Decade of Action: Green Education for Greener Life

April 6, 2022 by No Comments

THE climate is ever changing but why can’t the people change their bad habits for the environment?Many don’t care to plant and instead produce more wastes that eventually lead to polluting the environment and worst of all its destruction.At its worsening condition, the climate crisis warrants emergency resuscitation and this calls for global action especially for big countries to take the lead since they are into carbon-producing elements as evidenced by the mushrooming of their industries.Such projects are a global threat not only to the environment, but to the health and the peoples’ lives.Carbon emissions, for example, contribute a lot to global warming; and science contends that there’s a need to halt carbon wastes by controlling its production and for countries to resort to green technology to achieve global warming below 1.5 degrees.Climate related disasters like typhoons, floods, storm surge, droughts, heat waves, health crisis, food scarcity, fish kills and aquatic related problems, erratic rainfall patterns, are ill-effects of climate change that global and local leaders especially the people should realize and cognizant of.Poor countries, and people living and working in poverty and informal economy, the marginalized groups, women, and the young generation carry the brunt of a frenzied climate.The loss of habitats, soil erosion and desertification, all of which affects food security and incomes as devastating impacts of climate change that obviously affect the wellbeing of humanity.Yes, the world is in a critical state amidst the climate emergency as per report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) thus, stressed the need for world leaders to massively scale up the implementation of national climate mitigation and adaptation measures in consonance with the objectives of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda.The 2030 Agenda dubbed as Decade of Action is aimed at ending poverty in all its forms. Launched in New York on September 25-27, 2015 by the United Nation, the Agenda envisages “a world of universal respect for human rights and human dignity, the rule of law, justice, equality and non-discrimination.”The 2030 Agenda empowers all states to adopt and implement national climate plans to remove the link between Gross Domestic Product growth and environmental degradation. In the case of the Philippines, agriculture, forestry, and fishing posted a contraction of -0.3 percent, according to the Fourth Quarter 2021 report of the Philippine Statistics Authority.The report indicates that the government must take action to address the effect of GDP to the downtrend pattern in the country’s three major sources for food security.This necessitates a synergy among government agencies and private organizations. Through public and private partnerships and strong people’s support, the climate crisis can be addressed in due time.In this manner, the role of academic institutions plays a pivotal role in educating the young people through integration of climate change, perhaps as a separate discipline in the curriculum.For the higher education institution, climate change should be introduced as another branch of environmental science to give impetus to achieving a safe, secured, and sustainable environment.Therefore, education must be transformed to support the fight against climate change.Education leaders should invest in capacitating school workers to prepare the students for the world of work in a green economy for greener life and the future.It is so critical for educators to educate and train students especially on honing their skills and attitudes which are necessary to sustain the world for future generations that is sustainable and life that is resilient.Supporting quality journalism is also critical to providing adequate information to people on the climate emergency and to the fight against misinformation around climate change denial.