Local Climate Initiatives Set in Motion with First Climate Leadership Training at Madras University

Written by Anna da Costa / 05 January 2009 / Read Anna da Costa's latest blog entries.

Although the Road Tour had not yet formally launched, our first climate leadership training on January 2nd 2009 saw close to 50 youth congregate at Madras University for a leadership training which ended with many commitments for local climate action on this urgent issue. 

Some truly fascinating ideas came out of the day's sessions, where students gathered to learn about climate change, to envision the India they wish to see, and to discussed practical projects that they could implement in their local areas.  

Alark Saxena, one of our road trip team, described the day as follows;

'Joined by both NGOs and college students from a number of universities in Chennai, the day led to some really interesting results. Firstly, all of them really enjoyed the presentation on climate science and said that they could now understand more both why CC is a problem, and what is causing it. Really interesting to me was the fact that both NGOs and students came up with their own action plans, with some taking pledges too. A lot of them took a pledge on creating awareness, with action oriented awareness being key to moving forwards. There was a strong emphasis amongst participants on moving from words to actions.

The day ended with everyone dancing to the tunes of the climate song 'Take Action, take action, and get some satisfaction'.'

Solutions proposed from the young staff at Bhumi, a Chennai-based NGO, were multiple, including measures as immediate and simple as encouraging staff to switch off their PC monitors when not in use, to avoid air conditioning at home and when driving, and to drive with better efficiency, turning off the engine when in heavy traffic.

Broader reaching solutions were numerous and innovative too. For example, the staff proposed cleaning up their local neighbourhoods themselves, utilising negative stereotyping to stimulate positive action. Their fascinating idea was that through cleaning the streets in front of parents and friends, they would be moved to keep the local area cleaner through feeling ashamed to see them performing this work. They also planned to set up eco-clubs in their own former schools, to work towards and effective means of car pooling, and to raise awareness more generally about the importance and methods of proper waste disposal.

Youth from Madras University spoke of the importance of bringing solutions to the village level. They proposed setting up rainwater harvesting and clean energy biogas projects, encouraging and promoting the use of no plastic at all opportunities, especially weddings, and raising awareness about the uses of solar panels. One of the students also emphasised that in so many situations, we don't need air conditioning;

'It's just greed. If we were to plant more trees, areas would be far cooler'.

This is a key point, as trees dramatically influence a local area's microclimate, something we can all experience, making it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. She also said that 'we don't need fragrance sprays, we have enough flowers in this world that give a far better perfume'.

Finally we heard from students at New College Chennai, who, in agreement with others, felt that public awareness was of huge importance. They spoke of a technology that had been developed by their college to produce organic fertiliser from local garbage which proved more effective than the chemical fertilisers currently on the market. They plan to raise awareness about this technology, beginning with posting it as a solution on the IndiaClimateSolutions.com database! They also profoundly reminded us to look to nature for our solutions, giving the example of bamboo, which can reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations three times more than other plants with their rapid growth. We were left with the following thought-provoking words;

'We are more afraid of the terrorist attacks that kill a few hundred people each year than the environmental damage that kills millions each year.'