Climate
Environmental Literacy, Not Tree Planting, Is What India’s Schools Need
Awareness is not the same as literacy — and India’s classrooms are still teaching the former
Planting trees and organising awareness campaigns are valuable, but they cannot replace environmental literacy. As climate change increasingly shapes everyday life, India’s schools must teach students how environmental systems, public policy and sustainability are interconnected.
Every year, schools across India mark World Environment Day with the same rituals. Children plant saplings, make posters, join cleanliness drives, and pledge to “save the environment.” A photograph is taken, a few speeches are made, and the saplings are watered for a week or two before the event winds down and environmental education slips back to the margins of the curriculum. There is nothing wrong with planting trees. The concern is what happens when tree-planting, poster-making and occasional awareness drives become the whole of environmental education: children end up with a dangerously thin understanding of the environmental forces that already govern their lives.
India’s environmental problems are no longer confined to the classroom or the textbook. Heatwaves have thrown school timetables out of kilter. Air pollution affects children’s health and their ability to concentrate. Floods and cyclones disrupt attendance and damage school infrastructure. Water shortages are a recurring reality in many parts of the country, and waste management, plastic pollution, groundwater depletion and biodiversity loss are becoming questions of everyday survival rather than abstract concerns. Yet much of environmental education still treats the environment as something outside the classroom, and environmental protection as an occasional act of cleaning or conservation. The problem isn’t that Indian children don’t know about trees. It’s that they are rarely taught why environmental crises happen, who pays the price for them, and what other choices communities could make.
Why Environmental Literacy Matters
India has a long history of institutional efforts on environmental education. Supreme Court rulings in the 1990s pushed environmental education into schools, and the National Curriculum Framework, along with subsequent policy measures, tried to weave environmental topics into the curriculum. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 places considerable emphasis on environmental awareness, sustainable development and responsible citizenship. On paper, the direction looks promising. In the classroom, that intent rarely survives translation.
A student may be told to conserve electricity, but is anyone explaining where India’s electricity comes from, why coal still dominates the grid, how renewable energy is expanding, and what trade-offs come with each alternative?
A child might learn that forests matter for ecological balance, but is anyone teaching them why the trees are being cut, who owns the forest land, what happens to the communities living in or around forests, how infrastructure projects reshape ecosystems, or how climate change itself is accelerating deforestation? A student may be told to conserve electricity, but is anyone explaining where India’s electricity comes from, why coal still dominates the grid, how renewable energy is expanding, and what trade-offs come with each alternative? A pupil may be advised not to waste water, but do they understand groundwater depletion, unequal access to water, the weaknesses in urban infrastructure, or the politics of sharing rivers between states?
These are fundamentally different levels of learning. The first produces awareness. The second produces environmental literacy. India needs far more of the latter.
The Environment Is Not Only a Question of Individual Behaviour
One of the deepest weaknesses of conventional environmental education is its tendency to place almost the entire burden on the individual: turn off the lights, carry a cloth bag, don’t litter, plant a tree, use less water. These are worthwhile habits. But taken alone, they carry a quiet suggestion — that environmental destruction is essentially a matter of personal carelessness. Climate change, pollution and ecological collapse are not happening because people forget to switch off a fan or reuse a plastic bag.
They are the product of energy systems, industrial production, urban design, transport networks, agricultural practices, consumption patterns and public policy choices. When environmental education stops at individual behaviour, students may grow into conscientious consumers while remaining unaware of the institutional and political processes that actually shape environmental outcomes. They should also be taught to ask who is responsible for emissions, and why a project is sited where it is. That shift — from moral instruction to civic awareness — is the one Indian environmental education still largely has not made.
Climate Change Is Already in the Classroom
The strongest argument for rethinking environmental education is that climate change is no longer a distant subject for Indian schoolchildren — it is already shaping their school experience. Extreme heat makes classrooms uncomfortable and undermines concentration. Floods and cyclones damage school infrastructure and disrupt attendance. Air pollution curtails outdoor activity. Water scarcity affects sanitation facilities, with a disproportionate impact on adolescent girls.
