INTERACTIVE SESSION WITH THE YOUTH

1. INTERACTIVE SESSION WITH THE YOUTH Dr. Sushita Gokool-Ramdoo, TEC Dr. Anwarbhai Rumjaun, MIE Dr. Shaheen Motala-Timol, TEC Dr. Vele Putchay

2. Part 1 YOUTH AND MEDIA

3. A growing number of young people around the world are major consumers of clothes, food, gadgets, communication devices, travel and entertainment. • Advertising and peer pressure encourage young people into consumption patterns that are most often unsustainable and carried, often subconsciously, into adult life. • Trend is driven by globalization with increased media, travel, communications and trade influencing ever greater numbers of young people. Role of the youth

4. Young people have immense power to determine the future of our planet. • They can be catalysts for change, using their power as citizens, consumers campaigners and change -makers to champion alternative ways of living. • From across the world, many young people are finding solutions to the challenges of climate change. The challenges

5. Low carbon lifestyles Low carbon lifestyles are not universally the same. They are complex and depend on the environment, resources, people and cultures around us. They can be lean (using less stuff), clean (having only enough or sufficient) or green, which combines using less stuff and having enough. It is the only lifestyle that connects less consumption with more health, creativity, prosperity and wellbeing. It is also not just about thinking feeling and looking good for ourselves, but also about doing good for others and the planet.

6. SOCIAL MEDIA- Facebook, Twitter etc… • Other media- songs- e.g.Earth song Which media can be used to promote ESD?

7. Earth Song

8. What did you find appealing, in the context of sustainable development, in the Earth Song? • What values, according to you are depicted in the song? • Do you think these values are necessary and have we moved far from them? • What strategies can be used to reinstate the importance of such values, if you think they need to be reinstated? Food for thought

9. Part 2 Values and Youth: Our holy books and belief systems speaketh…

10. Christianity And God created the great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the water brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.  And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.   (Genesis 1:21-22, KJV).

11. Humanism Humanism is a group of philosohies and ethical perspectives which emphasize the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers individual thought and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over established doctrine or faith.

12. Judaism But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth and it will teach you; the fish of the sea, they will inform you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Eternal has done this? (Job 12:7-9)

13. Confucianism Confucius fished with a line but not with a net. While fowling he would not aim at aroosting bird.Analects 7.26If you do not allow nets with too fine a mesh to be used in large ponds, then there willbe more fish and turtles than they can eat; if hatchets and axes are permitted in theforests on the hills only in the proper seasons, then there will be more timber than theycan use... This is the first step along the kingly way.Mencius I.A.3

14. Hinduism and Jainism Earth, in which lie the sea, the river, and other waters,in which food and cornfields have come to be,in which live all that breathes and that moves,may she confer on us the finest of her yield....Set me, O Earth, amidst what is thy center and thy navel,and vitalizing forces that emanate from thy body.Purify us from all sides. Earth is my Mother; her son am I;and Heaven my Father: may he fill us with plenty....Atharva Veda 12.1

15. Buddhism Rajah Koravya had a king banyan tree called Steadfast, and the shade of itswidespread branches was cool and lovely. Its shelter broadened to twelve leagues....None guarded its fruit, and none hurt another for its fruit. Now there came a man whoate his fill of fruit, broke down a branch, and went his way. Thought the spirit dwellingin that tree, "How amazing, how astonishing it is, that a man should be so evil as tobreak off a branch of the tree, after eating his fill. Suppose the tree were to bear nomore fruit." And the tree bore no more fruit.

16. Islam The All-Merciful has taught the Qur'an.He created man and He taught him the explanation.The sun and the moon to a reckoning,and the stars and trees bow themselves;and heaven - He raised it up and set thebalance.Transgress not in the balance, and weigh with justice, and skimp not in the balance. And earth - He set it down for all beings, therein fruits and palm trees with sheaths, and grain in the blade, and fragrant herbs.Of which your Lord's bounties will you and you deny?55: 1-12

17. Our global consumption has already exceeded the Earth’s carrying capacity. In fact, considering the way and the amount we consume, we will soon run out of many of the Earth’s finite resources. Currently, we need 1.4 Earths to sustain our lifestyles. Consuming the Earth

18. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says that while the Earth’s carbon sinks such as trees can absorb only 3.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, carbon sources like cars are emitting 7.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere each year, more than double the absorption capacity of the Earth!!!

19. What are your views concerning our holy books and belief systems regarding to a desirable attitude to our planet and natural resources? • Do you think that we have deviated and why? • Can you give examples from your own experience and experiences related to the world, regarding how values have eroded? • What recommendations can you make so that we reinstate our earlier values in our lives? Food for thought…

20. Ms. Raphael Bhembe Ms. Elisabeth Knopell Part 3 – A response