Dr Saswati Paik is a Faculty at the School of Education, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru.

Imagine a child, during her young age, is introduced to the concept of the supercontinent ‘Pangaea’ and the concept of ‘Continental Drift’ as described by Alfred Wegener. She will probably start imagining herself on a floating boat equivalent to the supercontinent on a huge ocean called ‘Panthalassa’ and the entire event is happening on a huge planet called Earth. What an excitement it could be for her to know the planet in this way!

Usually, a child in India is never introduced to such a concept while studying Geography in school. Disciplinary subjects in India remain isolated islands to generate good results for the sake of examination. This is probably not just a reality in the Indian education system but in many other countries. Due to this, despite the development of formal education across the globe, we have pushed our environment and even the entire planet into danger. We kept on running on our rat race while mother earth started suffering because of our mere negligence.

Long back, Nelson Mandela rightly stated, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Perhaps, education could not be utilised as the most powerful weapon by us. We do educate our children with the help of the formal education system, but this education, unfortunately, remains confined only to standardised tests, marks, higher educational opportunities, and finally, a white-collar job as the ultimate destination. It is high time to ask ourselves as responsible adults and parents or guardians of our future generation in many ways, the following two questions:

1. Are we educating our future generation to be responsible global citizens who can think globally but act locally?

2. Are we unnecessarily trying to maintain the traditional disciplinary divide between various disciplines which need to be effectively bridged during times of crisis?

At this point of time, when the pandemic is bringing so many challenges in front of us, we must recognise how effective research could be if a climatologist works with an epidemiologist to understand the distribution, and possible control of diseases, illnesses and other factors related to health, or a social geographer works with a psychologist to understand the pattern of human trauma and behaviour. To ensure such practices, we need to plan for a different approach to prepare our future generation to be global citizens who can be “active promoters of more peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, secure and sustainable societies” as mentioned by UNESCO (en.unesco.org). We failed to make it happen. Therefore, in this 21st century, we need to take a pledge to save our own home – our planet Earth.

Human Beings as Global Citizens

Since 2019, a prolonged pandemic has reminded us repeatedly what struggle for existence means and how survival of the fittest is still meaningful to all of us. The human-environment interaction, which remains as an eternal truth, has exploited nature for thousands of years, more because of greed rather than the need. As a result, the entire human species is now struggling for its survival sustainably. The COVID-19 pandemic has added another layer to it. Our planet is not keeping well because man-environment interactions have neglected the importance of maintaining an ecological balance. Since the beginning of civilisation, human beings have stretched their power on various lands, established geopolitical identities, and explored resources across the planet, wherever they could reach. The addiction to exploration and exploitation of earth’s resources hypnotised us so much that at one point in time, we started ignoring our common identity as global citizens, which is the foremost identity to respect our planet earth.

Later, Newton’s Third Law started acting with a visible impact on us and our surroundings. Some indicators are very much evident in the recent past. Let us first look at some information provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). “Carbon dioxide levels in the air are at their highest in 650,000 years”, “Nineteen of the warmest years have occurred since 2000”, “Satellite data show that Earth’s polar ice sheets are losing mass”. The average surface temperature of the earth has risen about 1.180C since the late 19th century. The increased heat has been absorbed by the oceans, and as a result, the top 100 metres of the oceans show an increase of temperature by 0.330C since 1969 (climate.nasa.gov).

Some of the coldest regions of the world have been on fire in 2021 even through the winter months, indicating a changing climate. During 2020-21, the forest ecosystem was disturbed by multiple wildfires around the world which emitted massive carbon. The wildfires mostly occurred in Siberia, North America, North Africa and the Mediterranean. States in India with huge losses due to forest fires included Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Mizoram, Assam and Manipur. A forest fire destroyed the mountainous State of Uttarakhand, in the early part of 2021 when the fires had been going on continuously for six months. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicted an average temperature in this State to be higher than normal (Sangomla, 2021).

In this crucial era, environmental pacts are certainly most essential. There are many conversations around climate change in the past few decades because of the high risk of the natural ecosystem across the world. The United Kingdom hosted the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow from October 31 to November 13, 2021. “The Parties” refers to all 197 nations which agreed to a new environmental pact, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC).

Precursor to COP26

Let us quickly have a look at the initiatives taken so far at the international level to save the planet and its ecosystem from the danger of climate change. As World War II was about to end in 1945, nations were in ruins, and the world wanted peace. The representatives of 50 countries gathered at the United Nations Conference on International Organisation in San Francisco, California from April 25 to June 26, 1945. For the next two months, they proceeded to draft and then sign the UN Charter, which created a new international organisation – the United Nations. It was hoped that the UN would prevent another world war like the one they had just lived through. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) was established in 1950. Figure 1 provides an overview of some major milestones of international initiatives for protecting the planet and its ecosystem.

WMO and UNEP established Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1988. On December 11, 1987, at its 42nd session, the General Assembly of the United Nations designated the 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). In 1990, the IPCC released its first assessment report that spoke about Greenhouse Gases (GHG). It stated that the temperature increased by 0.3-0.60C over the last century. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climatic Change (UNFCCC) signed in 1992 at the UN Conference on Environment and Development constituted the Foundational Climate Agreement. This Agreement provided the platform for most international climate agreements that appeared later (Kuh, 2018). If all the nations in the world follow the norms mentioned in the Agreements, there is the possibility of maintaining the balance for a few more decades. However, mere agreements and conversations will not be effective until and unless actions are taken sustainably.

