Responding to climate change today encompasses two things:

1. Reducing our emissions and stabilizing the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (we call this climate change ‘mitigation’);
2. Adjusting to the actual and expected climate (which is referred to as ‘adaptation’).

There is a variety of instruments that are needed to achieve that – political regulations, financial and technological incentives – but this only works if people understand what climate change is and how to act upon it. So we need to change the way individuals think and act to “change minds, not the climate”, and education is crucial to achieving the dramatic transformation that is needed.

Education is an essential element of the global response to climate change. It helps people understand and address the impact of global warming, increases “climate literacy” among young people, encourages changes in their attitudes and behavior and helps them adapt to climate change-related trends. Education and awareness-raising enable informed decision-making, play an essential role in increasing adaptation and mitigation capacities of communities, and empower women and men to adopt sustainable lifestyles.

At a time when students across the world are skipping school to raise awareness around the climate emergency and protest to ensure concrete action for our planet and their future, a major change is needed in the way government forms its environmental & educational policies. It should aim to make education a more central and visible part of the international response to climate change and to ensure it is effectively applied & implemented.

There is already a strong international mandate for climate change education today, which we can appreciate through the successive adoption of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, and the Paris Agreement, which all include education in their provisions. Now this mandate needs to be put into action.

One important aspect of the government should be emphasizing on, is the importance of social-emotional and behavioral learning. In a survey on climate change implementation by UNESCO, they found that most countries still focus on cognitive knowledge – which is important of course, but we need to touch people’s heads, hearts, and hands to help them understand the causes and impact of global warming today. Governments need to further tap into the power of social, emotional, and behavioral learning. We need to harness all aspects of learning need to make that change happen.

Our approach to schools and education also needs to drastically change in order that it essentially seeks to incorporate sustainability into all aspects of a school, and to involve the community, to create a learning environment where students and educators breathe and live sustainability.

Playing in the rain is something children do everywhere – and as the rains get more extreme, they still seem “normal” to a child. It is only later when they encounter information about climate change in a school that they realize the harm they see every day.

A recent survey by educational company Brainly found that 79% of Indian students feel it's important to study climate change and environmental conservation.

India is one of the few countries where environmental education is compulsory in formal education. But 65% of the Indian population remains unaware of climate change as a problem, according to Yale University. Of the remaining 35% - mostly educated people – 80% see it as a serious threat.

Climate and environmental education are paramount to equip the new generation with the knowledge, awareness, and skills needed to tackle climate change and other environmental challenges, and in 2019 leaders at the COP25 climate conference called on all countries to commit to climate education by COP26.

India’s first endeavor to include environmental education in formal education was made under the National Policy on Education in 1986. The National Curriculum Framework, in 2005, further stressed the integration of environmental issues and recommended project-based learning.

In 2016, the UGC introduced a six-month compulsory course on environmental studies for undergraduates from all disciplines.

But the themes introduced in our schools and colleges are far away from the immediate concerns of climate change.

They are mostly centered on information like environmental laws, wildlife protection, Supreme Court decisions, and things like the kinds of grasses grown in India. They don’t talk about greenhouse effects, health concerns from climate change, impacts of a changing climate, and other important topics.

Environmental education in India is strongly influenced by rapid economic development,  which has led to a pile of environmental issues due to natural resource depletion.

The extent of pollution, overpopulation, rapid deforestation and overexploitation of natural resources in the race to become a global economy has also transformed the Indian education system to produce consumers that can contribute to the global economy.

Practical knowledge is very important in climate education. In the syllabus, there should be mention of environmental problems students face in their everyday lives. Then complex global environmental problems should be connected to this.

When students realize how closely linked environmental issues are to their lives and future, they will be motivated to conceive solutions. It will develop a behavioral change in them.

The curriculum should promote experimental learning to make students directly engage in solving the environmental problems in their surroundings. Beyond textbooks, students should be taught about realities on the ground. The educational institution should organize debates and propose solutions to environmental challenges with environmentalists.

Teachers also need training programs to give them confidence and knowledge in facilitating climate change and sustainability education inside and outside the classroom.

For now, our education system is apathetic towards climate education – a bit like it has been to “Moral Science” education.

Teachers should be trained to help young people understand the causes and consequences of climate change, bring about changes in attitudes and behaviors to reduce the severity of future warming, and build resilience to it.

That would lead to climate literacy in India’s Resultantly, it will lead to the climate literacy of India’s nearly 25 crores (250 million) school students. It will boost India’s fight against climate change if even half of these students take climate issues seriously.

Environmental education is the way to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, an essential tool to fight the climate crisis. It can prompt a profound cultural change that contributes to our planet’s sustainability.

As the world is prepared for COP26 in November, it’s time for India to adopt an environmental and climate education policy that works.

I, along with all the Young Climate Activists demand the Education & Government leaders of India include Climate Education in schools.

Let us not forget that Young People have the power to change the world!

With hope & your support,

Aniket Gupta, Young Changemaker

Along with Aditya Dubey, Dwishojoyee Banerjee, Seher Taneja & Vivek Gaurav