Last years UN Climate Change Conference in Paris (COP21) was hailed as an historic landmark in the battle against climate change. For the first time the majority of countries present committed to the goal of limiting global temperature increase well below 2 degrees celsius and urging efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees. It also placed binding obligations on developed countries to support undeveloped countries. The momentum toward an agreement was underscored on the opening day by the presence of 150 presidents and prime ministers, the largest ever single day gathering of heads of state. At the end of an epic thirteen year journey to document the impacts of climate change on every continent, I obviously applaud this momentous agreement. But, and it’s a big but, having witnessed the scale of the destruction currently being wreaked around the world at a 1 degree rise and under, is this too little and too late.

I have always been interested in wildlife and the natural environment as well as a keen photographer. About 14 years ago I started to read more about climate change in scientific journals.  At the time I was looking for a bit more focus for my photographic work. Decision made, I would organise my first specific climate change photo shoot.

In 2004 I spent a month in Alaska looking mainly at glacial retreat, permafrost melt, and forest fires. The last part of the trip was to spend a week on Shishmaref, a tiny island in the Chukchi Sea, between Alaska and Siberia. The small island is home to a community of around 600 Inuits, whose houses were being washed into the sea. Sea ice used to form around their island home around late September, but with the Arctic being the most rapidly warming area of the planet, even in 2004, the sea ice wasn’t forming till Christmas time. This meant any early winter storms knocked great chunks off their island, when in the past it would have been protected and locked solid by sea ice. I was to witness on Shishmaref, something that I have seen many time since, that is, those least responsible for climate change are most impacted by it. The whole experience completely blew me away. The evidence that the Arctic was warming rapidly was so strong, coupled with talking to Inuit elders about the changes they had witnessed in their life times, left me in no doubt; documenting this should be my life’s work.

My next shoot took me to Tuvalu. A tiny Pacific coral island country (the smallest country in the world) that was being swamped by sea level rise. More people climb Everest every year than visit Tuvalu. I timed my trip to this little known archipelago for the highest spring tides of the year. What I saw was completely shocking. With a flat calm sea, the tides rose so high, that they forced water up through the porous coral, flooding the centre of the island and leaving it in places three feet under water. The inhabitants, mainly Polynesian fishermen were utterly defenceless.

The plan soon formulated in my head, that I should attempt to document the impacts of climate change and the rise of renewable energy on every continent. I started on a journey that I had to finish. There followed photo shoots to cover drought and bush fires in Australia, drought and coal fired power stations in China, glacial retreat in Greenland, Floods in Malawi, glacial retreat in Bolivia, drought and the world’s largest solar power station in California, renewable energy in Iceland, floating houses to combat floods and rising seas in Holland, declining penguin populations in Antarctica, declining snow pack in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, the list goes on and on. I wanted to cover three main topics. What is causing climate change, the impacts this is having and what can we do about it.

Thirteen years on I feel like I’ve been through the mangle. I’ve come close to being  avalanched in the Himalayas, broke through a snow bridge over a crevasse on the Greenland ice sheet, narrowly avoiding plummeting to the bottom and being fleeced by my guide in China.

On any journey like this there are inevitably high and lows. The biggest lows were two fold. Firstly documenting the tar sands in Canada’s Northern Alberta, the most destructive environmental project on the planet. The rate of deforestation is second only to the Amazon rainforest, and the resulting synthetic oil has up to five times the carbon footprint of crude oil. Taking to the air the scale of the devastation is breathtaking. As far as the eye can see, the forest has been destroyed and in its place a toxic wasteland of oily sludge is the legacy of greed that has driven this insanity.

Whilst there I was followed by oil company security guards everywhere I went. On my second day, I was stopped by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who told me, if I so much as took one footstep off the highway, they would arrest me for trespass and jail me for three months. This level of corruption is rife, probably the worst case is that of the GP, Dr John O’Connor. He was the first person to document the huge spike in rare cancers in the first nation Canadians living downstream of the tar sands. When he approached the Canadian Government, asking them to undertake a health assessment on the community, to try and see what was causing this, their response was to charge him with five cases of gross professional misconduct. A ploy that distracted him from his important work for six years, until he was completely exonerated on all charges.

