Reading enables us to remind ourselves about relationships that are possible and present. The selections listed below afirm and inform our reading about ways to engage with planet Earth. For more titles and / or shelf help please contact lib@bookwormgoa.in

Walking is a Way of Knowing In a Kadar Forest

Author: Madhuri Ramesh, Manish Chandi and Matthew Frame

Illustrator: Matthew Frame

Publisher: Tara Books

Language: English

Genre: Non Fiction

ISBN : 9789383145607

Price: Rs. 450/-

Age: 12+

The Little Rainmaker

Author: Roopal Kewalya

Publisher: Indian Pufin

Language: English

Genre: Fiction

ISBN: 9780143445869

Price: Rs. 250/-

Age: 12+

Jadav and the Tree Place

Author: Vinayak Varma

Illustrator: Vinayak Varma

Publisher: Pratham Books

Language: English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Marathi

Genre: Non Fiction

ISBN:

Price: Rs.55/-

Age: 6+

Where is Gola’s Home

Author: Chitra Soundar

Illustrator: Priya Kuriyan

Publisher: Tulika

Language: English, Hindi

Genre: Non Fiction

ISBN: 978-9350461808

Price: Rs. 125/-

Age: 4+

Lost and Found in Mumbai Koliwada

Author: Vinitha

Illustrator: Kripa

Publisher: People Place Project

Language: English

Genre: Realistic Fiction

ISBN: 9387280519

Price: Rs. 199/-

Age: 5+

Saving the Dalai Lama’s Cranes

Author: Neeraj Vagholikar

Illustrator: Niloufer Wadia

Publisher: Kalpavriksh

Language: English

Genre: Fiction

ISBN: 9788187945819

Price: Rs. 150/-

Age: 8+

Green Humour for a Greying Planet

Author: Rohan Chakravarty

Illustrator: Rohan Chakravarty

Publisher: Penguin

Language: English

Genre: Non-Fiction

ISBN: 9780143452959

Price: Rs. 399/-

Age: 12+

Salim Mamoo and Me

Author: Zai Whittaker

Illustrator: Prabha Mallya

Publisher: Tulika

Language: English

Genre: Non-Fiction

ISBN: 9789350469279

Price: Rs. 150/-

Age: 8+

Catch that Crocodile

Author: Anushka Ravishankar

Illustrator: Pulak Biswas

Publisher: Tara Books

Language: English

Genre: Fiction

ISBN: 978-93-83145-08-9

Price: Rs. 250/-

Age: 5+

Budgie Bridge and Big Djinn

Author: Ranjit Lal

Publisher: Harper Children’s

Language: English

Genre: Realistic Fiction

ISBN: 9353573211

Price: Rs. 137/-

Age: 11+

Our Toxic World: A Guide to Hazardous Substances in our everyday lives

Author: Aniruddha Sen Gupta

Illustrator: Priya Kuriyan

Publisher: Sage Publications

Language: English

Genre: Non Fiction

ISBN: 9788132103066

Price:

Age: 12+

The Fourth Friend

Author: Manoj Das

Illustrator: Sisir Datta

Publisher: National Book Trust

Language: English

Genre: Fiction

ISBN: 81-237-8776-6

Price: Rs. 55/-

Age: 8+

Out of the Way Out of the Way

Author: Uma Krishnaswami

Illustrator: Uma Krishnaswamy

Publisher: Tulika

Language: English

Genre: Fiction

ISBN: 978-81-8146-792-8

Price: Rs. 150/-

Age: 6+

My Big Book of Global Warming

Author:Geeta Dharmarajan, Kamala Das, Libby Hathorn, Margaret Jull Costa, Paulo Coelho

Illustrator:Tasneem Amiruddin. Vincent Willem van Gogh Aparna Bhandar, Rekha Krishnan

Publisher: Katha

Language: English, Hindi

Genre: Non- Fiction

ISBN: 9382454802

Price: Rs. 120/-

Age: 6+

Earth, Our Home

Author: Karthika Naïr, Salil Chaturvedi, Anushka Ravishankar and Sampurna Chattarji, Additional text by Bijal Vachharajani

Illustrator: Aindri C

Publisher: Pratham

Language: English

Genre: Poetry

ISBN:

Price: Rs. 50/-

Age: 5+

Tiger Boy

Author: Mitali Perkins

Illustrator: Jamie Hogan

Publisher: Duckbill

Language: English

Genre: Fiction

ISBN: 978-81-8146-792-8

Price: Rs. 295/-

Age: 8+

Year of the Weeds

Author: Siddhartha Sama

Publisher: Duckbill Books

Language: English

Genre: Realistic Fiction

ISBN: 9387103110

Price: Rs. 193/-

Age: 12+

“Many drops make a bucket, many buckets make a pond, many ponds make a lake, and many lakes make an ocean.”

– Percy Ross

Everyone is talking about climate change and global warming, but is everyone doing something about it? All of us love cleanliness, but do we love cleaning? While the world surely needs governments, leaders and policy makers to intervene and make major changes, each one of us can collectively make a significant difference. Schools and teachers have a major role in awakening students to this danger that needs to be fought against in every possible way. 

Ananda Foundation carried out a year-long project to clean a lake in Shaikpet in Hyderabad. The lake is in the midst of a residential area. Not only was the lake water polluted, but clean lakes provide us with a number of environmental benefits. They improve air quality and bring more biodiversity into the vicinity by way of flora and fauna. Lakes act as catchment areas and ease the impact of both floods and droughts by storing large amounts of water. 

