The biggest enemy of sustainability

Sustainability. The term has become a buzzword in every industry. Each and every person in the world is expected to know about this concept and even practice it in every which area he can. It has become extremely important to work in a balanced matter so that the economic development and the environment walks hand in hand. And why is it important to care for the environment? I think we all know the answer already. 

The modern concept of sustainable development came in 1987 when the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development released the report Our Common Future, commonly called the Brundtland Report. Since then, more than 3 decades have passed. But has the world made any remarkable changes? The answer will be yes and no. Where at one side some countries have shown remarkable progress, on the other hand the larger percentage still struggling. Why is it happening? For a concept like 'sustainability' which is taught since our childhood, why does it fails to become our lifestyle?

Sustainability isn't some rocket science. No one is telling you to develop modern gadgets to save the planet. In fact, the real effort lies in simple things like planting trees or becoming a responsible consumer and buying green products. As easy as that. Then why is India struggling? 

To find out what's the biggest obstacle in India's sustainable journey, let us use the method of first principal. The law of first principle is a basic assumption that cannot be deduced any further. It is a fancy way of saying “think like a scientist.” In theory, first principle thinking requires you to dig deeper and deeper until you are left with only the foundational truths of a situation. So as we go deeper to find the root cause of the problem, we can see that the answer lies in lack of 'applied priority status'. What does it mean? Well, in theory sustainability has achieved a priority status in India. But is it seen in practice? By definition, priority means something 'very important and must be dealt with before other things'  i:e; you do it first!!.  So why don't we treat 'sustainability' as a priority? It is because of the lack of correct knowledge and awareness.  

By the law of first principle, we found the fault lies in 'incorrect knowledge transfer'. But before we talk further, let's first have a look at the importance provided to sustainability in Indian Education System.

India is one of the few countries in the world where Environmental Education (EE) is compulsory at all levels of formal education. This feat was achieved through the efforts of the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) regarding compulsory EE, filed by Shri M. C. Mehta in 1991 in the Honorable Supreme Court. In response to the 1991 PIL, the Supreme Court declared, “We accept on principle that through the medium of education, awareness of the environment and its problem related to pollution should be taught as a compulsory subject.” Following this declaration, in December 2003, the NCERT prepared a model syllabus for EE. On July 13, 2004, the Supreme Court directed “the syllabus prepared by the NCERT for Class I to XII shall be adopted by every state in their respective schools.” 

Today every student, especially in CBSE schools are getting environmental education. Isn't it a good news? So, is there any flaw in the entire situation? Yes, there is!! The first flaw lies in the visualisation of the concept itself. The students are not learning about sustainability but they are only learning about environment. It is the Environmental Education, not the Sustainable Education. Whereas, the environment is just one of the pillars of sustainability. The other pillars are the economy and the community.

The students in EE learn about environment as a separate entity, not as something connected to the economy and development. Let us understand this through some examples:

a) The students are taught to plant trees because it will reduce global warming. Now this is just the environment part. But when we also mention that reducing global warming results in a healthier population who further contribute billions to the economy, it then becomes a part of sustainability. This is what the students actually need to study. Sustainability is an wholesome concept which aims to cover all our needs. 

b) Another example can be, suppose a student is motivated to use public transport to help reduce CO2 released from the vehicles. Now, this same process also helps to bridge the gap between the poor and the rich as everyone is using the same means of travel. 

c) Take another good situation. If we break the 'one time consumption' mindset of people we are helping to redistribute the resources of the planet. Breaking the 'one time consumption' pattern implies reusing or recycling the product. For example, there is 2 cotton T-shirts. One is given to a poor person and another to a very rich person. The poor uses this T-shirt 5 times while the rich wears it only once and throws it away. This implies for each occasion the poor used the T-shirt, the rich bought a new t-shirt. Therefore the rich used the earth's resources at the ratio of 5:1 or 5 times more than the poor person. Similar consumption pattern can also be observed in other resources like land and water. So if the rich is also motivated or persuaded to reuse the T-shirt then the resources used to produce a new T-shirt can be saved. And at the same time the consumption difference between the rich and the poor will also decrease. So we can see how improvement in one pillar can improve the other 2.

Let's us move forward by focusing on the Environmental Education provided to the students. In this case also, there are many challenges. Even when the students are learning about EE, the Indian schools still doesn’t have specific practical activities nor the environment related to it. In such a situation, it becomes very difficult to apply it in actual life. And without real life application, a person cannot develop a mind-set or habit for a greener and sustainable life. Added to that, students also do not give importance in learning environment as a subject since they consider it to add no academic value to them. 

According to a 2015 report of Research Journal of Chemical Sciences states that unfortunately, to-date the subject of Environmental Education focuses on providing children with scientific facts and figures on global environmental problems. It addresses environmental issues from a viewer’s point of view by identifying the primary sources and proposing corrective measures needed to redress the symptoms, for example, ozone depletion and global warming. Therefore, students end up knowing what is wrong with the planet but do not understand what should be done by 'them' as individuals to prevent such damage, neither can they see how to become responsible for the environmental problems and hence, understand how they need to help solve issues by changing their own lifestyles.

Some of the corrective measures that can be adopted by the educational institutes are:

a) The schools need to increase their outdoor activities. The students from their early age must have gardening classes. Outdoor camping is a great way to connect with the nature. This is actually quite common in western countries.

b) Competitions regarding reusing waste products and creating something new, needs to be organised from time to time.  

c) Every year, quite a large number of schools organises for the students to buy new uniform and reading material from the campus itself. At the same time, why not ask the children to bring their older materials and uniforms to the school and donate? This is a great way to teach the children about reusing older products and if not, then get them connected to the organisations where they can donate, so that someone else can use their product. Donation is a big part of community sustainability. These small steps matters a lot. 

Some of the other challenges that exist in the current environmental education patterns present in the Indian educational institutions are that the teachers / lecturers are not at all offered with adequate resources by the management to impart sustainable environmental education and also most of the teachers / lecturers lack sufficient knowledge to impart sustainable environmental education. This point is minutely discussed in the 2015 report on Environment Education: An Indian Perspective, published by the Research Journal of Chemical Sciences.

The sustainability of the program depends on the recognition by the teachers and their capability to provide the course efficiently. The training of the teachers should be considered as a main concern within the proposal. Camps should be arranged in order to train the teachers from time to time. Also a manual should be offered to teachers in order to enable them to guide the students in their practical work and also the self - contained and self–explanatory workbooks should be provided. 

Conclusion: 

The schools need to update their course curriculum from Environmental Education to the Sustainable Education. At every step, the students must be taught to co-relate each topic with the environment, the economy and the society. Then only they can grasp the holistic approach of the concept. When the students will be able to connect their life and future with the environment, then they will be automatically motivated to drive the change. These learnings must be applied practically so that they become our lifestyle. On every stage of our life we should question ourselves whether this activity or this decision of mine is green or non-green? For eg – how did you come to school? Through your car or via any public transport? Traveling by a public transport is green whereas by a personal car is not. This same reasoning can be applied in each and every decision making process. 

So people, become aware. Become smart. This is our planet. This is our responsibility. Act today. 

Walk the greenway!!!

BoLD

-Pratibha Kiran-