India's Ministry for the Future: A Climate Career Guide for the Decade of?Action
“You can’t take on the whole world’s troubles. No one should try to do that.”
“It happens without trying.”
Many young adults today express a deep concern for the future of life on our planet. But they may lack the vision and guidance to transform that passion into a meaningful and fulfilling career. If you are a millennial looking to transition to a career in climate action or a Zoomer beginning to work in the green economy, YOU could form the Ministry for the Future. Here is a handy resource that maps characters and ideas from Kim Stanley Robinson’s climate fiction novel to real-world role models and examples from India. I hope it helps you match your skills and interests with movements and organizations that share your values.
The Ministry for the?Future
“to advocate for the world’s future generations of citizens… and to defend all living creatures present and future who cannot speak for themselves.”
Nothing drives home the urgency of the climate crisis more than a utopian science fiction novel set in the present: heat waves are already here, killing millions in India; devastating floods destroy the city of Los Angeles; and climate terrorism has set in, with unidentified actors holding attendees at the Davos convention hostage, overturning container ships and bombing passenger planes. Local and indigenous movements carry on with their mission as they have always done. Meanwhile, a multinational agency of the United Nations, dubbed the Ministry for the Future (MftF), is tasked with representing the interests of future generations. Led by an Irish diplomat and comprising experts from multiple countries, the organization works to amplify the voices of the future in all aspects of global governance, trade, policy, law, and technology. The novel has an interesting format with nonfiction interludes (e.g., explaining the Paris Agreement or Jevons Paradox) and multiple first-person viewpoints interspersed with the main narrative.
Spotlight on?India
“A sixth of humanity on one big triangular patch of land, caught under the blazing sun, cut off by a mighty range of mountains: who are these people?”
In my previous sustainability article, I focused on my city of residence, Vancouver. In this post, I chose to highlight climate work in my country of origin: India. In MftF, Robinson has a bold and inspiring vision for what climate action in India would look like if we truly realized what was at stake. By featuring the work of actual climate champions in various sectors, I wish to celebrate their contributions and inspire the current generation of leaders in finding their place in the complex and interconnected world that climate action is. From social/environmental justice advocates and public interest litigators to sustainable transport aficionados and regenerative farmers, there are a wide range of problem-solvers to learn from in this space.
To this end, I present to you the division heads of the Ministry for the Future alongside a brief description of their area of expertise and their real-world counterparts in India. This will be followed by an overview of certain focus areas with links to resources and opportunities.
[India's Ministry for the Future: click on the table to access hyperlinks]
Resilience
“Many a time we now say to each other, when the arguments get intense, as they always do, Look, my friend–never again.”
[Kashmira Sarode's mural in Kannagi Nagar, a post-tsunami resettlement site in Chennai, St+art India]
MftF opens with a vivid image of a heat wave in India: air-conditioners cut off, electricity gone, generator-supply running out, toilets out-of-order and water supply scarce. In the story, wet-bulb temperatures reach unbearable highs and the deadly heat wave ends up killing 20 million people. This is one of many potential realities that people in the fields of mitigation, adaptation, resilience, and disaster management are working to prevent, prepare for, and respond to.
Organizations
Ecology
[Afzan Pirzade’s mural at Worli Dairy, Mumbai, St+art India Foundation]
If you care deeply about the wellbeing of wildlife, their habitats, and forest-dwelling/forest-proximate human communities who share that land, this might be your niche to contribute to climate action. Work in this area includes ecological restoration, wildlife protection, and biodiversity preservation. Examples from the novel are the Half Earth project and its wilder wing: a park and corridor system that includes and is supported by the local indigenous human populations.
Organizations
While the Half Earth project has been criticized for excluding the voices and rights of the Global South (#OurNatureIsNotYourSolution) and being fundamentally at odds with indigeneous ways of relating to the land, it serves the function of bringing to the fore the importance of making room for non-human life (alongside, or separate from humans) to thrive and flourish.
Information Technology
In the digital realm, Robinson imagines a virtual global revolution with a single open-source social media network operated as a co-op gaining popularity worldwide. People receive micro-payments for selling their health and consumption data to data-mining operations, and the entire digital system works like an international credit union or a people’s bank of sorts.
Organizations
Policy
“Eleven policies would get it done, they all told her.”
If only it were that simple! Policy is the playing field where ideas meet politics, and the work involves a mix of statistics, economics, and multi-stakeholder considerations. MftF features carbon pricing, industry efficiency standards, land use policies, emission regulations, complementary power sector policies, renewable portfolio standards (called renewable purchase obligations in India), building codes, appliance standards, fuel economy standards, vehicle electrification, and feebates.
Organizations
Since all the policy research organizations below have overlapping focus areas, I have chosen to highlight one unique publication or project for each of them.
Law
“It will be legislation that does it in the end, creating a new legal regime that is fair, just, sustainable, and secure…. The best Plan B will emerge from the multitudes.”
Work in this space includes championing the rights of the under-represented, fighting violations of environmental regulations, trying to point out the problems created by the currently existing legal regime, and recommending corrections. MftF suggests various ideas like a mandated wage ratio within organizations, making it a legal requirement that private businesses be employee-owned, and creating legal standing for animals and people of the future.
Organizations
Finance
A central idea in the novel that moves the needle on climate action is borrowed from the real-world Global Carbon Reward proposal and the associated monetary policy called carbon quantitative easing. I don’t really understand how this is supposed to work, but it involves coordinated action by a majority of the world’s central banks. While carbon currency theory (also see “universal carbon credits”) is still nascent, carbon taxes, carbon credits, and green financial instruments such as bonds, loans, and insurance are becoming more mainstream in India.
领英推荐
[Carbon offset, carbon tax, carbon subsidy, and carbon reward => carbon-confused?]
