THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Climatehood, an NGO working to combat climate change, is gearing up to launch a community library project for a Government Tribal High School at Idinjar, to commemorate its third anniversary. The community library project is expected to benefit students who are returning to school next month. The NGO is also planning an online climate education programme. The initiative is being launched to celebrate the completion of three years of the formation of the NGO.
“The Climate Youth Fraternity is planning to create a space for co-learning and co-living for people of all ages. This initiative aims to educate people on carbon footprint and climate change and build climate literacy that will ultimately lead to climate action,” said Bharat Govind, founder and CEO of Climatehood. “The community library would also act as a platform for curated sessions by passionate individuals and climate experts. We expect this to make a larger impact on the minds of the students.
We would encourage friendly discussions that would inculcate productivity among people, especially youngsters,” said Bharat. He said that majority of students at Idinjar are from tribal settlements and are worst affected due to the climate crisis. “We want to bring this community to the forefront and acquaint them to policymakers. This would be our gift for the students when the school reopens in November. Ever since the pandemic outbreak, we couldn’t carry out many activities,” said Bharat.
The foundation had conducted climate education sessions at around 150 institutions in 2019. “This year we are exploring ways to do climate education online,” he added. The Tribal School at Idinjar has been in news earlier when environmental activist Greta Thurnberg shared the images of its ‘climate strike’ on her official page. Various similar initiatives have been held at the school since then.
“Parents and students are apprehensive about the reopening of the school, but the NGO has been actively doing awareness programmes for the students,” said Binu B, a teacher at the school.