Once upon a time Hyderabad was called the city of lakes having anywhere between 3000 and 7000 lakes till the 1970s. However, as of 2010, merely 500 lakes were under HUDA (Hyderabad Urban Development Authority). 

As of May 2018, HUDA records show that they maintain 169 lakes, which occupy an area of more than 10 hectares. As per existing government norms, no construction of any kind, irrespective of the ownership status is allowed on a lake bed. These rules, however, are frequently violated both by government and private agencies.

Kothacheruvu is a lake located in Shaikpet Mandal in the Film Nagar area of Hyderabad city. As with most lakes, the size of this lake today is much smaller than its original size. The lake was cordoned off with a fence in 2007. However, many encroachments were made and part of the fence wall was broken.

After several failed attempts, in the year 2019, Ananda Foundation, along with Kriti Social Initiatives and Udayan Care, embarked on a year long drive to #SaveKothacheruvu. The task at hand was not at all easy. The lake was covered in filth, the walking track around the lake was covered with weeds, it was being used by rowdies, and was strewn with alcohol bottles and unspeakable dirt and mess. Even outside the lake, around the fencing area, the street was filled with human feces, illegally parked vehicles and overflowing garbage bins. The stench emanating from these and the lake were unbearable and caused a major health hazard. Also the contamination from the lake water was seeping into the ground and in the long run would have affected the groundwater quality.

Where to begin was a big question. Though the lake was our target, we decided to begin by cleaning the surrounding area because –

1. The approach to the lake needed to be cleaned.
2. The residents in the slum adjoining the lake needed to be made aware that it is possible to live in clean surroundings and we needed to enlist their support and participation. 

How we did it 

We approached 

# The GHMC authorities. 

# Traffic police (to remove vehicles illegally parked around the lake, which were a hindrance to the cleaning measures). 

# Local residents from adjoining apartments and gated communities. 

We procured thick long gloves, masks and trash bags, made posters and sent out messages all over social media, calling for volunteers to come and join our cleaning drive every Sunday. Anyone who was willing to work for four weeks and more would receive a certificate of participation and appreciation from Ananda Foundation – this was especially to enlist the support of students. 

The first two weeks, volunteer turnout to clean the lake was good, but gradually the support declined. A programme to create awareness was organized and there was media coverage too. In the subsequent months, a group of regular and committed volunteers formed, who did much more than clean the filth around. Some of them spoke to nearby vendors who were throwing their garbage around, some made paper bags, some others used their influence to speak to governmental authorities, a local resident contributed to hiring a ‘JCB’ to clean the heavy junk materials dumped there. However, the group that brought some lightness and creative ideas to the entire cleaning process was a few students. They came up with the idea of breaking the glass (alcohol) bottles strewn around and spreading them in the area where vehicles came to illegally dump concrete and other rubbish into the lake and its surroundings! Hopefully flat tyres would keep them out. They also would come up with hilarious statements with regard to the rubbish that we found repulsive to handle. Each of them resolved to reduce the waste they generated in their individual capacity and in their own homes. 

When something is no longer useful, it goes to the landfill if it is not upscaled or recycled. A vegetable that is fresh is nutritious and fit to consume, the same thing when it begins rotting can be composted to make enriching manure, but if simply dumped as waste, the rotten vegetable releases harmful gasses and stench. If each of us reduces the waste that is generated from our homes, not only will our streets be cleaner, but our environment will also be healthier. This lake cleaning drive not just taught us the importance of conserving our water bodies but it also showed us how much we can do by reusing, recycling, upcycling and consuming only as much as we need to. 

It is heartening to note that at the end of a year-long clean-up, the GHMC intervened and stopped the dumping at the lakeside, they also rebuilt the broken parts of the wall encircling the lake. The garbage around the lake reduced significantly and the entire space is so much cleaner and beautiful.

Here’s what a few teachers and students who were part of the cleaning drive had to say.

Soujanya Obulappu (teacher) – The initial weeks of cleaning were very difficult when we felt nauseous seeing the filth and mess around. But later when each week we took pictures of the before and after scenes, it brought a sense of satisfaction and we would be enthused to clean vigorously. Each of us found our own strategies to clean thoroughly and using sticks and cardboard or other such materials around to aid us. My daughter too joined me in the later weeks and we found a meaningful activity to do on our Sundays. It also made us aware of being responsible while disposing waste at home, it made us think before throwing something out. I would love to be part of any such activity anytime in the future. We have only one Earth and instead of waiting for the authorities in power, each of us has to do our bit.

Sreekala Ganapathy (volunteer)

First few weeks of cleaning were very difficult. But later it became a zealous effort especially since I could see others take part willingly. It was a useful way to spend a Sunday morning. It brought purpose and meaning to the weekend. The result of just one hour collective cleaning brought a thrill I never experienced before. Cleanliness and hygiene should be inculcated from childhood and disorderliness should become unacceptable for everyone. 

Ankitha Chebiyam (student) 

We always hear about pollution in our water bodies but rarely get a chance to actually see it and much less do anything about it. So I was very excited to sign up for Ananda Foundation’s Lake cleaning drive. At first I was very hopeful and highly underestimated how tiresome the task would be. Eventually it became less of a task and more of a will to keep going. The experience allowed me to truly understand the importance of persistence. Throughout the course of our clearing drive we spoke and engaged with local individuals living in close proximity to the lake. I found it incredibly interesting how circumstances shape thinking and behaviour. I would love to be part of such projects again.”

