projects, and improved

wood stoves. These are added to the basket of traditional energy uses.

• Further each project links to serve other needs, for example the micro-hydro project is used for harvesting water for irrigation, as well as organising economic activity in a collective manner, and joint communication and television needs.

• For example a central solar charging station for a village. This makes it possible work out viable scales for higher power and UPS, such that high voltage electricity with 230V for other electronic devices can be supplied.

Innovation

• In our field trip we witnessed an experiment where a local person was testing a hydraulic ram, to lift water.

Some of these technologies in Civil Society being developed include:

• Water Harvesting and Watershed Based Management of water

• Crop Management, diversification, NPM, SRI etc• More appropriate local seeds, soil fertilisation

and pest management • Community based Management. • Decentralised Energy Systems , Biogas, Solar

Energy, • Peoples Management of power Re-cycling &

Waste management.

…the state of climate science .. will have to be assessed in terms of its location –

..at the cusp between normal science and revolutionary science ( a la Kuhn )

.. worldviews to change, establishing a much closer relationship between science and ethics

.. where science would not be divorced from ethics as has so far been the case in the project of modern science. – Prof Peter D’Souza