On my last photo shoot to Bolivia, I had been up at 18,000 feet in the Andes, documenting the complete disappearance of the Chacaltaya Glacier, which used to be the worlds highest ski resort. Stood their at 18,000 feet, gasping for breath in the thin air, all that was left of the glacier were a few old snow patches and a pile of rubble. Downstream of here lies, La Paz, Bolivia’s largest city, a city that suffers increasing water shortages as the glaciers rapidly shrink and disappear.

The highs were truly uplifting. I spent three weeks in India documenting renewable energy. Firstly in the Sunderbans, the Ganges Delta, where a solar project was delivering electricity to poor subsistence farmers for the first time. Each house had a battery that they carried to the solar station once a week to recharge. The battery was enough to recharge a mobile phone and provide light in their houses, avoiding the need to use highly polluting kerosene lamps inside. Around the world it is estimated that over a million people a year die from inhaling toxic kerosene fumes. What a joy it was to see children able to do their homework by the clean light of a low energy electric light bulb. My visit to the Muni Seva Ashram in Goraj was utterly inspirational. The Ashram is a peaceful haven delivering cradle to grave services, schooling, and a state of the art cancer hospital, all powered by renewable energy. It was here that I photographed the world’s first and only solar crematorium, capable of dispatching four bodies a day, strictly in accordance with Hindu principles.

The Ashram left a deep lasting impression on me, of how there is a cleaner, cheaper, healthier way of powering our lives.

Climate change has accelerated entirely due to our own choices and actions, we are sleep walking towards disaster. The impacts on people, wildlife and the environment I have witnessed over the last thirteen years have at times been horrifying. We know what we need to do, I have seen the future with my own eyes, it is a clean renewable alternative. We need keep fossil fuels in the ground, start using energy more wisely and truly valuing what it can provide for humanity. Only then may we stand a chance of avoiding the worst excesses of climate change.

Fourteen years on I have amassed the world’s single largest collection of climate change/renewable energy images which have just been published in an art photographic book entitled “Images From a Warming Planet”. Jonathon Porritt wrote the foreword for the book and called it “An extraordianry collection of images and a powerful call to action”. To view the book go to www.imagesfromawarmingplanet.net

Our central question:

IMPACT STORIES

Every year, we discover natural leaders - students, entrepreneurs, and athletes. They dream to build their own future and we do our best to support them. There are some of our young leaders, symbols of hard work and perseverance:

Alphonse is a young and bright Togolese who participated in our activities in the village of Kpalimé from 2013-2014. Despite facing many obstacles, in particular the absence of a father, he never gave up. We recommended him to the African Leadership Academy (ALA), a school of excellence in South Africa. After two years at ALA, he was accepted by the University of Rochester in the United States where he is studying electrical and computer engineering.

Freddy is one of the most gifted young basketball players we’ve met in Togo. In 2014, we helped him to spend a week at the SEED (a basketball academy in Senegal). Then we sent him to a NBA camp in Burkina Faso. The NBA is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America, and is widely considered to be the premier men's professional basketball league in the world. A few months later, Freddy received a scholarship to pursue his dream at Liberty Christian School in the United States.

Mariette was orphaned by her mother and not recognized by her father. We met her in Lomé. She was captain of an under-18 (U18) Togolese national team that LYSD initiated in 2015 in partnership with the Togolese Basketball Federation. That same year, we provided her with a scholarship for her last year in high school, and she is currently studying English at the University of Lomé.

Flora is a 17-year-old Ivorian girl from Yopougon who left school in seventh grade because her mother was not able to pay her school fees. She discovered basketball in 2015, and the court became an escape and a way to make friends. She has been enrolled in the U18 national team and has found the courage to start taking French lessons. We gave her a scholarship, and she subsequently joined our pool of young educated.

Nono is in high school in Lomé. We offered her a scholarship this season. A member of our U18 selection, she became a young educator in our organization. We count on her leadership and strong values to spark interest among young girls.

Merveille, from the village of Kouvé, entered high school when she was just 13 years old. A natural leader, she does not hesitate to raise her voice to denounce discrimination, especially from the boys in her village. We offered her a scholarship this year, and we believe in her capacity to become a spokeswoman in her community.

We are honoured to witness these children and youth growing day after day, both on and off the court. 

The COP22 Young and Future Generations Day launched at the United Nations (UN) Youth Booth located in the Blue Zone in the presence of the Ahmad Alhendawi, UN Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth; Max Edkins, Climate Change Expert, Connect4Climate; Adriana Valenzuela, focal point for Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE) with the UNFCCC; and myself Ntiokam Divine, UN Global Youth Digital Advocate for Post-2015 and UN MY World 2030 Global Survey, Global Coordinator for Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network (CSAYN).