The author works through Ananda Foundation for holistic and healthy learning and living and can be reached at anandseetha@gmail.com. You can visit her website at www.anandafoundationindia.org.

Greetings, Gurus of Green Warriors!

We know that you are keen to sensitize your students towards sustainability, climate change and related issues. So here is an annual plan for you, using which you can help your students explore critical issues, and also suggest ways in which they can go from awareness and knowledge to action.

We have divided the year into 12 themes, so that there can be a single focus each month. The first week of each month will be for students to learn about the issue, and the remaining three weeks, to plan and take action. While some actions have to be taken individually, others can be done in groups. You can decide how your class will go about it.

The flow here is only indicative and you can choose to take up the themes in whatever order works best for you. And if you think it makes sense to drop some themes and substitute with something more relevant to your students, please go ahead and do that.

Here’s to a Green Year!

Month 1: Water
Week 1: Learn about the issue
Research and answer this water quiz:

1. What is Day Zero?
2. How many people in India do not have access to clean drinking water?
3. How do you think we, as individuals, contribute to water pollution?
4. Research a way to measure the rainfall in your area on a given day.

Week 2: Focus on indoor use
Count all the taps and flushes inside your house. Check if any are leaking. Observe to the extent possible, how water is used. Is your younger sibling leaving taps open while they brush their teeth? Is the tap left open while dishes are being done? Estimate the daily water usage in the house – washing hands, bathing, toilet use, washing dishes, washing clothes, mopping, cooking, drinking, etc. Set a target by how much your household can reduce this and work on it with your family.

Week 3: Focus on outdoor use
Do you have a garden? Or maybe pots? How much water does this consume? What kind of water is this – regular water, recycled water? How can this usage be reduced?

How are the vehicles in your house washed? How often? Are hoses used to wash them or buckets? How can you reduce water use?

Week 4: Study water bodies around you
Visit a lake or tank or water body near you. Does it look healthy? What is the water level? Do any birds, animals, etc., use it? What uses is it being put to? Is pollution entering from anywhere? What role does it play in the lives of the community?

Prepare a photo-report on the status of the water body and share it with your suggestions on social media and with your friends around the locality.

Month 2: Electricity
Week 1: Learn about the issue

Find out roughly how much each of these sources contributes to India’s energy production

Find out how much electricity is used by each of these sectors in India:

Week 2: Focus on domestic use
Count all the electrical fittings in your house. Observe how electricity is being used – is someone leaving the lights and fans on when they leave the room? Is someone using AC even when it is not so warm? Study your electricity bill. How many units are you using? How much are you paying? Set a target by how much your household can reduce this. Take action!

Week 3: Use renewables
Do you have a solar geyser in your house? Or do you have panels for electricity? If so, are you and your parents happy with it? Can you convince a friend or neighbour to go in for the same?

If not, find out more about the requirements, the cost-benefit, etc., and discuss with your parents to see if you can get the same.

Week 4: Focus on school
In Week 2, you did an electricity audit of your home. Now, do the same for your school, working in groups. Prepare a report of findings and recommendations and present to the school management.

Month 3: Garbage
Week 1: Learn about the issue

1. What do the following terms mean:
   Upcycle
   Landfill
   Non biodegradable
   Toxic waste
2. According to a 2019 report in India Today, India produces more than 1.50 lakh metric tonne (MT) of solid waste per day. It is estimated that only 20% of this waste is processed and the remaining 80% is dumped in landfills. While people in small towns and villages generate about 0.17 kg per person/day, those in cities generate about 0.62 kg per person/day.

Why do you think people in cities generate so much more waste than people in villages?

Week 2: Focus on household garbage
Weigh the total garbage generated in your house per day (do it for three days and average it). How much is biodegradable and how much is not? How can you reduce each? Make a plan and implement.

Week 3: Start composting
If you have a garden, start a compost pit. If not, find out about composting in pots – there are even readymade composters available. You can easily find out how from the internet. There will be teething troubles and you have to work through them. But persistence will pay off.

Week 4: Focus on school
Make groups and study the garbage generation in school. Start a compost pit on the grounds. Focus on how to reduce paper waste as well as reuse and recycle it.

Month 4: Greening
Week 1: Learn about the issue
Find out:
a. How much oxygen does a mature tree produce in a year?
b. How much oxygen does a human need in a year?
c. How many trees are there around your house? Will they suffice for the people in the neighbourhood?
d. How does a tree:
i. help in reducing pollution?
ii. in regulating temperature?

Week 2: Trees around you
Take a count of the trees in your area – your colony, neighbourhood, nearby park, wherever. Estimate the height, measure the girth, and identify them (there are many sites that help you do this, e.g., flowersofindia.net/treeid/). Post about these on social media every week. Ask your friends to do the same. It will get a lot of people interested in trees!

Week 3: Plant a tree and care for it
We all talk about planting trees, but sometimes we don’t do it quite right. Resolve to plant a tree. Ensure that you plant the right tree (preferably one that is native to your location and one which does not require too much maintenance); plant at the right place (where the soil is good, and it is not likely to be eaten by animals or destroyed in other ways); plant at the right time (during the rains). Once you have decided on all these after research and survey, procure a sapling and take the help of a knowledgeable person to plant it. You need to visit, water, and take care of your tree till it reaches a good size.

Week 4: School tree action plan
Do a survey of the trees in the school and their status. Find out whether you can plant anymore. Prepare a plan and present it to the authorities and then go ahead, keeping all the tips above in mind.

