Green Options

At the launch of the India Climate Solutions Road tour…

Not so long ago, and supported by Delhi Greens, the Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) was formed to give a voice to the next generation of India in the climate dialogue. The Network called for youth to come together in order to ensure a clean, bright future. Several city summits amidst a National Youth Summit on Climate Change, and the first ever Indian youth delegation sent to the COP at Poznan ensured that the Indian youth got its voice heard both nationally and during the international climate negotiations.

Now, members of the Indian Youth Climate Network along with a solar powered band are traveling a distance of more than 3500 kilometers in the country in solar plug-in electric cars and alternative-fueled buses. The focus of this journey is to both raise awareness and convert awareness into tangible actions. Climate solutions would be documented all through the journey and the underlying objective is to communicate the message of working to bring down the Carbon concentration to well below 350 ppm.

IYSoCC Delegates with Mr. Narayana Murthy (Founder, CEO Infosys)

Hosted by Infosys - the biggest IT brand in India and a big IT brand in the world, and organized by the Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN), the first Indian Youth Summit on Climate Change (IYSoCC) concluded successfully in the cyber-city of Hyderabad last week. The Summit brought together youth delegates from all across the country and also the Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) from across the globe, to discuss, debate, point out regional, national and global problems aiming to come up with workable solutions. Policy level interventions, a youth declaration for a safer and more secure tomorrow and an even greater youth representation was called for in the four day summit.

The summit also saw participation from some key organizations viz., Environmental Defense, Sierra Club, The Climate Project, Greenpeace etc. most of whom have now been showing keen interest in the green developments in India and believe that India can lead, by example, the movement towards a cleaner, greener and more secure tomorrow.

The city of Agra in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has a rich heritage and culture. It is the next big city on the banks of river Yamuna after the capital Delhi. The city also has a series of forts, monuments and structures of historical importance that invite travelers and tourists from all over the world. However and unarguably, it is the Taj Mahal - one of the seven wonders of the world, that not only puts Agra on the world map, but also makes it one of the three tourist destinations that form the Golden Triangle (Delhi - Jaipur - Agra).

The city of Agra has stood the test of time as conquering forces have passed through the subcontinent and taken hold of this jewel.  But now that the hitherto unknown force of climate change looms large, citizen groups and the Indian Youth Climate Network have called for a city wide Youth Summit on Environment and Climate Change.

In continuing with its commitment to bring together and unite the youth from across India, to tackle the issue of climate change and demand stricter policy level interventions to mitigate the same, the Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) – the youngest Indian coalition on the issue – has called for an Indian Youth Summit on Climate Change (IYSoCC). The summit will take place in the Indian cyber city of Hyderabad (now also known as Cyberabad) from 7th to 10th August, 2008 in the Infosys campus and will be the voice of young India, to secure and safeguard the future of the Nation and the Planet. The summit will also highlight the importance and need of youth representation in policy level decisions and push to ensure that the voice of the youth is heard for the fact that it is the future of the youth which is actually at stake.

A few months back, two young Indian environmentalists felt the immediate need to bring together the youth and youth based groups all over India - working on the issues of climate change, environmental equity and on the path to development in a climate constrained world. They went around figuring out the best ways to do this, attended seminars-workshops-conferences, got trained by Al Gore and Dr. R.K. Pachauri, went out of their way to learn, teach themselves and get involved with a lot of people and organizations all across the country. They also teamed up with other like minded youth, notably with an Indian residing in Australia and went on to launch the Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN)!

The IYCN now, has called for one of its first - the Delhi Youth Summit on Climate (DYSoC) on the 28th and 29th of this month at the residence of India’s first Prime Minister Pundit Jawahar Lal Nehru, less than a mile away from both the President’s House and the Parliament of India.