I grew up loving the forest, my previous alternative education school where I had spent the first ten years of my primary education was adjacent to a forest and the land was treated as though it was one. It was covered in trees and filled with different insects, birds, reptiles and more. A value that was emphasized was living alongside wildlife and understanding that we were the intruders and not the animals or trees. This philosophy was something that has always remained with me, even after transferring to a regular school.
Global warming is one of the largest problems facing mankind today, it has been a massive concern since it was discovered in the late 1800s. Ever since I learned about this phenomenon I consumed as much knowledge as I could on the topic. At age 8 I was certain I was going to become a marine biologist and wanted to know how global warming could be stopped and reversed. I read about mass extinctions, season cycles, rise in water levels and more. I had not yet discovered that nature would not produce the solution to climate change. However a few years later, I heard about activism and was able to understand that it was us humans that had to change.
Awareness and education seemed to be the perfect solution. Not only to solve the climate crisis but any crisis to ever affect humankind. At the time it was true, not nearly enough people knew about the crisis and education was changing to accommodate this. After a few more years came the protests, the speeches and more education. At this point most people knew about global warming. There was one chapter dedicated to it in most subjects, they were also the first chapters to be cut in syllabus reduction. Global warming and climate change is now a household term and the lowest stratas of society are the first to experience the effects so even they are aware. So if education is not the solution then what is?
At this point I had transferred to my current school and, one day, my friends and I were talking about Indian songs and music videos. I mentioned that a group of students in my previous school had made a cover music video shot on campus. When I pulled it up on the smartboard, one of the boys said, “Ew, that’s so ugly. I thought you said it was beautiful?” I was horrified, how could he think all those trees and earthy buildings were not beautiful? This experience made me realize that although people know about climate change, only a fraction are motivated to live a green lifestyle. It was not the boy’s fault, most of us grow up thinking that the earth is dirty and end up living completely disconnected from the natural world. We need to instill a love for the environment in society and get people personally invested in the earth’s wellbeing. Awareness is not enough.
When I left The Valley I thought that I would not experience nature as often, which was not true. I forgot to appreciate the tendency of the natural world to hide in metropolitan environments. I remembered that nature would always win and no matter how much we tried to scrub all traces of it out, we would never succeed in doing so. I think teaching people to appreciate a Banyan tree as much as a skyscraper may allow them to empathize with the planet.
I am no poster girl for environmental causes nor am I saying that I have the ultimate solution. What I am saying is that after years of believing in activism, I no longer think it is as important as I once did. Today I believe that unless we align our economic interests with the planet’s interests we will not be able to drive sustainable consumption. To do this I think individuals need to care about the planet. We may not start living a strict zero waste lifestyle, but we may segregate our waste more carefully, think twice before wasting food or be more mindful about how much water we use. This may not be ideal but it is implementable, realistic and has the potential to change our communities views about the planet. I know I think twice because I have lived this life.
Hi! My name is Aarna and I am the founder of Articulate.
