While some people wonder where to start in the effort to rescue our beleaguered planet from its host of environmental problems, the answer for others is: start young. The Young Climate Savers (YCS) started out as an awareness programme, but in the past couple of years it has grown into something of a national phenomenon with school students from ten cities across India pitching in to do their best, to "save the planet". The first workshop of the third phase of the Young Climate Savers Programme, was held at Birla Industrial & Technological Museum, Kolkata. In 2007 when the first phase of this programme began, it focused on spreading awareness among all the schools involved so that they could understand the plight of the earth and work towards its betterment.
The second phase went a step further with the kids taking up small projects and doing their bit to stop pollution and in turn help save the climate. Now into its third chapter, the YCS has decided to enter into a joint effort with participating organisations and tackle more serious city level environmental problems.
Each school will also select a group of five “Peer Educators” from among the students, who will spread the ‘green’ word and form a task force to guide the students in their bid to salvage our planet.
“We would like to progress from the individual to the community and develop a YCS city plan for Kolkata…” says Ms. Saswati Sen, State Director for WWF (West Bengal).
While spreading awareness is a vital part of "saving the planet" from damage by humans, the Young Climate Savers will now be part of something broader and involving more direct action. The schools present at the workshop were bursting with ideas which ranged from the restoration of dying lakes to the cleanup of polluted parks in the city - which they would take up as projects. For instance, Birla High School had already taken up the cause of a park near their school premises which is in danger of losing its biodiversity.
Speaking about biodiversity at the workshop was Dr. Dipankar Saha, an expert on the subject. He also explained to the students the fundamentals of working on large scale ecological projects. Since this phase of the programme will end in February 2011, Ms. Sen also reminded the schools to take up projects which could be completed within this time, so that progress could be evaluated.
The fact that all these students along with their teachers came to the workshop and took an active part in the discussions gives hope that these institutions were serious in taking up the challenge of combating climate change, on a real and practical level. With this enthusiasm and focus, the third phase of Young Climate Savers looks like its off to a flying start - and also promises to be fruitful in terms of real work in environamental care.
So pollution, beware; and climate, change for the better - YCS is coming to get you!