These effects are not distributed evenly. A private school with air conditioning, backup power and a reliable water supply absorbs climate stress very differently from an under-resourced government school. Climate change, in other words, is not only an environmental issue — it is also a question of educational inequality. A child sitting through a heatwave in a poorly ventilated classroom experiences climate change in fundamentally different terms from a child in a climate-controlled one, yet few environmental education programmes address that disparity directly. They should. Climate literacy needs to teach children that environmental issues are inseparable from class, geography, gender, occupation and access to infrastructure.
From ‘Save the Planet’ to Environmental Justice
Another limitation lies in how environmental issues are framed. Students are told they must “save the planet.” But the planet will endure regardless. The more urgent question is what kind of civilisation humanity will be able to inhabit as environmental pressures mount — and that is where environmental justice comes in.
India’s renewable energy transition makes this complexity visible. Solar and wind power are essential to reducing dependence on fossil fuels, but large-scale projects can also mean land acquisition, damage to agricultural livelihoods, and conflict with local communities. Protecting biodiversity matters, but so do the rights of people living around protected areas. Electric vehicles cut tailpipe emissions, but their batteries depend on mineral mining with its own environmental and social costs. Recycling eases pressure on landfills, but informal waste collectors often work in hazardous, unregulated conditions.
None of this is an argument against environmental action. It is an argument for teaching students how environmental systems actually work, contradictions included. A mature curriculum should embrace that complexity rather than flatten it.
Teachers Need Support, Not Just Demands
None of this is possible if teachers are left to carry the burden alone. Environmental education, where it exists, is often exam-driven, squeezed for time, and layered on top of an already heavy workload. Many teachers have no specialised training in climate science or environmental policy. Improving environmental education is, in large part, a question of improving teacher preparation and giving teachers the tools to connect environmental issues to subjects they already teach: geography can examine groundwater depletion, economics can study the cost of pollution, civics can look at environmental regulation, mathematics can work with climate data, history can trace industrialisation and land-use change, and language classes can practise environmental journalism and writing. Environmental education does not need a separate subject. It needs a different way of teaching the subjects that already exist.
The Classroom as a Site of Inquiry
Some of the most valuable environmental learning may not come from lectures at all. Schools can double as sites of inquiry. Students can take temperature readings in their own classrooms and study local heat patterns, check air quality where they live, map household water use, conduct waste audits, track the loss of local biodiversity, or examine power consumption and the potential for renewables. They can trace where their school’s waste actually goes. These exercises build evidence-based reasoning in a way no poster campaign can, developing skills in observation, questioning and analysis that are essential to understanding environmental issues.
Beyond Symbolic Environmentalism
Finally, what is needed is a cultural shift, not another annual ritual. Environmental education should be more than a photograph of children clutching saplings. A planted tree is visible; the systems that actually determine environmental outcomes — urban design, energy generation, water governance, waste management, industrial regulation, the distribution of climate risk — are not, and children need to understand them regardless.
India is raising a generation that will have to navigate hotter cities, strained water systems, shifting coastlines and difficult development choices. Telling children to plant trees isn’t wrong. It simply isn’t enough. The goal of environmental education should not be young people who appreciate the value of a tree, but citizens who understand how societies shape the environment — and how the environment, in turn, shapes society. That is the real difference between symbolic awareness and meaningful education.
Climate
Nepal’s Glacier Disaster Exposes the Unequal Cost of Climate Change
Nepal contributes only about 0.1% of global greenhouse-gas emissions, yet its communities face growing risks from glacier loss, floods and landslides. The latest glacier-related disaster shows how climate vulnerability can fall hardest on countries that have contributed little to global warming.
A glacier collapse in Nepal has set off a chain of floods and landslides along the country’s border with China, killing hundreds of people and leaving thousands missing. Roads and bridges have been swept away, hydropower facilities damaged and a key trade route disrupted. The disaster has also brought an uncomfortable question to the surface. Nepal has contributed very little to the greenhouse-gas emissions driving global warming. Yet the country’s mountains are among the places where a changing climate is being felt most sharply.