Month 5: Outreach
Week 1: Learn about the issue
We all know smoking is bad, yet so many people smoke. We all know the use of fossil fuels is causing serious damage to our planet, yet we drive around in cars. There is obviously a big gap between ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’. Even when we know, it does not mean we will change our behaviour.

1. Find out what Behaviour Change Communication is.
2. Research the six stages of Behaviour Change Communication.

Week 2: Identify an issue
For this, you need to work in groups of 5-8. Each group should brainstorm, observe, and finalize a sustainability issue they want to create awareness about. A clear objective needs to be set, e.g., ‘increase car-pooling among students using private vehicles by 10%’; or ‘reduce paper waste in school by 20%’. Based on this, a Behaviour Change Communication Strategy needs to be drawn up after research – whom to target, what media to use and how critical messages can be shared.

Week 3: Prepare your communication tools
In discussion with your teacher, prepare posters, scripts, social media communication or whatever you have decided to use. Get your products produced, your performances practiced.

Week 4: Deploy your communication
Unleash your communications! Make sure you take feedback and monitor the impacts over the next few weeks and months. Discuss at the end of three months if you met your objective. Why? Why not?

Month 6: Conscious consumption
We as consumers drive the economy. If we want to change our fashion every six months, the fashion industry obliges, at a big cost to the environment. If we want cheap goods and services, industry will squeeze the wager of labourers. Conscious consumption means engaging in the economy with more awareness of how our consumption impacts the environment and society at large.

Week 1: Learn about the issue
Think about 3-4 products of everyday use. Research the environmental and social costs of their manufacture, use, and disposal.

Week 2: Focus on your wardrobe
Fashion production makes up 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions, dries up water sources, and pollutes rivers and streams. What’s more, 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year (UNECE, 2018) and washing some types of clothes sends significant amount of microplastics into the ocean.

Take stock of the clothes in your wardrobe. You probably don’t use half of them. Then why did you buy them? Make some resolutions – how often you will buy clothes, what kind of clothes you will buy, etc.

Week 3: Focus on clothes not in use
Think hard about how you will dispose of clothes you no longer use. Find out about organizations like GOONJ and see how they help in this issue. Or are there people nearer home you can give them away to? Whatever the option, ensure you wash, iron and mend the clothes before you give them away. This is the minimum respect we need to show for those who will use them after us.

Week 4: Focus on the community
Identify an institution where you can give clothes in bulk. Organize a collection drive in your colony or school. Ensure that you get only cleaned clothes in decent shape. Pack them well and deliver them to the institution.

Month 7: Out in Nature
Week 1: Learn about the issue
Who are these people?
i. Arachnologist
ii. Paleontologist
iii. Ichthyologist
iv. Lepidopterist

Read The Fall of a Sparrow, the biography of Dr. Salim Ali, India’s eminent ornithologist.

Week 2: Bird watching week
Get yourself a standard bird book – Book of Indian Birds by Dr. Salim Ali is a good place to start. Go to the section which tells you how to identify birds and then set out over the weekend. Note down the characteristics of the birds you see, take pictures and try to identify them. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t see too many. It takes patience and practice.

Week 3: Bug watching
Not necessarily only bugs, this is the week to look out for the myriad of smaller creatures around us. Butterflies, moths, bees, snails, ants, spiders, worms… keep a tab for the whole week on what you saw, where, and when. Proactively look for them. You WILL find some creatures anywhere you are – inside the house and outside. It will bring home to you that the Earth is not home just to us humans. In fact, we are far outnumbered by other creatures – there are an estimated 10 quintillion insects on Earth. Taking the human population at seven billion, there are thus 1,428,571,428.57 insects for every person on the planet. Rounding off, there are about 1.4 billion insects for every human. But only humans contribute to the serious destruction of the Earth, which is home to all!

Week 4: Bee buzz
Chemical pesticides have devastating effects on bees. And bees are essential for pollinating plants – in the wild and in cultivated areas. Research the impact of pesticides on bees, as well as alternatives. Switch from chemical pesticides to alternatives in your house. And discuss with your school authorities how this can be done in school also.

Month 8: Paper
Week 1: Learn about the issue
Find out:
i. How many trees it takes to make one tonne of paper.
ii. How much water is needed to make a tonne of paper.
iii. What per cent of paper in India is recovered for recycling? How does it compare with Japan, US, and Germany?
iv. India imports paper waste. True or False?

Week 2: Newspapers
Most homes get at least one newspaper. Find out what your family does with these once they are finished reading them. Are they stored and then sold to an old newspaper dealer? Accompany your parents on their next trip to the dealer and find out how much paper he gets every day, what he does with it, and what finally happens to the paper.

Also find out alternative uses – there are some NGOs which look for donations of papers to make paper bags, etc., with. Would you like to donate to them?

Week 3: White paper
While about 20% of paper is recycled in India, the proportion of white paper that gets recycled in much less. It is critical to ensure we reuse/recyle white paper. Towards this, take at least one of these actions during the week: donate old textbooks to younger students; donate other books to libraries; take out unused pages from old notebooks and stitch them together to make rough books; ensure that you always print on both sides, or use the second side for rough work.

Week 4: School plan
Form groups and study the paper usage and wastage in the school. Keep the points from Week 3 in mind. Develop a plan to reduce this by 10% in the next three months and put the plan in action with the help of your teachers.

Month 9: Reduce petrol consumption
Week 1: Learn about the issue
India is the world’s third-largest consumer of petrol and diesel. Find out the average monthly petrol and diesel consumption.

Find out the problems caused by pollution from these two fuels. Estimate how much pollution is caused by these fuels.