The launch was one of the most engaging youth-orientated side-event at in the Blue Zone of the Climate Conference, COP22. The Youth Booth exhibition gathered hundreds of young people, women and men across the global south and global north during which one of the key activities was to share with the audience how Connect4Climate and other youth organizations influence the climate talks.

Max Edkins, Connect4Climate, speaks to youth audience with Ahmad Ahlendawi, UN Youth Envoy, at COP22. Photo Credit: Giulia Braga

Max Edkins gave an overview of the vision and mission of the Connect4Climate Program, as well as its impacts in the Climate negotiations. He underscored the fact that the Youth4Climate initiative reached out to young people all over the world, that more than 860 youth voices were represented through the Film4Climate competition at COP22, from 155 countries, signifying the global youth call for climate action. The Connect4Climate program aims to inspire action, advance climate solutions and highlight the opportunity in tackling climate change. “We are in an exciting time, the world is on a path to a low-carbon resilient future, and it is being led by young people,” Max Edkins said.

After this Ahmad Alhendawi highlighted the importance of directing resources towards including young people in the sustainable development agenda and the climate action agenda. He shared his experience from Jordan and reiterated the fact he is at the UN to ensure young people are fully engaged in all UN processes towards achieving the Agenda 2030 for the Sustainable Development. In addition to this, he reaffirmed his commitment in advocating for youth meaningful participation in all High-Level Dialogues for a better and inclusive sustainable growth. 

Max Edkins, Connect4Climate, launches Young and Future Generations Day, with UN Youth Envoy, UNFCCC, and YOUNG representatives. Photo Credit: Giulia Braga

We had participants from Africa (Togo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Ethiopia, Morocco), and a good number from the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Connect4Climate provides T-shirts to youth leaders at COP22. Photo Credit: Max Thabiso Edkins

Mark Terry, one of the facilitators from York University from Toronto, Canada, also addressed the delegates emphasizing the importance of youth in solving climate change and how the delegates could get involved. Adriana Valenzuela presented the Youth winners for the 2016 video contest and introduced YOUNGO members to giver their personal take on how young people can be more involved.

In closing the inspirational Youth Day launch, Max Edkins, Ahmad Alhendawi and other speakers handed out T-shirts that read “We are Accelerating Climate Action,” underscoring the youth engagement to advance global climate action and implement the Paris Agreement.

Max Edkins, Connect4Climate, with others launch Young and Future Generation Day, COP22. Photo Credit: Giulia Braga

After all the great presentations, some delegates were interested to know how they could join the Youth4Climate movement. Max Edkins highlighted that visiting the Connect4Climate website shall be a good start and should there be more questions, Max and the team could be reached directly after sharing his details to some delegates.

Young and Future Generations Day, COP22. Photo Credit: Max Thabiso Edkins

In support and committing to the new development agenda, all delegates pledged that supporting the Youth4Climate call to action is one of the ways to advocate for a sustainable environment to address SDG13- Climate Action. At the Youth Booth, CSAYN and its partners also exhibited the global goals translated in local languages to ensure that No One is Left Behind by engaging everyone at national, regional and global levels calling up to SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities.

As we enter 2017 we look forward to continued youth engagement in tackling climate change, developing and implementing climate solutions and demanding increased climate action. I continue the chant we led at COP22: “Youth for Climate! Youth for Climate! Youth for Climate!”

Towards Raising an Environmentally-conscious Generation in India 

1.0 The Background

The importance of educating our children and youth in ensuring a sustainable future for all of us cannot be stressed enough. How else is a future generation of informed, aware, and environmentally-conscious citizens to be created if not through effective educational tools for our children and youth? The Indian Constitution states that it is the responsibility of every citizen to protect the environment. Underscoring the importance of environmental education, in 2003, a Supreme Court judgement made the teaching of environmental studies mandatory for all levels of formal education. Promoting environmental educational tools on a larger platform, in its 57th meeting in December 2002, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2005- 2014  (DESD) 'emphasising that education is an indispensable element for achieving sustainable development'.

Placed in this context, Centre for Environment Communication has been consistently designing and conducting innovative environmental communication programmes employing various media such as films, on-ground communication, live demonstrations, interactive modules,  communication via print and social media etc. These seminal programmes promote behaviour change in children and youth towards environmental sustainability via CEC’s five thematic centres.

