As we have reached a stage where climate advocacy and climate action have become necessities rather than options as we are seeking solutions to global warming and resource depletion as we are working to fight climate change and side by side also striving to develop resilience against its ill effects it is becoming increasing evident that sustainability education is as much the need of the day as climate action. Education that will create awareness and a better understanding of the problems can be instrumental in shaping an eco-friendly generation. It can not only help control the anthropogenic factors of climate change but also lead to solutions to other existing problems through research and development. Furthermore, education will also promote social and economical sustainability that will further support the cause of climate action. 

To this end, I want to share with all of you, my take on education for sustainability, based on my personal experiences and perception. 

Past, Present and Future- My vision for Sustainability Education

Our eyes are placed in front for looking ahead. However, at times, hindsight offers a clearer perspective of the way ahead. My vision for sustainability education proposes future planning through consultation with the past.

Sustainability became a matter of concern, only since the latter part of 20^th Century- a miniscule fraction of the recorded history of human civilization. Therefore, to identify what can sustain us hereafter we must comprehend what has sustained our race so far. Let me explain my view further.

Two years ago, I attended a wedding, at Gheen, a remote village in Himachal Pradesh in India, nested in Shivalik foothills of the Himalayas where my grandfather is rediscovering his roots as an agriculturist after his retirement from the army. We reached Gheen after a long bumpy drive from the train station, huddled with our suitcases, as a CNG cylinder that Grandpa explained was more economical and environment-friendly as compared to petrol, occupied the boot of his small car.

At our ancestral home, natural ventilation through dormer windows was the most effective air conditioning I'd ever known. Not once did I require medication for allergic asthma that plagues me back home. Picking fresh vegetables from our stepped farms climbing trees to eat ripe mangoes and litchis, were novel experiences for me. I noticed that the villagers harvested rainwater, composted organic waste and practiced rotation farming to replenish nutrients in soil.

Our milk supply came from a neighbor's cattle farm in exchange for fruits from Grandpa's plantations. Another neighbor owned a poultry farm and traded eggs for vegetables. Most villagers had small family farms that provided for them. Any surplus was effectively bartered or sold. A small shop maintained regular supply of few products outsourced from the town.

At the wedding party, food was served on traditional 'Pattals and Doonas'- plates and bowls made of dried fallen Sal tree leaves, bound together with twigs. After use, these 'Green Disposables' were buried underground, to decompose naturally.

Now returning to my take on sustainability education as I understand, besides ecological balance, sustainability demands social, cultural, political and economical stability. More importantly, I have come to realize that my 'Less developed' village is a practical classroom of sustainability.

Without any formal 'Education for Sustainable Development', the villagers operate a basic self sustained unit, complete with a primary health centre and school. People have achieved perfect harmony among themselves and with their environment. Caring for nature requires no additional effort.

In contrast, despite our advanced education and a more developed, urban lifestyle- we have turned 'Sustainable Development' into an oxymoron, questioning the effectiveness of our education system.

Not that I advocate going back to stone age, but our education needs to revive the awareness, that has somehow got lost in our consumerist society. Our learning objectives must be reoriented to make us re-establish our connection with nature.

More than predictions of doom, our education should highlight the beauty of our planet, make us feel it and be touched by it.

Our schools can reintroduce nature into our growing years, breeding appreciation and respect for the environment. Living with nature can generate the momentum to reverse the negative impact of a fast paced, materialistic and industrialized world.

 

Furthermore, for us to salvage our future, it is not just thirteen year olds like me, who need education. It is more imperative for grown-ups, who are holding the batons till my generation takes over.

 

I thus propose that our education today must focus to train us so that we can recall best traditional sustainability practices from our past adapt and integrate them with our present, while creating awareness about the complete social transformation that is crucial for a sustainable future.