Week 2: Your petrol consumption
How do you go to school? Where else do you go regularly? How much fuel is consumed in a month? Resolve to cut your fuel consumption by 10% and then find ways to do this. Taking public transport, carpooling, cycling, cutting down on trips – all could figure in your plan.

Week 3: Your family consumption
How many vehicles does your family own? What is their total monthly consumption? Study your family’s vehicle usage pattern and come up with a plan. Share it with your family and convince them to cut the household consumption by 10%.

Week 4: School plan
Your school may have hundreds or even thousands of children commuting every day. In groups, study how different children commute, and how many use each type of transport. Interview students who use personal transport and try to convince them to reduce their school consumption. Share the findings of the interviews about reasons why some students use personal vehicles to come to school – maybe some changes can be made, e.g., starting more bus routes, or rationalizing routes, etc.

Month 10: E-waste
Week 1: Learn about the issue
Can you imagine what life would be without gadgets? Impossible, you say? Indeed!

But making all the circuits, transistors, microchips and other components that go into our laptops, printers, monitors, televisions, mobiles, etc., takes a big toll on the environment. Every device produced has a carbon footprint and contributes to global warming. Manufacture of a tonne of laptops releases about 10 tonnes of CO2. And once we are done with the devices, we are landed with e-waste. E-waste can be toxic, is not biodegradable and accumulates in the environment, in the soil, air, water, and living things. Find out what is e-waste and how it affects the environment.

Week 2: Gadget scavenger hunt
Every household has many discarded gadgets – mobiles, tabs, laptops, etc. Hunt them out and check which are in working condition. Consider what you want to do – give them away or give them to a shop for money or exchange. Many students and schools need devices. Try to find out about them and give them after refurbishment if needed. If something is not in working order, keep it aside for now.

Week 3: Find out about e-waste recyclers
There are now organizations that take e-waste and recycle them safely. Make groups and find out about such companies in your city or town. Have a discussion with them and find out the details – how can you get your waste to them, what will they do with it, etc. Let each group present about the dealer they have researched so that you can discuss which seems best.

Week 4: School plan
Schools often have large numbers of computers and other devices that have been replaced with newer models. As a class, make a survey, including how many are in working order and how many have to be discarded.

Discuss with school authorities and identify a nearby school which could use these. Refurbish and give them the computers.

Organize a collection drive in the school so all the students and teachers can bring in their e-waste. Tie up with the e-cycler of your choice to collect these from the school on a designated day.

Month 11: The food we eat
Week 1: Learn about the issue
Did you know that agriculture and livestock contribute close to 20% of GHG emissions? Find out how. Also find out what is climate-smart agriculture.

Week 2: Reduce food waste
The less food we waste, the less food that needs to be produced. Study the food habits of your family. Does anyone in your house leave food on the plate? What do you do with leftover food? During food preparation, are there parts that can be used but are being discarded? Based on your understanding of how serious the situation is, prepare a plan to cut down on food waste in your home.

Week 3: Reduce your food carbon footprint
What are the main foods cooked in your house? Make a list of the ingredients that go into these. Find out the carbon footprint of each of these items. Discuss with your family how you can make a shift to menus with less carbon footprints.

Week 4: Source locally
Apart from food production, transport of food also involves carbon emissions. So the more locally you buy, the better. Help your family to buy from your local vegetable and fruit vendors or even from nearby farms; buy seasonal vegetables; buy freshly-grown vegetables.

Month 12: Volunteering
Week 1: Learn about the issue
A volunteer is a person who does something, especially helping others, willingly and without being either paid or forced to do it. To see the difference that volunteers can make, visit the iVolunteer site and the Better India site. Read about five volunteers and make a poster on their work. On the last day of the week, all the posters can be displayed.

Week 2: Visit week
With the help of your teachers, make groups of 6-8 and organize visits to different institutions in your area that use volunteers. Have a discussion with the head of the institution before the visit, understand the dos and don’ts, and brief your classmates and ensure that the visit is conducted with utmost respect and empathy. During the visit, find out what the institution does, how, and how you can volunteer. Let each group prepare a presentation on their visit.

Week 3: Volunteering planning
Let all the groups present their visit experiences. Then each one can decide where they would like to volunteer depending on what resonates with them. With the help of the teacher, rationalize who will go where and form groups of reasonable size. Discuss the details of the visits with the organization and plan your volunteering. Be practical – start small. Don’t plan on going twice or thrice a week, you probably will not be able to.

Week 4: Start volunteering
Start your volunteering after proper briefing from the organization. Keep notes and discuss your experiences with other group members and the teacher. Stick with the organization at least for three months.

Green Gurus, these are just a few ideas to get your students on the path of thinking about and taking action for the environment. As they grow more interested, set them challenges – finding substitutes for plastic straws, researching environment-friendly building designs, installing water-efficient flushes in the school, etc. With your support, they can change the world!

The author worked at Centre for Environment Education for close to two decades. After that she set up and headed the CSR arm of the GMR Group. She writes for children and teachers, as well as others. Her latest book is: Doing Good: Navigating the CSR Maze in India (Harper Collins). She can be reached at meena.raghunathan@gmail.com.

Change in the Earth’s climate and its adverse effects are a common concern of humankind. The very expression ‘common concern’ means that the climate system is fundamental to our collective survival. The effects of climate change are so widespread, pervasive, and life-threatening that it is no longer an issue to be discussed and debated among a small number of people with specialized interest.

