History is often written through important events that shaped societies or through the lives of leaders who led them. The 40-year journey of the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) titled ‘Inspirations’ by Mamata Pandya and Meena Raghunathan delves into the seminal contributions of 29 outstanding individuals who have shaped or laid the foundation for rich discourse on India’s environmentalism and sustainability. Many among them have had immense influence on India’s development in other spheres as well.
It is not just a book on the history of the development of India’s environmental education, it unwittingly doubles up as a book on early years of the understanding and learning about India’s rich natural heritage and how it needs to be conserved and advanced.
For environment educators this book is of immense value. While technology can help reach a wider audience the strong ethos of field-led insights and people-centric models will continue to be vital. The early leaders set an example in community-led learning and doing. This approach is even more important today.
With the climate crisis at our doorsteps, in the air we breathe and the water we drink today, environmental education, especially in schools, has to move emphatically from awareness towards action. Schools must move from teaching environmental education as an add-on period and incorporate it in every class the teacher teaches, be it Physics, Chemistry, Social Sciences or Art.
Most of us would have heard or read about not more than five leaders covered in the book. It is good to know who our green heroes were. This book should be part of the school and college curriculum. It’s less about the people who drove environmentalism, but more about what they stood for, what they fought for, and how relevant their work is today and in the future.
Inspire Young Leaders
This book should be available in most Indian languages and video versions need to be made as well since today’s students are more adept at learning from multiple mediums. Many initiatives covered in the book have their video versions. Educators may want to access them and use them to inspire future socio-environment-climate entrepreneurs.
Nature clubs or eco-clubs are popular in many schools and colleges. This book can inspire young leaders who run them. The world needs young eco-warriors in villages and towns to make the environment and climate a mass community-driven movement.
Clearly, the vigour and rigour of environmentalism and sustainability in India in the last decade appears to have become subdued. This book can inspire bureaucrats, activists, consumers, business leaders and teachers to step up their work as the challenges today and in the near future are going to be life-threatening.
Buy the book
https://www.amazon.in/Inspirations-Individuals-Institutions-defined-Sustainability/dp/8195889646