2.0 Communicating Environment to Children

Children are naturally curious. They are forever full of the what, why, when, where and how of the world around them as most things are a new experience for them. But living as we are in cities where the connect with Nature is limited and oftentimes, children see nothing of it, their curiosity about Nature is stunted. Since they see little of it, they question little and consequently, understand even less about the how our natural ecosystem and our very existence are intertwined. Therefore, there is a need to create for them situations where they can feel the natural experiences in a tactile and emotive way, in a way that their curiosity is piqued. That will be the doorway to establishing a life-long connects with Nature. So, how is this curiosity about Nature to be piqued in the midst of the urban jungle?

3.0 Using Films as a Tool for ESD

CEC believes, based on its multiple experiences, that effectively employing evocative Nature films is a very powerful and impactful tool for ESD. Children are quick to grasp a situation and are able to very quickly think through and work towards solutions. So introducing them to the infinite wonders of nature via films, and thus leading them on to understand the environmental challenges today are a sure way of nurturing environmentally-conscious future citizens.

Films are the most impactful audio-visual medium that sends subliminal messages while creating the atmosphere wherein all senses are immersed in the experience, eliciting an emotional response. A film is thus a magical tool to raise eco-awareness in children. It captures stark realities in a manner that jolts us out of our sense of complacency. The series of film festivals organised by CEC has shown that there is perhaps no better way than films to impress upon our children that “environment” is not a “boring” subject but an interactive living eco-system that responds to our participation in ways that we can touch and see, every day.

CEC has organised a series of film festivals across schools and institutions for children and youth in Delhi and NCR, engaging more than 2000 children and youth in its various events and ongoing programmes. It has also launched its flagship programme, Green Buddies Film Festival, to engage children and youth on a sustained basis towards positive environmental action on a larger platform. 

4.0 CEC Initiatives employing Films as ESD Tools: In Brief

 I. Green Hub Festival 2016 Celebrating Northeast

Presented by: North East Network, Dusty Foot Production, and Centre for Environment Communication

Date: May 13-15, 2016

Venue: Green Hub, Jonak, Kumargaon, Tezpur, Assam

ACTIVITIES:

Films & Makers; Anthology of Shots; In Conversation; Expert Talks & Discussions; Musical Nite & Delightful Cuisine

Films being screened: Manas - Return of the Giants; Walking with the Wolves; Multiple Screening of Films by Green Hub Fellows from different parts of the Northeast.

II. THE ELEPHANT FESTIVAL – Celebrating World Wildlife Day, March 3, 2016

Participants: Children and youth from Prayas Juvenile Aid Centre, Tughlakabad and all its centres in Delhi; PVR Nest: NGO Vidya Foundation

Organised by: Centre for Environment Communication (CEC), Prayas Institute for Juvenile Justice and Adoptionscentrum

Partners: The Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, The International Elephant Film Festival, PVR Nest, Green Future Foundation, Wildlife SOS and Magic Bus; in association with United Nations and CITES to celebrate the World Wildlife Day, March 3, 2016.

Activities: Film screenings; interactive workshop; Quiz and painting competition; Animal Pictionary; On the spot skit presentation on festival theme.

Films screened - 6: The Jungle Gang meets the Elephant by Krishnendu Bose; Elephant Talk 2015: Asian Elephants in the Wild; Elephants Never Forget; On the Right Track, and Living with Giants.

Workshop theme: Understanding the role of the Elephant in the eco-system; Conserving the Elephant: Challenges and solutions

Skit theme: Act for the Elephant

III. CEC CLIMATECONNECT Film Festival in Delhi and NCR

Classes: VII, VIII, IX, X and XI

No. of Activities: 10

Participating Schools: TSMS Faridabad, Lotus Valley School Noida, DPS Gautam Buddh Nagar and Tagore International School

Activities: Film screening/Session with Filmmakers, Interactive Panel Discussions, Expert Talks, A Reality Show, A Climate Change presentation by children of invited schools (one speaker per school – 5 minutes only), A filmmaking competition, a photo exhibition, An Al Gore presentation, A Snake and Ladder Climate Change Game, A Solar Power Cooker Live Demonstration.