The carbon dioxide effect
Climate is different from weather. The former is a long-term phenomenon and is predictable. In contrast, the weather is a short-term phenomenon and variations are experienced only for a few days. When we talk about climate change, we are talking about human activity that directly and indirectly alters the composition of the global atmosphere. This alteration is in addition to the natural variability observed over comparable time periods. Before debating climate change, it is very important that children learn the science of climate change. Unlike most air pollutants, carbon dioxide (CO₂) – which is primarily responsible for climate change – occurs naturally in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, along with oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen, is actually necessary for human life on Earth. Without it, the Earth will be colder and uninhabitable for humans. But a balance is necessary. To this naturally present carbon dioxide, mankind adds approximately another six billion tons by burning fossil fuels and cutting down trees. The vast expansion of human activities resulting from industrialization and population growth has led to increased emissions and higher atmospheric concentrations of several greenhouse gases (GHG).

The accumulation of GHG in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution has gone to a level that does not allow heat to be absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere anymore, rather it is directed back to the Earth, raising the Earth’s temperature. Carbon can stay in the atmosphere for a hundred years or more which means that the carbon we are releasing today is likely to contribute in raising the Earth’s temperature many years later. Thus, the generations to come will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change. A rise in global mean surface temperature results in melting of polar ice-caps, melting of glaciers and consequent rise in sea-level. The other extremes of weather which are being experienced at regular intervals are change in precipitation patterns causing drought, desertification, flash floods, and forest fires.

Mitigating climate change
Why are human beings not able to deal with this problem? What is it that needs to be done to address this challenge? Why is this important to be discussed and taught at the school level? This problem demands involvement of people, especially young minds, to find solutions to a carbon neutral world. Since the problem is human induced (anthropogenic), its solution is also in the changing of production and consumption patterns by human beings. The challenge is that climate change is not just an environmental problem but an economic one too. People cannot be prevented from growing rice, travelling in vehicles and manufacturing daily use items. The effects of climate change are felt in the future (delay of many decades and then irreversible, unavoidable consequences) and it is unknown where its severity will be felt most and whose emission is responsible for the effects of climate change. The central feature of climate change is its temporal dimension. Human tendency is to discount the future. This is a kind of massive social trap, the fundamental reason that prevents people from becoming carbon-neutral.

International efforts to fight climate change
If the world is to remain safe from the catastrophic consequences of climate change, it has been agreed upon by many countries in Paris in 2015 that global average temperature must be restricted to below 2 degrees Celsius as compared to pre-industrial levels. Secondly, the world has to become carbon-neutral by 2050, which means a balance has to be achieved by that time between human induced emissions (anthropogenic emissions) and their removal by sinks (dissolution of CO₂ in the oceans and its absorption by plants during photosynthesis). The other greenhouse gases, methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) are destroyed primarily by photochemical reactions in the atmosphere. But discounting methane in the run-up to the stabilization of GHG concentrations in the atmosphere would be a wrong approach as the global warming potential of methane over a hundred year time as compared to carbon is very high.

Stable GHG concentrations are possible only if there is a balance between the amount we produce and the amount that is absorbed by Nature. And so far mankind has not been able to strike any kind of balance. The effects of climate change will also be felt disproportionately. Small island states, least developed countries and vulnerable groups and areas in developing countries will bear the brunt most. The efforts of the international community to deal with climate change fall into two categories: (i) mitigation (reduction in GHG) (ii) adaptation (coping with the adverse effects of climate change). It is to this effect that several countries, under the aegis of the United Nations (UN), have become signatories to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 1992 and the Paris Agreement (PA) on Climate Change 2015. In the backdrop of these legal instruments, the governments of as many as 193 countries meet annually and take stock of the efforts and obligations discharged by the member countries. But are these efforts adequate? What is common to all these efforts is to stop concentrations of GHG at 450 parts per million or restrict global average temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius as compared to pre-industrial levels. The objective of the entire climate change debate is enshrined in Article 2 of the UNFCCC – “Stabilization of GHG concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human-induced) interference with the climate system.” In the PA, the signatories have been asked to aspire to the ambitious goal of restricting global average temperature to below 1.5 degree Celsius. This goal must be achieved within a timeframe. Achieving the goal within a timeframe will allow “ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner.”

Lessons of ecology and inter-generational equity
The severity of the impact of climate change – hurricanes, flash floods, drought, desertification and destruction of coastal ecosystems and associated livelihood – will be felt by future generations or generations yet to be born. It involves restraining the present to liberate the future. Students cannot be expected to become climate change activists overnight. They must be taught in theory as well as in practice the four laws of ecology: (i) Everything is connected to everything else (there is interconnection among different living organisms, between populations, species, and individual organisms and their physiochemical surroundings) (ii) Everything must go somewhere (in every natural system, what is excreted by one organism as waste is used by another as food. Animals release carbon dioxide as respiratory waste, which is an essential nutrient for green plants. The latter excrete oxygen, which is used by animals.) (iii) Nature knows best (the teacher must demystify the assumption that human beings are possessed of unique competence. Mankind with the help of modern science and technology can “improve on nature”. Teachers must tell their students that any man-made change in the natural system is likely to be detrimental to that system.) (iv) There is no such thing as free lunch (anything extracted from Nature by human beings must be replaced. Payment of this price cannot be avoided; it can be delayed. The present environmental crisis is a warning that we have delayed far too long.)

