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Note from: Bhoomi Network, Bangalore
Why are Schools playing the fiddle while the Earth is burning?
Can Schools be nodal points to deal with real life issues?
We are living in times when it is difficult to relax with optimisim and faith, that somehow, somewhere, some people will make everything all right with the world.
Every day we get more and more information about the biggest problem faced by humankind in millennia - global warming and climate chaos. Along with these we are living amidst so many crises today - terrorism and possibility of wars, food insecurity, mindless consumerism and depletion of natural resources. And individual and media apathy when it comes to real problems - 2 lakh farmers committing suicide does not affect us as much as 200 people victimised in a terror attack.
The best unbiased thinkers today seemed to be agreed that all these crises are interlinked, and that we are in the grip of many vicious cycles kept alive by the dominant techno-socio-economic-political system in the world today. These include the kind of large democracies we have, globalisation, a capitalist system with huge trans-national corporations which are bigger than many governments, which corrupts politicians and doesn't allow change and so on.
The mind-boggling nature of these crises, and the very human propensity to go into denial when faced with huge problems, make us look the other way and continue with work as usual and our various pastimes.
Should schools also play the fiddle like everyone else, while Earth is burning?
R.K. Pachauri, who received the Nobel Prize on behalf of the IPCC, as well as several others working on Climate Change, are sure that individual life-style change is as important as governmental action. In any case the debates between the developed and 'developing' nations in world summits are not getting anywhere as yet and per capita carbon emissions are still on the rise.
There are three simple reasons why schools need become nodal points to help the world deal with climate change:
- Most of the individuals in schools are children whose future is more endangered than that of adults.
- Schools profess to educate; and education should include first of all include concerns for survival and well-being, as well as our own education as educators.
- Children are less cynical and more positive about 'doing their bit' than adults; hence children's enthusiasm can help school's own up their role as change agents.
Schools can become change-agents rather than only be a cog in the wheel of a self-destructive system. In fact schools and small communities have begun doing what they can for planet earth - our only home rather than wait for 'powerful others' to act.
- First of all schools need a will
to do their bit. I am sure that there are enough educators who care enough
for the earth, and what consequences global warming has on earthlings. All
that we need to do is create some open ended frameworks for learning and a
network to belong to and to share our feelings and knowledge with. We also
need to make such work part of the curriculum rather than an extra-curricular
activity.
- Educators must try to see the 'whole
elephant', educate themselves in a holistic way, understanding various aspects
of the issue of global warming and all that is causing it. It is essential to
go to the root causes rather than only look at carbon emissions or cleaning up
plastic. This may be a daunting task, but we need to persist with what is
complex... The human psycho-techno-socio-economic-
political web is almost as complex as nature's web of life! We can comfort ourselves that many great scholars are still unraveling various strands of the problem. Alternatively, we can choose our Guru - Gandhiji, Schumacher, or others (including NGOs) and follow their advice with faith rather than choose the path of rationality and academic scholarship. - Schools have to go beyond awareness and
knowledge and focus on conscious building and action. To be part of a
movement, Gandhiji prescribed three steps:
Be the change - Educate - Organise - We also must make sure that we don't stop at
academic learning about climate change, which is happening already in the
environmental Science classes. We absolutely need hands-on projects such as
keeping logs to reduce our own consumption of goods, electricity, water,
fossil fuels etc. Encouragement to walk more, cycle more and learning to find
fulfilment in zero-carbon-emissions activities is also necessary.
- Finally schools need to 'Be the Change' - look at their own energy efficiency, make use of solar and wind energy options wherever possible, reduce wastage of paper in particular by re-using text books etc., be garbage efficient by disposing of its garbage within its own campus etc. Centre for Science and Environment, CEE and other organisations already have programs to support schools with energy efficiency programmes.
Seetha Ananthasivan / 27th December 2008
Bhoomi Network would like to receive your response to this note at:
member@bhoominetwork.org or seethe.ravi@gmail.com