Threat from Climate Change to Some of India’s Sacred Sites Is Reshaping Beliefs

My family is from that general area and the description feels a little Orientalizing<p>&gt; The gods of this region are closely associated with the land itself; and these gods, nature and humans are intimately connected<p>While plenty of people are religious, everyone there know it&#x27;s a mix of climate change and unchecked construction and logging mafias destroying the local ecology and leaving it ripe for massive disasters.<p>For example, take a look at the recent floods in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Jammu Kashmir. It was triggered by climate change but further exacerbated by a mix of shoddy construction, unpermitted construction of hotels on ridge edges, riverbed mining (done by both the INC and BJP - both Agnihotri and Satti are part of the mining mafia back in Una) and the Indian Govt building highways in a manner that works for plains, not high altitude ridges. [0][1][2]<p>The scary thing is, Himachal Pradesh is pretty well governed by developing country standards - it&#x27;s developmental indicators match up with Kerala and most Provinces within China.<p>Imagine if climate change disasters and unchecked development happens in weakly governed areas (eg. The Medicane in Libya - 7 dead in Türkiye, 10,000-100,000 dead in Libya)<p>[0] - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;theprint.in&#x2F;ground-reports&#x2F;himachal-floods-a-perfect-storm-multi-storey-buildings-on-shaky-mountaintops&#x2F;1732101&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;theprint.in&#x2F;ground-reports&#x2F;himachal-floods-a-perfect...</a><p>[1] - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;theprint.in&#x2F;india&#x2F;himachal-to-consider-controlled-riverbed-mining-to-curb-floods-but-environmentalists-sound-caution&#x2F;1724611&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;theprint.in&#x2F;india&#x2F;himachal-to-consider-controlled-ri...</a><p>[2] - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;theprint.in&#x2F;india&#x2F;as-rains-kill-20-in-himachal-residents-say-dumping-of-construction-debris-in-rivers-adding-to-problem&#x2F;1663366&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;theprint.in&#x2F;india&#x2F;as-rains-kill-20-in-himachal-resid...</a>

&gt; One significant theological change that appeared to be underway within Himalayan Hinduism as a result of climate change was the transformation of the primary conception of the gods from those who bless to those who punish.<p>This is not a new view in Hinduism. There is a concept that the world goes through cycles and we are now in the end stage [Kali Yuga](<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Kali_Yuga" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Kali_Yuga</a>)

author David Haberman tells a first-person story, with more context in his recent book<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;iupress.org&#x2F;9780253056047&#x2F;understanding-climate-change-through-religious-lifeworlds&#x2F;" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;iupress.org&#x2F;9780253056047&#x2F;understanding-climate-chan...</a>

Anything bad is attributed to immoral ways of the people by all religions. A disaster is something religions don’t waste, and they always point out god is angry. Happens in every country.

I notice there are no named quotes here, it&#x27;s all &quot;a holy man&quot; &quot;a woman&quot;. I admit I didn&#x27;t read the other sources like the book but it&#x27;s a bit of a red flag for me.

&gt; The gods of this region are closely associated with the land itself; and these gods, nature and humans are intimately connected<p>Since these gods don&#x27;t actually exist, any statement predicated of them has no truth value.

One sacred site that was submerged due to rising sea level is the ancient city of Dwarka—-in Gujarat off Indian ocean.<p>The remains of this 5000 year old capital of Lord Krishna—-archaeologists have found walls, artifacts, and structures off the modern Dwarka.<p>The city holds immense mythological significance and ancient texts such as Mahabharat corroborate the existence.