Organizations
Geoengineering
“One of those geoengineering dreams of redemption. Silver bullet fix that just shoots us in the head kind of thing.”
If moonshot projects are your cup of tea, you may be drawn to the kinds of geoengineering experiments that feature in MftF: from the Indian Government undertaking solar radiation management (which, by the way, in the real-world has a coalition of scientists and scholars demanding an international non-use agreement for) to a team of glaciologists pumping water from under glaciers in Antarctica to slow sea-level rise. The novel also mentions direct air capture and the challenges of storing or utilizing enormous quantities of dry ice.
Organizations
Agriculture
“Healing the Earth is our sacred work, our duty to the seven generations.”
[Amitabh Kumar’s mural in Lucknow, St+art India Foundation]
MftF features organic agriculture, no-till farming, the 4 per 1000 initiative (increasing carbon stored in soils by 0.4% per year), and paying farmers for said carbon sequestration. Robinson devotes an entire chapter (85) to list movements and projects from around the world that are centered on caring for the land, allowing it to regenerate and support many forms of life. He doesn’t shy away from stating an inconvenient truth: “The new agriculture is also labor intensive, as to a certain extent people must replace the power of fossil fuels.” He goes on to add, reassuringly, “… but India has lots of people. And lots of sunlight. And lots of land.” Examples from India mentioned in the book include Sikkim the first organic state, agroforestry in Araku (misspelled as Arau), Navdanya Biodiversity Farm, hand-planting a 300-acre forest, Sadhana Forest, the Farmer Scientist, and Miracle Water Village.
Organizations
Infrastructure
“So all the necessities for a good life are abundant enough that everyone alive could have them. Food, water, shelter, clothing, electricity, health care, education. (…) Arranging this situation is left as an exercise for the reader.”
In MftF, worldwide clean electrification (wind, solar, and free-river hydro) backed by energy storage (using batteries, water levels, salt temperature, flywheels, and air pressure) is accomplished without any political gridlock, economic hurdles, land use conflicts or resource constraints. India’s decarbonization journey, on the other hand, will involve difficult compromises regarding land use and governance. It will also require huge investment and create many jobs in green energy infrastructure. Sadly, even in Robinson’s utopian vision, “the wastes and residues of civilization” remain an outstanding problem for future generations.
Organizations
Green Guidance
A career is about the life you want to lead — not just a job, occupation or profession, It involves deciding among possible and preferred futures. It answers: “Who do I want to be in the world?”, “What kind of lifestyle am I seeking?” and “How can I make an impact?” ~CERIC.CA
[Untitled by Zero at Ernakulam Bus Station, St+art India Foundation]
We shape societies and cultures through our actions, and a career is the journey of aligning our conscious actions to our stated values and standing up for them unapologetically. Career guidance and career development professionals are turning to non-Western inspiration for a paradigm shift from an individual focal point to one that is centered on serving society/humanity. Meanwhile, I see many ambitious people working on (and investing their money in) solving minor inconveniences of daily life like last-mile grocery delivery, or solutions that exacerbate existing inequalities, when there are wicked problems like clean rural electrification at scale waiting for risk-takers and entrepreneurs. If you are an aspiring founder, this is a gentle nudge to foreground the beneficiaries of your products and services and consider the ecological footprint of your choices and operations.
The Question of?Risk
When I graduated with an electrical engineering degree in India, the top employers were the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd. (BHEL), engaged in power generation and distribution and power generation equipment manufacture respectively. These firms provided (and continue to provide) a stable, public-sector career path for those who were technically-skilled and wanted to earn a livelihood from their university education. Today, to a large degree, and especially among computer science majors, private multinational corporations serve as reliable sources of income and opportunity regardless or in spite of their effects on society (e.g., increase in consumption and waste, unethical labor practices, and outsized influence on democracy). Just as environmental-impact considerations were an after-thought for those who sought jobs at NTPC/BHEL, so too with tech: people go where they feel valued, are paid well and find a decent peer group. From the point-of-view of a risk-averse graduate, it is the imperative of the government to make “green jobs” the default choice. For someone with a greater risk appetite (e.g., those with enough savings from prior employment or intergenerational wealth, or those with an entrepreneurial mindset), the imperative is on the self to seek or create a “green” career path. Whichever one of these categories you may belong to, I hope this guide serves as a useful tool to explore possible contexts for your career trajectory.
The Question of?Impact
[Infinite Hurdles by Rachita Vora, India Development Review]
In a competitive climate wherein environmental impact assessments are seen as bureaucratic obstacles to development (without an appreciation for the value of a robust ecosystem), I wonder whether jobs in the environmental/social sector may be demotivating in spite of the passion one might have to make a difference. If sustainability reporting becomes a perfunctory process for regulatory or public relations reasons without actual influence on business practices, it will be a green job only in name. To any of you who have been working on sustainability and other wicked problems in governments, corporations, or non-profits, I’d love to hear your thoughts on impact, burnout, doubt and disillusion in a world that seems stacked against you.
P.S.1. All block quotes in this article are excerpts from The Ministry for the Future (MftF) by Kim Stanley Robinson.
P.S.2. If you haven’t read MftF, check out Amy Brady’s interview with Robinson discussing key ideas and plotlines from the novel. Also of interest might be Steve Daniels’ series of articles mapping each climate solution from MftF to real-world projects. Lastly, amidst widespread praise, Samuel Miller McDonald’s hard-hitting, heart-wrenching critique of the novel underscores all that is missing, unrealistic, or hand-wavy about the ideas and writing in Robinson’s novel.
P.S.3. If you are one of the role models or a representative of an organization mentioned in this article but do not wish to be featured here for any reason, please send me a message and I will remove the reference. Feel free to also suggest in the comments other examples to highlight for any of the listed expertise areas.
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