The UN celebrates International Youth Day on 12 August, 2023 and the theme for this year is "Green Skills for Youth: Towards a Sustainable World." The youth has an immense role and potential towards transitioning to a greener world through sustainable development. Today the world is advancing towards a green transition. The green transition will result in the creation of 8.4 million jobs for young people by 2030. Young people need to be well-equipped with green skills to navigate this changing environment. Henceforth there is a dire need to educate young people with relevant green skills.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children (Anonymous)”.
There is no other better quote than this to highlight the need for urgent action toward mitigating climate change and paving the path to a sustainable world. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were framed in 2015 with the aim to make the world better for everyone by 2030 and as of today, it is clearly evident that SDGs are unlikely to be met by 2030 (Bill Gates and Bjorn Lomborg, July 2023). Governments, businesses, media, the education sector, and NGOs should come together strongly to chalk a realistic path for achieving SDGs. Current youth do not have the luxury of ignoring to incorporate sustainability in every aspect of economic and technological development. Against this backdrop, it is important to discuss the ways on empowering youth in achieving SDGs.
The fact that youth plays a significant role in contributing towards achieving SDGs should be recognized and acknowledged by empowering them with green skills to build back better and greener to make the world more sustainable and resilient. Youth should be equipped with the right green skills to convert their education, activism, passion, and creativity to build a greener economy. The first step towards this should be to incorporate the sustainability curriculum in higher education. The current national education policy 2020 (NEP) in India has provided this opportunity at various intensities and levels. There is a lack of clear guidelines and resources to train youth in sustainability in higher education. The curriculum on sustainability should be taught with the highest flexibility providing better opportunities for students to be exposed to hands-on projects, workshops, training, etc. The scheme of evaluation should be open to accepting various forms of knowledge assessment in the area of sustainability rather than restricting to written examinations and assignments. Students should have the flexibility to demonstrate course outcomes through live projects, industry training, internships, field visits, product development, certificate courses, club activities, etc.
There is an urgent need to have skilled human resources in the area of sustainability. Industries, government agencies, businesses, policymakers, and individuals should come together to help youth in their sustainable world movement by empowering them with resources, skills, and opportunities to upskill them in green technologies. Here are the links to some excellent and leading organizations that offer memberships, voluntary activities, career and internship opportunities, free and paid specialized courses, etc., in the area of sustainability and green technology.
United Nations System Staff College: https://www.unssc.org/
United Nations Development Programme: https://www.undp.org/
United States Green Building Council: https://www.usgbc.org/
Energy Swaraj Foundation: https://energyswaraj.org/
GRIHA: https://www.grihaindia.org/
Indian Institute of Sustainable Development: https://www.iisdindia.in/internship.php
Save Green, Clean Resolution-Green Revolution: https://www.savegreen.in/savegreen/
WWF India: https://www.wwfindia.org/
Greenpeace India: https://www.greenpeace.org/india
We have done enough damage to the world and it is time for all of us to pledge to be part of the green movement. We should focus on building more organizations and support individuals who can guide and help our next generation transition into a green and clean world.
“The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.”— Gaylord Nelson
About the Author: Dr. Sumaraj is an M.Tech from the esteemeed IIT KGP and also she has done her PhD from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Currently, she is the Chairperson of the NMIT Sustainable Engineering Club and also Assistant Professor, Civil Engineering Department at the Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, Bangalore.