Impact of Climate Change on Pandemic and COP26 Promise

Since the pandemic, triggered by Covid-19, numerous research-based studies were conducted to understand the causes of the pandemic and its consequences on the larger ecosystem. According to research conducted by the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE), there is a need to take climate action to prevent the next pandemic. The research says that deforestation is a root cause of climate change because animal migration happens due to deforestation, and such migration further increases the risk of infectious disease spread. The Ebola epidemic in West Africa probably occurred in part because bats, which carried the disease, had been forced to move into new habitats because the forests they used to live in had been cut down to grow palm oil trees. Therefore, preventing deforestation can reduce biodiversity loss leading to a reduction of animal migrations and infectious disease spread (www.hsph.harvard.edu).

During the COP26 Climate Summit, more than 100 world leaders promised to end and reverse deforestation by 2030. The countries that have signed the pledge cover around 85% of the world’s forests. Some of the funding will be provided to developing countries to restore damaged land, tackle wildfires and support indigenous communities (Rannard and Gillett, 2021).

Impact of Pandemic on Climate

The pandemic caused restrictions on travel, trade, etc., causing an economic impact for sure but, those restrictions led to some improvement in air quality in many places especially in the urban, industrialised areas across the world. However, the same pandemic triggered another threat to our environment. The pandemic led to an increased demand for single-use plastics. The use of plastic increased because of mainly three reasons: (i) requirements in the health sectors, especially in the forms of PPE kits, Covid testing instruments, masks, goggles, gloves, sanitisers, etc., (ii) requirements of the public for increased online shopping in the form of plastic carrier bags, packaging materials, garbage bags, etc., (iii) requirements of the public’s personal care in the forms of masks, sanitiser, gloves, etc (Parashar and Hait, 2020).

A major part of these plastics is disposable but not biodegradable. The use of such plastics intensifies pressure on an already out-of-control global plastic waste problem. “While it is suspected to be large, the magnitude and fate of this pandemic-associated mismanaged plastic waste are unknown” (Penga et al, 2021). According to research conducted in the School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University State, China, “The Arctic ecosystem is considered to be particularly vulnerable due to the harsh environment and high sensitivity to climate change”. There are chances of rising riverbed and seabed. The released plastics after being transported over long distances in the ocean may encounter marine wildlife and potentially lead to injury or even death (Penga et al, 2021). Although COP26 has recognised the importance of the health of oceans, there is no specific recommendation to manage the emerging situation due to the pandemic. More immediate thoughts are needed for this aspect. Such thoughts must emerge based on research in the disciplines of oceanography, ecology and climatology supported by chemical and medical sciences.

Interdisciplinary Approach Leading to Global Citizens

“Charity begins at home”. Let us think of a way of bringing up our future generation as global citizens. Here is an illustration of thought for redesigning our educational approach for children at the elementary level (till Grade VIII) in schools in India. The disciplines introduced in elementary grades include Science, Social Science, Mathematics, and a few Languages.

Figure 2 below shows a canvas full of themes which a child glances under different disciplines named as various subjects during her elementary education. If we imagine the blue background as the languages the child learns, she gets exposure to various broader themes through subject-specific disciplines like Science, Social Sciences (often referred to as Social Studies in school that include Civics, History and Geography) and Mathematics. If we introduce her to her huge home – planet earth – at the beginning, then she can always discover her location and immediate surroundings, marked by a political boundary within the huge home. She can play around with all information available in multiple disciplines, but we need to help her connect the dots of all disciplines adequately to make those meaningful for her own life, immediate surroundings as well as her bigger home, and think of herself as a global citizen. In this way, a child will not travel on various discipline-based isolated islands just to ensure a brilliant academic result followed by a white-collar job. Rather, she will get a holistic understanding of all disciplines connected and their interlinkages that will surely enhance her understanding of both macro and micro-level changes. Such a holistic development may ensure a better future for our younger generation. Such a child will organically construct responsible behaviour, will showcase her civic sense and responsibility to keep peace and harmony sustainably. Other materialistic needs of life will automatically get fulfilled over time.

Dream for a Better Tomorrow

“Don’t limit a child to your learning, for he was born in another time.” Rabindranath Tagore stated this almost 100 years ago, but we still could not establish a strong and visible interdisciplinary approach in school education. Most of the disciplines and standardised processes of evaluation remained confined within mere factual understanding, and disciplines remained as isolated islands for children. Our future generation gets into the world of formal education in an extremely mechanical manner. A few Agreements with limited nations of the world will not be able to solve the problems highlighted by COP26. This COP26 is not an isolated event. It is rather a warning for all of us across the world. Let us start thinking of bringing our future generation in such a manner that our children start thinking logically and rationally to save available resources shared by all creatures in this larger ecosystem, to reuse resources, to conserve planet earth sustainably. Interpretations may hinge on any subject-specific discipline such as Physical Science, Social Science or Mathematics in any language but the goal and response should remain the same – making a sustainable world as a gratitude to our mother earth.

References:

• Kuh, K.F. (2018). Climate Change. Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene. Sciencedirect.com
• Penga, Yiming, Peipei Wua, Amina T. Schartupb, and Yanxu Zhanga (2021). Plastic Waste Release Caused by COVID-19 and its Fate in the Global Ocean. PNAS 2021 Vol. 118 No. 47 e2111530118
• Parashar, Neha and Subrata Hait (2020) Plastics in the Time of COVID-19 pandemic: Protector or Polluter? Science of the Total Environment. 759 (2021) 144274.
• Rannard, Georgina and Francesca Gillett (2021). COP26: World Leaders Promise to End Deforestation by 2030. www.bbc.com
• Sanggomla, Akshit (2021). World’s Coldest Regions Have Been on Fire in 2021, Even in Winter: Copernicus. www.downtoearth.org.in

Web Resources:

• en.unesco.org
• climate.nasa.gov
• www.hsph.harvard.edu