Films Screened: Melting Paradise by Vijay Bedi, The Final Tide by Vikram Mishra, Carbon Merchants by Aaradhana Kohli Kapur and Shelter

Expert Talk and Discussion Topics

• Impact on Earth of a One-Degree Rise in Temperature
• Climate Change: Political Discourses
• Climate Change and Me: How I Am Connected to Climate Change

IV. CLIMA FILM FEST

Partners: United Nations Foundation, Good Relations India, Panos South Asia, CPREEC and M.O.P. Vaishnav College and Ennovate Global - CEC partner

In the run-up to the Secretary General Climate Summit at UN headquarters on September 23, Clima Film Fest ‘14 aimed at creating maximum buzz about the impacts of climate change on our lives. The objective of the festival was to tell people through the medium of films and discourses with the experts about what exactly is climate change, how it is impacting our lives and how one can adapt to it. The festival was also very important in the context of the recent release of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Reports. A collection of compelling stories across India, highlighting evidences of the real impacts of and adaptations to climate change, underscored the spectacular festival. 

Issues Explored

1. Impact of climate change on natural resource-based livelihood in rural India.
2. Climate change and rising sea levels in the Sunderbans.
3. Local climate change impacts in Sunderbans in a participatory video.
4. Landfill gas cleaning and flaring technology.
5. India: Towards a clean and energy-efficient economy.
6. Reducing Emissions from deforestation and degradation.
7. Clean and energy-efficient technology for the small-scale glass industry.
8. Govt-citizen partnership for sustainable cities.
9. Towards sustainable habitats by using depleting natural resources to the benefits of all.
10. Artificial glaciers to beat the drought in high-altitude areas.
11. Impact on Earth of a one-degree rise in temperature.
12. Small scale sustainable renewable energy programmes.
13. Conservation of precious water resources such as wetlands.
14. The ground reality of climate change and the global scenario.

Expert Discussion Session Topics

• Climate Change and the Coasts
• Communicating Climate Change: A Panel Discussion on Climate Change and Media
• Adaptation to Climate Change for the State of Tamil Nadu
• Climate Change and Chennai City

Films Screened

Missing, Where is my Home and The Forest Beautiful by Krishnendu Bose; are we ready to dig in by Saransh Sugandh; Negotiating Justice and Tales Of Gorakhpur: Path Towards A Climate-Resilient Future by Rishu Nigam; Redemption - A Redd + Story From India by Ahona Dutta Gupta; Ring The Changes by Kanishka Singh; Breathe Easy by Aditi Banerjee; Building For A Greener World by Rita Banerji; Ladakh's Artificial Glaciers by Rajendra Srivathsa Kondapalli; Strange Days On Planet Earth - The One Degree Factor by Rob Whittlesey; Lighter Burden, Brighter Future by Sanjay Barnela; Melting Paradise Ajay and Vijay Bedi; Mean Sea Level and Don’t Cut My Head Off  by Pradip Saha

V. COMING SOON: CEC FLAGSHIP INITIATIVE - GREEN BUDDIES FILM FESTIVAL

Green Buddies Film Festival is India’s first niche green film festival exclusively for children and youth. It is a unique green festival which provides a stage for the voices of children and youth to be heard on the subject of the environment. For those who are already “green buddies” with the environment, this festival will be a unique opportunity to showcase their efforts via films and other environmental communication tools and formats; for those who are yet to understand the importance of conserving the environment, the festival will be an awakening, an initiation into the subject. The festival is an exclusive Flagship Initiative of the Centre for Environment Communication (CEC).

5.0 About Centre for Environment Communication (CEC)

Centre for Environment Communication (CEC) is committed to raising awareness among children, youth, and adults proactively on environmental issues and promoting action to concretise the awareness. Through a consistent and sustained call for awareness and action, CEC aims to gradually engender behaviour change, at large, towards the environment and make its conservation a part of our daily concerns towards creating a good life. CEC has partnered with UNICEF, DELHI GOVERNMENT, JACKSON HOLE WILDLIFE FILM FESTIVAL, PVR NEST for its various projects. CEC also received support from leading environmental organisations such as Climate Reality and Connect4Climate, University of Stirling, the UK for its various programmes.

Mission: Communicating for Creating Sustainable Societies

Thematic Centres: CEC has established five thematic centres: Climate Change Communication Centre (C4); Biodiversity Communication Centre (BCC); Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Communication Centre (WASHCC); Green Films Centre (GFC), and Corporate Employees Engagement Centre (CEEC)} which strategically spotlight its primary areas of engagement. The Centres seek to influence social, economic and instrumental change on environmental issues at the level of the society and consequently, catalyse appropriate policy interventions by the government.