Nepal’s disaster authorities said on August 29 that 626 people had died and 2,426 remained missing after the floods on August 26. China has reported seven deaths and hundreds of people missing in Tibet. Bad weather has slowed helicopter operations, while damaged roads and other infrastructure have made it difficult for rescuers to reach some areas.
The disaster began high in the mountains, where a large section of glacier broke away, sending ice, rock and debris into the river system below. The resulting surge tore through valleys in Nepal and Tibet, damaging homes, roads, bridges and other infrastructure. Scientists are still working to establish exactly what caused the glacier to collapse.
That uncertainty is important. There is not enough evidence to say that climate change caused this particular event. But the collapse happened in a Himalayan region that is warming rapidly and losing ice at an accelerating rate.
A Country that Emits Little
Nepal’s share of global greenhouse-gas emissions is about less than 0.1%, according to the World Bank. That is a small contribution when compared with the major economies whose industries, transport systems and energy use account for much larger shares of global emissions. Nepal’s economy has not been built around the kind of large fossil-fuel industries that have driven emissions in many wealthier countries.
Yet geography leaves Nepal unusually exposed. Much of the country lies in the Himalayas, where communities live below steep slopes, glaciers and rivers. Floods, landslides, drought and glacial lake outbursts already pose serious risks. When a hazard begins high in the mountains, its effects can travel quickly into valleys where people live and where roads, hydropower projects and other infrastructure are concentrated.
For Nepal, the problem is therefore not simply how much carbon it emits. It is how much damage it can absorb when the climate and its mountain environment change.
The Himalayas are Changing
The August disaster comes as Nepal’s glaciers undergo a profound transformation. The country’s glaciers have lost nearly one-third of their ice in just over three decades, according to estimates cited by the United Nations. The pace of ice loss in the decade before 2023 was about 65% faster than during the previous decade.
As temperatures rise, glaciers retreat and snow and ice patterns change. Mountain slopes can become less stable, while melting ice and changing water flows can alter the risks faced by communities downstream. The danger is not limited to one type of event. A collapse high on a mountain can trigger an avalanche or debris flow, which can block a river, create a temporary lake and set up another flood further downstream.
That sequence is now playing out in the aftermath of the August 26 disaster. The force of the flood damaged infrastructure and changed parts of the river system. New blockages and lakes have also raised concerns about further flooding. For people living in these valleys, the danger does not necessarily end when the first flood passes. Damaged roads can cut off communities from food and medical care. Disrupted water and sanitation systems can create additional health risks. And rebuilding can take months or years.
When Disaster Meets Poverty
Climate risk becomes harder to manage when a country has limited resources to prepare for it. The World Bank estimates that climate impacts could leave Nepal’s economy at least 7% smaller by 2050 if climate risks are not adequately addressed. Floods, landslides, drought and water stress already threaten livelihoods and infrastructure.
The latest disaster shows what those risks look like on the ground. More than 90,000 people need urgent assistance, while UNICEF estimates that about 17,000 children require humanitarian support. Eighteen schools have been destroyed and another 20 damaged. Entire communities have been swept away, leaving survivors in need of shelter and basic supplies.
The damage is also hitting infrastructure that Nepal depends on for its economy. Hydropower plants, roads and the border crossing with China have been affected, disrupting electricity generation, transport and trade. For a country still working to expand access to basic services and economic opportunities, a disaster of this scale creates a difficult trade-off. Money that could have gone towards schools, healthcare, roads or jobs may instead have to be spent repairing what has been destroyed.
