A River Runs Again: India's Natural World in Crisis, from the Barren Cliffs of Rajasthanto the Farmlands of Karnatakaby Meera SubramanianPublic Affairs, 2015Journalist Meera Subramanian opens her first book, A River Runs Again (followed by a subtitle so long and detailed it practically contains topographical maps and lab samples in test tubes) by flatly confronting her readers with the enormity of her subject, which is the struggle to reclaim some kind of ecological balance in the sprawling country of India:

Since achieving independence in 1947, India's population has tripled. While a rapidly growing middle class has gained unprecedented material comforts, only a tiny fraction of Indians can afford to shop at the glitzy air-conditioned malls springing up across the country. Today the vast majority of Indians still struggle to meet fundamental daily needs. Six out of ten citizens lack access to clean water, a third live beyond the glow of the electric grid, and less than half have access to a toilet. More than two-thirds of households cook over an open fire, and the food they prepare there is inadequate: nearly half of all children under five are stunted, and the rate of malnutrition currently exceeds that of sub-Saharan Africa.

Her ultimate question is very simple: “Can 1.2 billion people, one of every five on earth, inhabiting a mere 2 percent of the world's landmass, learn to live sustainably?”In search of answers, she turns to specific individual stories as case-studies of various aspects of the problem. There are naturalists working to bring the vulture – a keystone species – back from the brink of extinction; there are educators trying to bring the basics of sex education to a country hugely burdened with overpopulation; there are entrepreneurs and designers working to change the ways ordinary citizens cook, and what they eat. Subramanian recounts these illustrating stories with a practiced writer's sympathetic clarity, but she's never maudlin or simplistic, and her assessment of the scope of the problem in India – the country with the highest bacterial infection rate in the world – is unflinching:

The chemicals used on crops permeate grains, cotton, and vegetables harvested in Pune, Maharashtra, 96 had pesticide residues, including the banned pesticides chloradine, carbofuron, and captafol. Unbeknownst to the women filling up their grocery bags, nearly a quarter of vegetables in Kerala markets showed organochlorine pesticides – carrots with endosulfan undertones, curry leaves with a sprinkle of aldrin, long beans with a hint of DDT. Half of the contaminated samples were over the permissible limits, rendering them unfit for human consumption.

For all its eye-opening information and fascinating human stories, however, the single most rewarding thing about A River Runs Again is the tested optimism it tends to wrest from its subject matter time and again. “To hope is also to act, and now is India's time for action,” Subramanian writes. “Now is the moment to build a new economy that cultivates the country's people and also safeguards its irreplaceable natural resources.”“To hope is also to act” - yes. A River Runs Again is an inspiring book, about a subject – and a crowded country – where inspiration is desperately needed and in short supply.