Students have to be taught in such a manner that the seeds of the principle of intergenerational equity are planted in them. The human species is responsible for the natural environment of our planet. As members of the present generation, we hold the Earth in trust for future generations. At the same time, we are beneficiaries entitled to use and benefit from it. There are two relationships that must shape any theory of intergenerational equity in the context of our natural environment: our relationship with other generations of our own species and our relationship with the natural system of which we are a part.

Involving children in climate change complaints and litigation
In the drive against climate change, the teacher and students can together learn how they can contribute and be part of solutions. Apart from awareness drives, starting public campaigns, etc., they can also become part of legal solutions. There are cases from around the world of how children have stood up for the environment. The Minors Oposa vs. Factoran case from the Philippines is an example. In this case, the plaintiffs were minors (represented by their parents) and the defendant, Philippine Ecological Network, a non-profit organization. The complaint sought to prevent the cutting down of timber by the defendant. The Supreme Court of Philippines held that the parents, on behalf of the plaintiff children, correctly asserted that the children represented their generation as well as generations as yet unborn. Teachers must be aware of the fact that there is an international legal instrument on protecting the rights of children (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989). The instrument can be used by children in their fight against climate change. In a historic ruling on October 11, 2022, in a case by 16 children (plaintiffs) against Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany and Turkey, the United Nations Child Rights Committee (a body charged to implement the Child Rights Convention) ruled that these countries knew about the effects of climate change, were signatories to the UNFCCC, and yet they did not initiate adequate measures to prevent the current climate crisis from happening. The children also added in their complaint that the effects of climate change go beyond their territories which affect children’s right to life, lack of food, and shelter.

Challenges in achieving carbon neutrality
India has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2070. There are more than 100 regional governments, 800 cities and 1500 companies that have adopted organizational net-zero targets. One in five corporations in the Forbes Global 2,000 list has set a voluntary net zero target. Children can be made part of the GHG mitigation efforts by nudging them towards public transportation. This is going to have multiple benefits apart from GHG reduction. Such a move will result in reduction of air pollution, reduction of costs, reduction of congestion, managing growth and increasing mobility. Children can put pressure on governments to prepare emissions profile of cars, trucks, and major building in cities. In fact, children can help us move towards a carbon neutral lifestyle. With the help of experts, children can be made to learn some of the aspects of regulating energy in buildings, especially in school buildings; they can also discuss this with their parents towards replicating it in their homes. One crucial aspect in dealing with the issue of climate change and in transition towards clean energy is the issue of equity, which means those who are consuming or have consumed more energy in the past have a greater responsibility to change their lifestyle in the run-up to carbon neutrality. It is in this context that the call for Lifestyle for Environment (LIFE) issued by Prime Minister Modi and the UN Secretary General, jointly in India, assumes importance. While focusing on a change in lifestyle, what is important is that the consumers in countries that consume at an unsustainable pace and contribute to rising emissions have a greater responsibility to clean up the planet and support the growth of green energy.

Renewable energy now costs less*, and this will facilitate in our transition towards zero-carbon electricity. In most other sectors, the transition to net zero-emission is still uncertain. In some of the sectors like heavy industries, buildings, food and agriculture, aviation, and mining, zero-carbon solutions exist, but they are still very costly. The idea to phase out coal to become carbon neutral is appealing, but coal is found in abundance in many countries including India and therefore cheap. Coal is used to generate electricity and to provide dignified living to millions of people who cannot afford expensive green energy. Just and affordable supply of clean and green energy to everyone, especially in poor countries, requires huge amount of financial resources and technology to be channelled from the rich countries. The poor countries deserve to be supported for two obvious reasons: (i) they contribute the least in the creation of the problem but suffer the most (ii) in comparison to the rich, the poor countries have least resources to tackle climate change induced problems.

Note: I dedicate this article to my late wife Shazia Jamal, who was a school teacher.

*Sam Fankhauser, Stephen M. Smith and others, “The Meaning of Net Zero and How to Get it Right”, Nature Climate Change, vol. 12, January 2022, 15-21.

The author is a senior assistant professor in International Environmental Law, at the Indian Society of International Law, New Delhi. He can be reached at sadatshazia@gmail.com.

Imagine…
Close your eyes. Imagine that you are a rock as big as a football. Your home is on a sunny hillside and you can see down into a deep valley with a river gushing far below. You like your home. Sometimes it is very hot here. Can you feel the sunlight warming you?

During the winter, you get worried about the ice that freezes in the crack on top of you. This crack grows bigger each year because the ice pushes hard on the sides of the crack.

One spring it is very wet, wetter than you can ever remember. Rain pours down in little streams rushing down the hillside. Feel the water flowing over you and into the soft mud below.

Suddenly you feel the Earth rumbling and shaking. You look up and a large wall of mud rushes down and sweeps you up. You begin to roll down, down, down into the valley. Ow! You hit another rock and split along the crack that has been growing every year. Now you are two halves rolling down the hill.

Splash! You land in the river. For days and days, you are pushed by the swift, strong waters. Rolling and bumping along you are breaking into gravel and sand. Finally, the river enters the ocean and your many pieces settle onto a large, flat area along with millions of pieces of sand, gravel, and silt.

Some pieces settle on top of you and you are getting squished. You yell out, “Stop pushing!” but more and more weight presses down. Your pieces get pushed and stuck together with other pieces. You are now hardening and becoming a sedimentary rock.

The pressure grows and you begin to get warmer and warmer. You change colour and form into many hard crystals. Now you’re a metamorphic rock.

