Halting climate change
SAKSHI KUNDRA
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As the climate patterns undeniably change across the world, can the power of youth be harnessed to change things for the better? This group of like-minded friends thinks so.
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IYCN aims to stay connected to grassroots and make a difference to the way Indians, especially rural Indians, adapt to a world plagued by the changing climate.
Photo: Sakshi Kundra
IDEAS FOR CHANGE: Participants at ‘Badlaav 2009’ in New Delhi.
The battleground is ready. Citizens of Youngistan have decided that it’s high time they did something about the recurring assault against them. It’s a battle for survival. Youngistanis are ready to change climate change and curb it as far as possible.
The climate patterns around the world are changing fast; resulting in floods, draughts, cyclones and even tsunamis that make vast regions of earth uninhabitable. There is no denying climate change any longer, with even the big fellows like G8 acknowledging its presence.
“We will be there 25-30 years down the line, to face the impact of climate change. So we cannot just sit back,” says Anoop Singh Poonia, co-ordinator at Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN).
IYCN was founded in March 2008 by Kartikeyan Sen with his network of like-minded friends. Sen was motivated by the lack of representation from the second most populous country at the 2007 UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia. He decided that it was time Indians made their voices heard on the issue of climate change.
In addition to talking and negotiating at international level, IYCN aims to stay connected to grassroots and make a difference to the way Indians, especially rural Indians, adapt to a world plagued by the changing climate.
This past week Delhi witnessed youngsters from across the country joining forces against climate change at Badlaav’09, organised by IYCN to train and facilitate exchange of ideas amongst youth to make them “climate leaders.”
Youngsters from Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Meerut, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu participated in the event that sought to bring together the scientific, social, political, financial and even spiritual aspects of climate change.
The participants came from diverse backgrounds, from engineering students to commerce undergrads. While some, like Rohit Vishwakarma from Mumbai, came to be aware of the financial feasibility of sustainable development, others like Surbhi Chaudhary from Delhi participated to know how they could organise community-wide action against climate change.
Hitesh Joshi, an engineering student from Bangalore who along with Abida has developed ‘Alfuel’ (biofuel made from algae), took part in the event to have exposure to a wider set of ideas on the changes and innovations required to adapt to climate change. Hitesh has filed a patent on the fuel that he claims can be made on an industrial scale profitably and is a lot more eco-friendly and efficient than conventional fuels. He adds that since the algae can be grown in waste water, the technology used to make the fuel also serves to clean waste water.
Green Dreams
With a membership of students from 12 engineering colleges in Kerala, Green Dreams seeks to save the ecology and by extension the climate pattern in the God’s own country. The Green Dreams team was at Badlaav 2009 to be able to connect with and learn from the other climate-change-conscious youth groups in the country. Speaking the language of youth, that is, style and action, Green Dream member Arun Raj says that youngsters need to be attracted to reusable and sustainable products by giving these things a sense of fashion. In their bid to make reusable items more stylish, Green Dreams have come up with concepts like tin bin, which would be made of soft drink cans that are normally thrown away. The group also intends to hold ‘Car week’ across the State during which they will organise mass pollution check camps for cars.
While the group from Kerala intends to develop attractive sustainable products from waste, Swaroop Dandank a product designing student from Nasik, has taken up the path of abstention from plastic. A personal crusader of sorts, Swaroop inspired a lot many participants at Badalaav’09 to make changes in their own lifestyles before lobbying for change in policies. Aspiring to move to a minimum carbon footprint lifestyle, Swaroop came to the summit to learn how he could drive the message for need to change for climate change to other youngsters.
Badlaav 2009 saw workshops on community radio, lobbying, street theatre, fundraising, spirituality and zero waste in addition to lively discussions on the feasibility of renewable and nuclear energy sources. Film screenings and flash mob dance were also included.
However, pointing towards the fact that the summit was not just meant for fun, and cannot be dismissed as such, Saleem Ali, a research student from the Centre for Climate Change at Anna University, Chennai, said that it was a platform for increasing awareness about the reality of climate change. He stressed that simple environment-conscious acts could go a long way in curbing climate change.
In December this year, an international treaty will be signed at the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen, committing the world to trying to stop dangerous climate change. IYCN intends to exert massive pressure on the international community, on India’s behalf, through direct action and lobbying for a truly effective and genuine treaty. Badlaav’09 was intended to set the stage for same.
Optimistic about youth power and ability to change things for the better, Arun Raj from Green Dreams says, “We have little sparks of ideas and when we come together at a platform like this, those sparks come together and create a blast.”
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