Book Review: The Climate Solution (India's Climate-Change Crisis and What We Can Do About It)

Photograph of the Book, The Climate Solution, written by Mridula Ramesh.

Reading 'The Climate Solution' by Mridula Ramesh feels less like engaging with a policy text and more like being drawn into a carefully reasoned conversation about the world we are already living in. The book does not treat climate change as an abstract future crisis; it frames it as a present, everyday disturbance—visible in searing heatwaves, vanishing water tables, unpredictable rains and floods that arrive without rhythm or mercy. What makes the narrative powerful is not just the seriousness of its subject but the clarity of its telling. Mridula Ramesh writes with an economy of language that keeps the book accessible even as it handles complex scientific and economic realities. Her writing is steady, lucid and grounded in lived experience, allowing the reader to absorb uncomfortable truths without feeling overwhelmed.

One of the book’s most striking contributions is its explanation of how climate change in India is increasingly expressed through 'water—too little' of it for most of the year and too much of it when it finally arrives. Ramesh explains how the number of rain days has declined across much of the country even as extreme rainfall events have grown more frequent.

This imbalance, she shows has quietly destabilized farming, turning agriculture into a gamble rather than a livelihood. Her writing gains depth because it repeatedly returns to human consequences: a farmer losing crops to an untimely downpour, households preparing for a “Day Zero” scenario, women bearing the hidden costs of water scarcity. The book’s strength lies in its ability to offer simplistic answers. Renewable energy alone, she argues, will not be enough; waste management, food choices, water governance and social equity are equally central to any real climate solution.

It is at this intersection of water, climate and human vulnerability that my own thoughts on wetlands find resonance with the book. I personally feel that if climate change is increasingly experienced through water stress, then wetlands represent one of the most understated yet effective responses available to us. Wetlands are not merely ecological features; they are natural climate moderators. They store excess rain, recharge groundwater, cool surrounding landscapes and support biodiversity that keeps ecosystems productive and resilient. As per few reports and thoughts, their gradual disappearance has amplified floods in some regions and droughts in others, hollowing out the land’s natural capacity to regulate itself.

Cities like Chennai have stood on the brink of severe water scarcity at one point of time, while vast stretches of the country swing between extremes. Many now agree that the neglect and degradation of wetlands have played a silent but decisive role in this unfolding crisis. In a nation with many wetlands, their conservation is just not an environmental afterthought but as a foundational strategy for survival.

From my own understanding, wetlands also offer something that large technological interventions often lack—continuity. They work with nature rather than against it. Through mapping, protection and restoration—supported by tools such as remote sensing—we can strengthen regional water security while also addressing biodiversity loss and local climate regulation. Wetlands may not provide dramatic, headline-grabbing solutions but they quietly reduce heat stress, slow climate impacts and restore balance over time.

The author, Mridula Ramesh is the founder of the Sundaram Climate Institute, which focuses on waste and water solutions and education. As mentioned in the book, She is an active angel investor in Cleantech start-ups, with a portfolio of over a dozen start-ups.

If I were to rate the book, 'The Climate Solution', written by Mridula Ramesh, I would give it 9 out of 10, not only for its research and analysis, but for its ability to evoke the thought of saving our climate with introspection in equal measure.

(Please note: These are my personal thoughts based on reading this book. Your views, facts and opinions after reading the book may differ. Feel free to comment if you believe any facts in this article should be reconsidered and re-examined. Thank you once again for pointing it out.)

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Thanks and regards,

Mainak Majumdar

Book Critic

Email: mainakmajumdar.dasgupta@rediffmail.com & majumdar@majumdarbookreviews.asia