The Cost of a Crisis Nepal did Little to Create
Nepal has committed to reaching net-zero emissions by 2045 and sees hydropower as an important part of its development. But Nepal becoming a lower-emissions economy will not, by itself, stop glaciers from retreating or prevent hazards in the Himalayas. The drivers of global warming extend far beyond Nepal’s borders. That makes adaptation critical. Better early-warning systems can give communities more time to move out of harm’s way. Monitoring glaciers and glacial lakes can help identify dangerous changes before they become disasters. Stronger roads, bridges, schools and health facilities can reduce the damage when extreme events occur.
All of this requires money, something that countries with small economies and limited fiscal space do not always have in sufficient amounts. The August disaster does not prove that climate change caused the glacier collapse. But it has occurred against a clear backdrop of rising temperatures and rapid ice loss in the Himalayas.
Nepal’s predicament is therefore larger than this one disaster. The country has contributed only a small amount to the greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere, yet its communities are being asked to cope with a landscape that is becoming harder to predict. The people living beneath the Himalayas did not build the global carbon economy. But they are increasingly having to deal with what it has left behind.
That is where the climate debate becomes tangible, not in emissions charts alone, but in the homes, schools, roads and livelihoods that can disappear when a mountain gives way.
Climate
The Giant Steel Gates Guarding the Netherlands from the Sea
The Maeslantkering is the Netherlands’ giant movable flood barrier, protecting Rotterdam and South Holland while keeping one of Europe’s busiest ports open.
The Maeslantkering uses two enormous movable steel gates to protect Rotterdam and South Holland from extreme storm surges while keeping the river open to ships.
Imagine a wall of water rising from the sea, threatening to flood low lying towns, farmlands, and entire cities. Now picture two massive steel arms, each as long as the Eiffel Tower, floating out from the riverbanks to join together and hold that water back.
This is not a scene from a movie. It is a real piece of infrastructure spanning the Nieuwe Waterweg river channel near Hoek van Holland in the Netherlands. Known as the Maeslantkering, or the Maeslant Barrier, it is the largest movable flood barrier on Earth. For more than three million people living in South Holland, including the port city of Rotterdam, these steel gates are the main defense against extreme ocean storms.
Maeslantkering: Why the Netherlands’ Giant Flood Barrier Matters
Why the Dutch Built a Gate Instead of a Wall The Netherlands has managed water for centuries, as nearly a third of the country sits below sea level. After a devastating North Sea flood in 1953, the Dutch government built a vast network of dams, dikes, and storm surge barriers across the country, known as the Delta Works.
However, the river route leading to Rotterdam created a practical problem. Rotterdam is home to Europe’s largest and busiest seaport. Blocking the river permanently with a fixed dam was impossible because cargo ships need round the clock access. The initial plan was to build higher earthen dikes along the riverbanks. But as engineers examined future sea level projections, they realized standard dikes would have to be enormous. Building them meant demolishing historic neighborhoods and disrupting communities for decades.
The solution was a different approach altogether: a storm surge barrier that stays open during normal weather to keep shipping lanes clear, but swings shut when severe storms approach.
How the Gates Work
The mechanics of the Maeslantkering are straightforward in design, but huge in scale. The barrier relies on two hollow steel gates parked in dry docks on opposite sides of the river.
When a major storm hits, hydraulic engines push the gates out into the waterway, where they float like barges until they meet in the middle. Once aligned, valves open and the gates fill with river water. As they gain weight, they sink onto a concrete bed built into the river floor.
The operation of the Maeslantkering relies heavily on automation. The entire closure process is directed by a specialized computer system called the Decision Support System, known by its Dutch acronym BOS
As the gates lower, water rushes underneath them at high speed. This natural currents sweep away sand and silt so the structures rest flat against the riverbed without getting stuck on sediment. When the storm passes and ocean levels drop, pumps empty the water from inside the gates. The buoyant structures float back up and swing back into their docks, reopening the river to maritime traffic.
Automated Controls with Human Oversight
The operation of the Maeslantkering relies heavily on automation. The entire closure process is directed by a specialized computer system called the Decision Support System, known by its Dutch acronym BOS.
