As I write this, India’s population is close to 1.5 billion and counting with no plans in place to control its growth. (After all, more the people, more the votes). In a previous post, I had said that I had shared with the didi’ I work with to be selfish in our work and we are forbidden from sharing any information. The reason is, ‘Why don’t we share it with the people not working with us? And if you teach them, then you bring in competition and then we slowly fail’. We have seen more of the downside of, ‘all of us together’ and ‘the more the merrier’.
Recently the COP28 took place in the UAE. Just a refresher, “Since COP21 in 2015, the COPs have revolved around how to implement the Paris Agreement, which has three main goals: keep global average temperature rise to ‘well below’ 2°C and pursue efforts to limit the rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels; adapt to climate change and build resilience; and align finance flows with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development’.
India has a huge role to play and I am very pessimistic about Urban India. Urban India always seems to take 1 step forward, and 2 steps back. Hey, don’t get angry with me. Look at the situation of Chennai, look at the degraded biodiversity and it seems that nature has no place in our society. I am raising grants for our enterprise and in many of my work reviews, no questions were asked about how we are positively impacting our environment. Creating livelihood and income opportunities is difficult, but is and will your employment or income-generating activity have a positive effect on the ecological environment of the village?
We are in a hopeless situation. Why? You ask. The counter, How long does it take to educate people about climate change? A few minutes or hours may be, but how long does it take to implement those changes? A lifetime for many and in the majority of the cases, never. We all talk about sustainability, how sustainable is your endeavor? how can you create a wider sustainable movement? Targeting macro sustainability is becoming difficult since the majority don’t care about it. It is hard for poorer countries to become sustainable but an opportunity to rigorously implement hard but necessary ecologically positive procedures for sustained growth and get out of the vicious cycle of poverty. Thus a chain reaction of micro-sustainable actions leading to macro output seems to be the only logical outcome for environmentally negative societies.
When it comes to saving our nation and our environment then, ‘the more the merrier’ and ‘all of us together’. Subjective with an objective approach
Let’s start with education.
- Making climate and sustainability a key part of the curriculum,
- Making school gardens and mini forests mandatory for larger schools to help educate students about the flora and fauna.
- Making statewide systems for Anganwadi and village school kitchen gardens means an end to supplement mid-day meals which in turn helps in cost reduction. (yes, I know, it seems far-fetched, but 10 years ago, If I told you AI would be able to take your job away, you would say that’s far-fetched. Dukaan cough cough!!!.)
I want my kids to grow up strong and I want them to succeed, I will give my kids everything, a good education, a good life, everything. If that were true, you would think about their kids, your grandkids and their kids, and how inflation, pollution, and climate change will negatively affect them but we don’t and we won’t because hypocrisy is in our blood just like false patriotism. We will cheer our country on when there is a cricket match or when we are at war sitting in the confines of our home but when it’s time to show your patriotism my saving our nation and our children, it’s ‘Dekha Jayega’
What we strive through Kinglee Xperience is to create a proper sustainable model without donations but through sustained livelihood opportunities which in turn spur forced positive change.
Don’t make a change for yourself, make it for your future generations. If that’s not a good enough reason then hell with this planet and everyone on it.