Two-day workshop on looking at Climate Action with Young Climate Champions begins in the city
-Skill building workshop to focus on designing online campaigns that advocate for India to take steps to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050
Mumbai, 1 February, 2020: Youth Ki Awaaz is organising a two-day residential workshop on Climate Actionon February 1 and 2, 2020 at YMCA, Bombay Central, for young people to learn powerful social media skills, which they can apply to create digital campaigns that demand from decision makers that India take steps to achieve zero emissions across sectors.
Some of the best campaigns that emerge following the course of the next few months will be supported by aFellowship of Rs 50,000/- so that they are able to sustain their campaigns for longer and mobilise more people in support of their demand.
Abhiir Bhalla, 18, New Delhi; Pooja Jain, 26, Mumbai; Lily Paul, 24, New Delhi; Chaitanya Prabhu, 21, Mumbai;Sahitya Palanganda Poonacha, 23, Bengaluru; Rizwan Pasha, 27, Chennai, are some of the participants at this workshop and have been working in the space of climate action and sustainability in their individual capacity for a number of years.
Across both days, these young campaigners will be taught steps on how to build an online campaign by defining their Problem Statement; how to shape their ‘Ask’ from Decisionmakers; Strategies to map their audience; How to use social media effectively to amplify their voice, and ways in which they can influence the media and decision makers at different levels of government, from elected representatives to bureaucrats to demand action.
Anshul Tewari, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Youth Ki Awaaz said, “It is now more than ever that we need to take climate action seriously and demand from our decision makers to do the same. Young people globally are leading the movement to demand climate action, and even in India, there are millions of children who are concerned about their future. It is time for the govts. to stop ignoring youth voices and start acting against climate change. This event and our project are trying to create a step in that direction.”
India is ranked as the 3rd largest emitter of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the world after developed countries like China and the US. The increasing rate at fossil fuels are burning is increasing the rate of greenhouse gases like CO2 and other dangerous gases that continue to damage the ozone layer and continue to heat the earth’s atmosphere.
In light of this, India continues to lack a sustained and clear strategy to reduce the carbon emissions from across its various sectors like energy, transport, agriculture and industries.
The action network workshop will focus on looking at young campaigners between the age of 18-30 years who are willing to address these concerns via their campaigns and will work on bringing about systemic change in order to address the increasing CO2 emissions by India. As India prepares to finalise its draft of the Long Term Strategy on Climate Change by November 2020, the Action Network workshop will aim to influence the decision makers to pay larger emphasis on ways to reduce carbon emissions across key sectors.
The Action Network fellows for the Mumbai workshop have been recruited from across the country basis their interest and inclination to work towards campaigns that address increasing carbon emissions in India across different sectors.
Some of the chosen campaigners include:
Abhiir Bhalla, 18, New Delhi: Abhir’s area of specialisation is air pollution and waste management. His flagship project was Swachh Chetna, a collaboration he founded with the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC). He involved students from not only his school, but also NGO and Government Schools to participate in this campaign. The campaign involved cleanliness, awareness and plantation drives across Delhi-NCR. Abhir has just graduated from school and is now a first year student