You keep getting pushed further down. It is hot. It is boiling hot! Everything begins to melt and you are part of a hot mass of melted rock called magma deep underground. It seems like forever that you are part of this big melted sea of rock. Will you ever see the sun again? You want to be back on your hillside feeling the hot sun, and cool wind, and rain.

Wait, you’re being pushed up and the Earth is shaking and rumbling again. You are rising higher and higher. Fire, ash, dust, and steam surround you and with a loud explosion, you burst out of the top of a volcano. Red, hot lava is all around. You are a scalding, steamy piece of lava shooting through the air when, suddenly, you land on a high point of volcano away from the hot flow of lava below.

Slowly the volcano begins to settle down and the lava cools and hardens. You are now a cold, grey igneous rock on top of a high volcano looking down at a river flowing far below. When the dark ashes blow away and the sky clears, the sun comes out and warms you, high up on the volcano – your new home.

We all experience stories. I have been travelling and telling stories for the past 40 years and I have felt my stories as I touched them and smelt them. Yes! I have noticed the weather change the Earth’s colours, the missing trees replaced by buildings and structures, and feel their pain in my being. As I visit the same places again and again like the Himalayas or the mountains in South India I know that those rare birds have all flown away, that the butterflies have vanished.

After a recent training session, I was returning from the mountains. The shadows lengthened as I left the quiet valley of the Himalayas in a taxi. There was heavy traffic and the taxi halted. I peered out the window and noticed a butterfly gracefully seated upon a round brown rock. I thought – butterflies have such a short and sweet life; it is so colourful, seated upon a rock that has perhaps been here since the Earth evolved. There is so much harmony between the living and non-living forms of nature. The essence of the living butterfly was its colour, which added a touch of beauty to that rock.

In that expression of nature, I discovered a space that was vast. There was also a lonely and solitary tree that stood alone on a hill. The tree was huge and the grass beneath so short, yet they co-existed.

My eyes went back to the butterfly. I think butterflies are the most beautiful creatures. Most butterflies, like this one, I know, have large wings and are brightly coloured. Looking at the rock on which the butterfly was resting, I remembered the two most important rocks that made up the Earth’s surface – granite and basalt. Granite is found almost all over Bengaluru, especially near Ramnagaram. It would be a great place for rock climbing, don’t you think? How the Earth hides its story in these rocks!

I remembered an old Native American story of the rock that told a tale to a boy named Naho. Native Americans believe that Grandfather Rock was the first storyteller in the world. So, each day the rock told Naho a story, and then one day, he said, “I have told you all my stories. You will pass these stories on to your children and other stories will be added to them as the years pass.” Thus it was that stories came into the world.

As I came out of my reverie, I wondered what would happen if this butterfly died on this rock. It will be caught in the sediment of this rock, leaving its imprint behind. It might even become a fossil later on. People may try to find an explanation for this butterfly and dig out facts about it ages later. This rock is a witness to the constant changes in this world. Each rock has a world within it. The rock gave me a sense of strength.

My taxi started again with a jolt, I saw the butterfly flit away. It flew to a nearby forest. As the taxi began to descend I witnessed a forest fire. This was the first time I was experiencing something like this at such close quarters. The smoke filled the road and the driver was unable to steer the taxi through the thick smoke. Trees bent and fell and I had to reach Kadgodam station for my train. I was actually witnessing what people were discussing at my training – CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS EFFECTS.

I reached home and narrated what I had just experienced to my daughter. She pulled out a book on butterflies and we found out that what I saw on the rock was an Indian leaf butterfly. It was a beautiful yellow butterfly that matched the brown rock so well. Noticing that I was sad my daughter asked me, “Are you sad that the butterfly flew away from the rock or troubled by the forest fire?” I smiled and told her that things pass, and so do the best and worst moments of life.

I wrote my diary that day…
What is the butterfly effect?
In China a butterfly flaps its wings, leading to unpredictable changes in US weather a few days later.
The epic 3,000-mile monarch butterfly migration may become a thing of the past. Each fall, monarchs travel from their summer homes in the northern US and Canada to winter habitats in California and Mexico.
Imagine that you lived in a country, where unknown to you was a giant cauldron beneath and someone had just lit the wood piled under that cauldron.
At first you might say, “Does it seem hotter?”After a while, the plants might start to wilt, wildlife begin to relocate or even die, the days might seem warmer and there maybe fewer cool days, and you are saying, “You know, it does seem hotter.”
Pretty soon the consequences get more disastrous and widespread, and eventually it is hard to continue living in the drastically changed climate of your world.

The greatest danger to humanity from climate change is the extinction of life on this planet in a short period of time. An event such as this would make it near impossible for humans to survive. Think about what would happen if plants became extinct, including the ones we cultivate. And herd animals. And bees and other plant pollinators. Every year our country witnesses forest fires, floods, droughts affecting irrigation, resulting in a huge loss to the economy, as well as to poor farmers (many of whom surrender and commit suicide).

In the recent floods in Assam, millions of people have been displaced and thousands have died. If we include the after effects, the losses would be many times higher. All this happened within a year of the landslide in Uttarakhand, where also tens of thousands died. Even as I write this a massive cyclone is being alerted in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

You still want to question climate change? We must accept our inability to confront and mould nature as per our demands and wishes.

The author is an internationally acclaimed storyteller, author, trainer and academician. She founded Kathalaya’s International Academy of Storytelling in 1998 which offers certified courses for adults in storytelling. Geeta has trained over 94,491 people in the art and has won many accolades for storytelling. She has recently published a book, Tales from the World. She can be reached at geetastory56@gmail.com or kathalaya@gmail.com.