That is why these small islands are planning the unprecedented step next week, ahead of the UN General Assembly meeting, of calling on the Security Council itself to address climate change as a pressing threat to international peace and security.’

This is the latest email from ‘Avaz’, a global campaigning organisation which emails to members to get support for its campaigns. For the past few years, news like this hasn’t exactly been new news as climate change stares us in the face. It is said that the future generations will be affected the most, and so they are the ones who need to be made most environmentally sensitive and responsible. Now, thanks to our teachers, this is possible.

In Delhi, there is a veritable army of eco-clubs, around 1900 schools in Delhi form part of what is called the ‘National Green Corps’ which is ‘a programme of eco-clubs, initiated nation-wide by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), in the year 2001 – 2002.’

We talked to various schools in Delhi and found highly dedicated teachers passionate towards the environment and who have inculcated a sense of responsibility towards the environment and a can-do attitude in their students.

And they always start at home. I show the children – look those are your leftover noodles and sandwiches, says Neeta Ganguly, the eco-club in-charge of Sanskriti School as she points towards soil made from compost as she explains how leftover food from the school canteen is collected and made into compost.

Waste segregation forms a major part of all the schools. Waste is segregated at the originating source itself, children are taught to recognise the waste they generate. The waste paper and paper products go into the green bin, the bio-degradable waste goes into the blue bin and the rest, which is non-biodegradable, goes into the red bin. From here the bio-degradable waste is made into compost with the help of vermicomposting. The waste paper is recycled into further paper.

The Department of Environment partly finances or subsidises the machine used for recycling paper. Now, in Sanskriti, envelopes made from paper recycled at the premises are used to carry answer sheets for exams!

Some schools like DPS, Mathura Road and St. Columba’s had a concept of eco-club in place before the department’s initiative. St. Columba’s eco-club in-charge Gayatri Ramachandran tells about the Interact club of the school which was started with Rotary International, in fact it was Rotary which had helped in setting up the rainwater harvesting system in the school, while the paper recycling machine was subsidised by the department.

She further talks about the many projects they have apart from the usual tree plantation, waste segregation and paper recycling projects. There is active involvement with various NGO’s, in fact, each NGO is assigned one class which is made aware of one aspect of environment. Hence they have projects like Kids for Tigers from which they have now progressed onto the ‘big five’, most endangered animals.

Another NGO Toxics Link helps the school authorities in dealing with toxic waste from labs etc.

But it is not just the NGOs, the school administration and the department too have stood behind the teachers and their eco clubs steadfastly.

Whenever I come up with a proposal the school authorities accept it, says Dr. Meena Jethi of Presentation Convent as she proudly says that her school’s eco club was ISO certified in 2001.

The school bears stickers reminding students to conserve energy and has its own herbal garden in which no fertilizer is used and the soil is made from their own compost. Any guest to the school is presented with a plant from the herbal garden instead of a bouquet.

‘It is cheaper and more eco friendly than a bouquet’, says Dr. Jethi.

But of course, there must be problems in changing attitudes? Most of the teachers agree but say that regardless one has to persevere.

It is a continuous presence, says Sushmita Satpathi, eco-club in-charge of DPS Mathura Road, she has full faith that children will lead the change even though she concedes that not all of her wards are environmentally sensitive. There is still a need to declare a ‘dirtiest classroom’ punishment and for student monitors to be on the job.

It is important for the teachers themselves to be genuinely interested. As Birender Kaur, the eco-club teacher for Mother’s International proves. Being an avid nature lover and outdoor person she initiated the children into the same by taking nature walks and getting them interested in the flora and fauna surrounding them.

So much so that now the schoolchildren have too joined in the Clean Yamuna campaign and get down to the actual cleaning. They actually like it, she says.