How Much Should a Person Consume? - Ramachandra Guha

The title of the book is a complete misnomer. In the whole text the author does not come anywhere close to answer this question. However, it is still an interesting read at least in parts.

The book is mainly a narration of the history of environmental movements in India. A large part being devoted to the works of prominent people in the environmental movement.The history of the interactions between the villagers (people who depend on the forests for their living) and the government bodies like the forest department are very interesting to read about. Particularly the perception as to how a developing economy can be in opposition to the sustainability of its natural resources.

I found it strange as to how all the visionaries have missed including a growing population as a factor in their schemes. May be this was not a concern in their times. Today, it is hard to imagine how a system dependent on resources can be sustainable without a curb on consumption.

The comparison between environmental movements in India (agrarianism) vs the US (wilderness thinking) is very interesting to note. In the later this has been an after thought while in the former all  movements are directly linked to livelihood.  E.g. in the US the farmlands are considered as an inrtusion on to the natural environment while in India they are a part of it (author's opinion). Since I had read a bit about the development of the parks system in the US I found this very relevant.