This talk will focus on the futility of recycling in a world rapidly experiencing climate change. With several years of work around issues of waste under her belt, Bharati will talk about how the popular narrative of recycling is taking us down a rabbit hole, the limits of recycling and the crisis of consumption. She suggests, with the help of recent examples, a transition out to the circular economy, which is a more generate approach to materials.

Bharati Chaturvedi is a writer and environmentalist. She is the founder of an India based non-profit, Chintan, which works on environmental issues, with the poor and gender at the centre of its work. She has a Masters degree in History from Delhi University and a Masters in International Public Policy from the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, which also awarded her the prestigious 2009 Johns Hopkins Alumni “Knowledge for the World Award”. She has previously received the globally recognized LEAD fellowship and is a fellow at the Synergos Institute, New York. Bharati serves on the Board of several organizations and has won awards for her leadership and work.