“The solutions for our environmental problems are not going to come from our politicians. They are going to come from our children.”

This s what Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal said at the valedictory session of the Second Environment Educators’ Conference, organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

The conference, called ‘Road to a Sustainable School’ was held at Stein Auditorium in India Habitat Centre.

The three-day event, that began on November 3, addressed key issues related to the environment with special focus on climate change. It urged teachers to play a more proactive role in spreading awareness about environmental issues to schoolchildren.

“It is essential to make schoolchildren conscious of climate change issues because ultimately, it is they who will have to deal with them later,” said TERI director-general Dr R. K. Pachauri, who had shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice-president Al Gore.

He shared how he tried to make Yale University a sustainable campus when he taught there in 2000.

“Now, the university has an office of sustainability”, he added. The event saw the release of a series of interactive CDs on climate change that teachers can use as educational resources.

“We need to let our children find answers to their questions on their own and not provide them with our archaic solutions,” said Sibal.

“And we need to wage a third world war against our consumption habits to prevent the extinction of the human race,” he added.