When I give an introductory lecture on environmental issues to a general audience, I often begin by asking people to list out the most pressing environmental problems. I then take the phrases tossed out, such as ‘deforestation’, ‘water scarcity’, ‘air pollution’,‘ozone hole’, or ‘biodiversity loss’, and organize them into two contrasting groups: ‘resource scarcity’ versus ‘pollution’, or ‘Southern (developing)’ versus ‘Northern (developed)’, or ‘emptystomach’ and ‘full-stomach’. I then go on to discuss how these categories are useful, as they highlight different perspectives on the ‘environmental crisis’, but are also limited, as developing countries such as India are hit by both kinds of problems.