Children who are part of MCF discuss environmental issues. Photo: MCF
At the COP 26 UN climate change conference in Glasgow last month, more than the speeches and promises of the global leaders, the resounding voices of the youth, inside and outside the venue, drew the world’s attention.
Speaking at the event, Vinisha Umashankar, a 14-year-old finalist of the EarthShot Prize, said, “Many of my generation are angry and frustrated at leaders who’ve made empty promises and failed to deliver. And we have every reason to be angry. But I’ve no time for anger. I want to act… I am an optimist.”
There is an emerging consciousness of a bleak future due to climate inaction among the Indian youth. A recent survey found them to be among the most worried in the world.
While ‘eco-anxiety’ among the youth is apparent, there has also been a rise in youth leadership and movements in India. However, conversations and reports about climate justice are often limited to urban areas. The efforts of the youth in semi-rural and rural areas don’t make it mainstream news unless acknowledged by a larger organisation, such as the UN.
Climate justice in Bundelkhand
Varsha Raikwar (27) has been hosting radio programmes focused on climate crisis for Radio Bundelkhand 90.4 since 2017, but it was the recent recognition by the UN as one of the 17 Young Climate Leaders as part of its #WeTheChangeNOW campaign that brought her meaningful attention.
Raikwar lives in the Niwari district of Madhya Pradesh, which has been suffering incessantly due to constant drought and water scarcity, among other issues.
“Addressing the climate crisis is as important as breathing. If you don’t have clean air and water, what else matters?” she says.
Four years ago, Raikwar started engaging people in conversations about the climate crisis in Bundelkhand through her radio programme, ‘Shubh Kal’ (Hindi for ‘Better Future’). Today, many of the 140 villages that Radio Bundelkhand covers have implemented sustainable changes in agriculture and daily living.
“From switching to organic manure, developing kitchen gardening to rainwater harvesting, these changes have boosted Bundelkhand’s environment. You can see the difference. There is more greenery. The land is recovering,” Raikwar said.
As a child, she often accompanied her father, a small farmer, to the fields, where questions such as ‘Why were the crops so unpredictable?; or Why is the water level decreasing?’ were often shrugged off with an “It is what it is.”
“I knew there were answers. I just had to find them,” says Raikwar, who is the first woman to work in her family. As she learned about the environment and the climate crisis through available resources, she realised, “We can’t fight this alone. Community awareness is crucial.”
However, focusing a radio programme on the climate crisis can be challenging. The foremost issue is getting people to listen.
“Initially, they were reluctant to have this conversation and often got defensive about their activities, so we had to be creative.”
So Raikwar created a comedic character named ‘Bero Bauji’, who often engaged in banter with her brother-in-law to talk about environmental concerns on her show. “It worked. If I said it, it was dismissed as preachy, but if Bero Bauji said it, people listened.”
Raikwar traveled extensively in the Bundelkhand area to understand the challenges people are facing and talk to them about climate awareness. “It’s important to tell them how this crisis is affecting them instead of just making them aware about it.”
Raikwar also talked about including the Dalits and members of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities who had been ostracised in the area by the savarnas, leaving them out of important conversations.
“We ensure that the meetings are called in a common place so that everyone gets the same information and are included,” she said.
Although climate consciousness should be inclusive, action can’t be expected from communities that have been denied access to resources. Put another way, climate justice is intrinsically link to the socio-cultural aspects of a place and can’t be treated as an isolated cause.
Bal sangathans take the lead
Further north, in the Vikasnagar block of Dehradun, Aditi Kaur, founder of Mountain Children’s Foundation (MCF), recognised the potential of youth leadership almost two decades ago.
In 2002, she created the MCF to promote leadership and action among children from mountain regions across, India following the International Conference on Mountain Children.
To further this cause, MCF encouraged the formation of ‘bal sangathan’, or children’s groups, composed mostly of teenagers tasked with taking the lead in different causes, from child rights awareness, health and sanitation to climate justice, in their villages.
“We often say children are the leaders of tomorrow but why are we forgetting that they are also the leaders today?” Kaur asked.
Aastha, for example, is president of one of the 52 bal sangathans. She helped her grandfather shift from plastic to paper bags at his provision store by teaching him how to make them.
The children started actively engaging in climate justice about four years ago. Although they are the least responsible for this crisis, they are the most affected. So it’s important to equip them with the knowledge and skills to build their resilience, Kaur said.
Last year, the bal sangathans held discussions on the causes of increasing pollution in their villages, and found answers in shopkeepers using plastic bags, village heads not ensuring proper waste disposal and littering roads with plastic wrappers, among others.
“They made paper bags and distributed them to shopkeepers, wrote to village heads about waste disposal issues and engaged in conversations with their families, other adults about using dustbins,” according to Kaur.
However, implementing these changes has been challenging as they’re often not measurable.
“Bringing about attitude changes is a slow process,” Kaur said. “We are teaching solutions that are not taught in schools, at least in government schools, where teachers are overburdened.” In a world driven by data, what’s not measurable often gets less funding, a barrier that MCF has been facing.
Today, the youth across India lead the fight against the climate crisis to save what’s theirs, and their voice should be amplified.
Aisiri Amin (she/her) is an independent journalist and co-founder of INKLINE, a media website featuring solutions-focused stories.