Disasters, pollution, climate and movements

A flood, industrial leak or heatwave becomes a disaster only when social vulnerability meets a hazard: the same cyclone harms a fishing hamlet and a concrete city very differently. Pollution and climate change likewise follow lines of class, caste, occupation and geography, while environmental movements translate local suffering into political claims. This chapter examines disasters and community responses, pollution, public health and disability, climate change and international policy, and the movements from Chipko to contemporary climate justice campaigns.