Environmental Sensitization
“The true purpose of education is to make minds, not careers.’
– William Deresiewicz
It is not an exaggeration to say that our education system revolves around careers only. Anyone looking for proof needs to observe the increasing number of educational institutions and the subsequent decrease in our overall civic sense.
Given Pakistan’s need for environmental sustainability, it is unacceptable that our institutions are not working to sensitize our future generations. Conservation, environment protection, climate change etcetera are still treated as foreign concepts that are mainly addressed by the non-governmental organizations circuit only. These conceptions are bordering on delusion as we are at the forefront when it comes to facing the brunt of the consequences of climate change and environmental degradation.
In the recent past we were hit by natural disasters that were a direct result of climate change. The current extreme weather, resulting in a mini cyclone in the Kyber Pakhtunkhawa province, left more than forty four people dead and around two hundred injured.
A study published in ‘Nature Climate Change’ states that because of the rate of the global warming over the last century is going to cause four to five times more extreme heat episodes that in the past used to happen approximately after a thousand days. We have faced extreme heat waves in the past years and it is predicted that these episodes will continue to increase.
The problem is not just limited to the discomfort that we face due to the extreme changes in our weather, it has deeper roots which lead to our economic troubles as well. A recent news report stated that environmental degradation is coating out already strained national economy over PKR 365 billion every year.
There are no quick fix solutions for our current state, however, we still have enough time to start working towards the solutions so that the rapid degradation can be turned to a more sustainable existence. For such practical outcomes it is important that ownership is instilled in the students at their school level and by their parents. Our private schools might be ahead in the sense that they are teaching climate change as part of their syllabus but they are not covering the aspects where these kids learn to take responsibility and take actions in their capacity that will help steward the current situation towards improvement.
We are treading on a fine line here and to see actual results it is required that practical options be explored, instead of verbal declarations, making humongous claims that are just floating in air. It is bad to liter is a fact that apparently is a basic fact that everyone knows, but how many actually implement it outside their private space? When confronted the majority are going to get defensive, point fingers as to which government body should be doing it but very few will admit that they shamelessly liter our roads and other public spaces.
Everyone has the same excuse; wastage by one individual does not make much difference. Add all the individuals thinking on the same lines and we have a disaster at our disposal. Therefore, it has become critical that we educate our children about the strength of individual acts and that it is upto us to get us out of our own mess.
Fatima Arif is Sr Officer Digital Media, WWF-Pakistan.