The software constantly monitors weather forecasts, incoming tides, and river flow rates. If calculations show water levels will rise 3 meters above normal in Rotterdam, the system initiates the closure process automatically. Leaving the trigger to software removes the risk of human delay or miscalculation during a sudden storm emergency.
Even with automation running the system, human engineers remain on site. Whenever severe weather threatens the coast, a technical team monitors the operations from a nearby control room, ready to take manual control if a system fault occurs.
Balancing Ships, Farms, and Rising Tides
Closing the barrier stops all ship traffic into Rotterdam, so shutting the gates is never done without cause. The barrier only closes during major storm events, though engineers run a routine test closure every September to keep the machinery and operational teams prepared.
As sea levels change and seasonal river flows shift, the Maeslantkering remains a critical piece of Dutch water management. It demonstrates how civil engineering can function alongside natural waterways, protecting millions of residents while keeping an essential trade route open to the world.
Climate
Why India Is Studying the Arctic to Understand Its Monsoon
As BRICS countries discuss closer cooperation in ocean and polar science, research is drawing attention to a distant climate connection: changes in Arctic sea ice may influence India’s monsoon. The emerging evidence could have implications for rainfall patterns, water security and climate forecasting.
India’s growing interest in polar science comes as researchers are finding stronger links between changes in the Arctic and the climate systems that influence the country. The issue came into focus this month when India hosted the 8th BRICS Working Group Meeting on Ocean and Polar Science and Technology in Goa, bringing together scientists and officials from eight BRICS countries to discuss cooperation in ocean and polar research. The meeting covered scientific collaboration, technology and the use of research to address environmental challenges.
For India, the discussion has a direct climate relevance. The Arctic lies thousands of kilometres away, yet changes in its sea ice and atmosphere can affect large-scale circulation patterns that reach into Eurasia and interact with the South Asian monsoon.
That connection matters because India’s dependence on the monsoon leaves little room for major shifts in rainfall patterns. Agriculture, reservoirs, groundwater recharge, hydropower and flood risk all depend on when and where rain arrives.
The Arctic–monsoon Link
Scientists have been investigating the relationship for several years. A 2026 study examined Arctic sea-ice extent and Indian summer monsoon rainfall using observations and reanalysis data from 1979 to 2022. It found an inverse relationship between Arctic sea ice and Indian monsoon rainfall, particularly during August and September. The researchers reported that periods of lower Arctic sea ice were associated with stronger rainfall over parts of India and changes in the spatial distribution of monsoon rainfall.
The finding does not mean that Arctic sea-ice loss directly determines India’s rainfall. The monsoon is influenced by several interacting systems, including ENSO, the Indian Ocean Dipole, Indian Ocean temperatures and atmospheric circulation.
The significance of the study lies in identifying the Arctic as one component of that larger system. Earlier research has produced similar evidence. A study published in the International Journal of Climatology examined Arctic sea ice and Indian precipitation between 1979 and 2021. It found significant relationships between Arctic sea-ice variability and precipitation over parts of India, with the strength of the relationship changing with the state of the Arctic Oscillation.
A 2024 study in Remote Sensing of Environment looked at different Arctic regions rather than treating the Arctic as a single system. It found significant relationships between spring sea-ice conditions in regions including the Central Arctic and Barents-Kara sector and Indian summer monsoon rainfall. The researchers linked these relationships to changes in atmospheric circulation across Eurasia.
Research in 2025 reached a similar conclusion about the importance of regional differences. It examined the Atlantic and Pacific sectors of the Arctic separately and found that their relationships with Indian rainfall differ. The study also examined interactions involving the North Atlantic Oscillation and ENSO.
Together, these studies point towards a climate system in which the Arctic can influence Indian rainfall through several atmospheric pathways.
How can Melting Sea Ice Affect Rainfall in India?
The mechanism begins with the loss of sea ice. Ice reflects a large proportion of incoming solar radiation. When ice retreats, darker ocean water is exposed and absorbs more heat. The reduction in sea ice also changes exchanges of heat and moisture between the ocean and atmosphere.
