The youth in India are aware of the seriousness of climate change and their responsibility as contributors, but fall short on a call for action, said a survey commissioner by the British Council last October. The survey focused on the attitude of urban Indian aged 18-35 years towards climate change and encompasses Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.
According to Saswant Bandyopadhyay, head of environmental planning at Cept University, this trend was also observed in the youth in Ahmedabad. “I was recently part of an event where we tried to engage the students of a notable commerce college in the city to collaborate on a project addressing climate change. At the end of the event, a couple of them stood up and told me: ‘We find the environment a boring subject as it’s always about someone telling us what we can’t do’,” he said.
Speaking at an event organised by British Library at the Cept campus on Saturday, to illustrating the results of the survey, young entrepreneur Siddhartha Jaiswal, co-founder of Joos, echoed Bandyopadhyay’s sentiments. He said there was still a lack of urgency in the youth regarding climate change.
Using the urgency/importance quotient of Stephen Covey, the bestselling author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Jaiswal said, “Young people are putting climate change in the wrong box, thinking it highly important but not very urgent.”
Using Stephen Covey’s urgency/importance quotient, the co-founder of organic food start-up, Joos said, “Right now, young people are putting climate change in the wrong box, thinking it is highly important but not very urgent. The issue has already moved to the high importance-high urgency box, but are we ready to make that shift?”
This is a very pertinent question not just for youth but for India as a young and developing country. According to Director of Centre for Environment Education, Kartikeya Sarabhai, the western model of development and industrialisation has led to most of the world’s environmental problems. “As a young nation, we are able to look at the mistakes of developed countries as well as their efforts to rectify these mistakes. We can choose to follow the same model, or we can follow what is called leapfrog development, where we go straight to a more sustainable model,” said Sarabhai who also chaired the discussion n Saturday.
The complete results of the survey will be fully accessible to the public within the next month.
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