Raising children to practice SUSTAINABLE LIVING

There's a rising consensus among educators and green activists that it's also important for families and households to adopt sustainable living practices to protect the next generation from the impending environmental disaster that's looming ahead

- KIRAN BALIMANE, MINI P. & CYNTHIA JOHN

At the COP28 Meeting — the 28th United Nations (UN) climate meeting — which recently concluded (December 12) in Dubai, world leaders (including Prime Minister Narendra Modi) representing 200 countries discussed the catastrophic impact of climate change on Planet Earth, how to mitigate it and prepare for the future. For the first time, all countries agreed on the need to “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems”, reduce carbon emissions and approved a climate disaster “loss and damage fund” to aid vulnerable communities and developing nations most heavily hit by climate disasters. However, the ‘agreement’ doesn’t compel countries to take specified action and no timeline was set.

The COP28 Meeting was held against the backdrop of scientists confirming that 2023 was the hottest year ever experienced by Planet Earth with average temperature rising by 1.5oC. There is rising panic around the world that Planet Earth is inexorably gravitating towards an unprecedented environmental crisis. Global warming, climate change, destruction of natural habitats of wildlife and plants, air and water pollution, rising sea water levels due to meltdown of polar ice caps, are slowly but surely destroying environments around the world and threatening humankind leaving children in particular, staring at a bleak future.