Those changes can alter atmospheric pressure patterns and generate or modify large-scale waves in the atmosphere. Some of these disturbances can propagate towards Eurasia and South Asia. The 2026 study found evidence that changes associated with Arctic sea ice can modify atmospheric circulation over South Asia, affecting the distribution of monsoon rainfall.
The relationship is particularly relevant during the later monsoon season. That is significant because rainfall in August and September contributes substantially to India’s seasonal water availability, while shifts in rainfall during this period can affect crops and reservoir management.
The research, however, does not establish a simple cause-and-effect relationship for every monsoon season. The influence of Arctic conditions depends on the state of other climate systems at the same time.
India’s Climate has Several Moving Parts
The Arctic is one part of a much larger climate network. The Indian Ocean has a direct influence on the monsoon through sea-surface temperatures, ocean heat and moisture transport. ENSO can alter atmospheric circulation across the tropics. The Indian Ocean Dipole can strengthen or weaken rainfall in different parts of India.
The Himalayas add another layer. Changes in snow cover and glaciers affect the timing of water entering major river systems. Research on the Brahmaputra basin has estimated that snowmelt contributes about 6% of annual basin flow, but its contribution rises to roughly 21% in the upper Brahmaputra. Climate projections indicate declining snowmelt even as changes in precipitation could increase total annual water yield.
This distinction matters for water management. A change in the source and timing of river water can affect agriculture and hydropower even when annual river discharge does not fall.
India therefore has several climate systems operating at different scales: the Arctic and its atmospheric influence, the Himalayan cryosphere, the Indian Ocean and the tropical systems that drive the monsoon. Understanding how they interact is becoming increasingly important for forecasting.
Why India Needs Long-term Polar Observations
India established Himadri, its first Arctic research station in Svalbard, in 2008. Indian research in the region now covers atmospheric science, glaciers, sea ice, marine ecosystems and other aspects of the Arctic environment.
The purpose is not limited to documenting polar warming. Long-term observations allow scientists to compare changes in Arctic conditions with atmospheric circulation, Himalayan processes and Indian rainfall. Satellite observations extend this coverage, while climate models can be used to test possible mechanisms.
This kind of research requires continuity. A single expedition cannot establish whether an Arctic change has influenced the Indian monsoon. Researchers need observations collected over decades, together with historical records and data from other parts of the climate system. That is where international scientific cooperation can become useful.
What BRICS Cooperation Could Add
The BRICS meeting in Goa brought ocean and polar science into the same discussion. That is relevant to India because its climate concerns span both ends of the Earth system. The country has interests in Arctic research, Antarctic research, Himalayan cryosphere studies and Indian Ocean observations.
Ocean and polar research also requires expensive infrastructure. Research vessels, autonomous instruments, satellite observations and specialised equipment are difficult for individual institutions to maintain at the scale needed for long-term climate research.
Cooperation can help researchers share observations, technology and expertise. The value of such partnerships, however, will depend on what they produce after the meetings: shared datasets, joint expeditions, sustained observations, modelling capacity and research that improves understanding of regional climate risks.
What This Means for India
The Arctic–monsoon relationship is scientifically significant, but it should not be turned into a prediction that Arctic sea-ice loss will automatically bring more rain to India. The evidence is more complicated. Different parts of the Arctic appear to influence India differently. The relationship changes with atmospheric circulation and interacts with ENSO, the Indian Ocean Dipole and other climate drivers. Some studies identify statistical associations, while others investigate the physical mechanisms that could explain them.
The next challenge is to determine how these interactions behave as the planet continues to warm. For India, that work has a practical purpose. Better understanding of the Arctic’s influence could improve seasonal monsoon prediction and help identify conditions associated with shifts in rainfall. Combined with observations from the Himalayas and Indian Ocean, it could also improve assessments of water availability and extreme rainfall.
The BRICS meeting provides the diplomatic and scientific setting for that work. The harder task begins after the meeting: collecting enough evidence to understand how changes at the top of the planet can alter weather and water far to the south.
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