By Sushmita Roy

At the forefront of many climate discussion panels are the young and the scared, the brave and the most vulnerable. Inspired by champions like Greta Thunberg, Ridhima Pandey and Autumn Peltier, young adults around the world are protesting to secure a livable, breathable, and a safer future for themselves and the planet.

And while there is no denying that these activists along with environmental groups like the Extinction Rebellion have built a powerful environmental movement, exactly how far the momentum transcends to the Global South — the community most affected by climate change — is debatable.

In India, where more than 60,000 farmers have committed suicide in the past three decades due to issues linked to climate change, some young activists are taking the responsibility of starting a conversation the government mostly avoids. “The entire existence of the country is under severe threat; people are dying every day,” Shikhar Agarwal, one of the founding members of the Mumbai chapter of Extinction Rebellion (abbreviated as XR), told the World Peace Association.

Last week, a dozen individuals rallied in Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan and a mecca for tourists who come flocking to India. The organizer of the event and the founder of the Rajasthan chapter of XR, is a German student, Jeanette Fassauer, who moved to a small conservative town called Banswara to volunteer at a local NGO that supports sustainable farming.

Last week, a dozen individuals rallied in Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan and the mecca of tourists in India.

“Extinction rebellion is a lot more up-to-date and big in Europe, which is where I got to know them. There was no chapter in Rajasthan although the state is like the size of my country, Germany, and I couldn’t stand that,” Fassauer told the World Peace Association.

XR activists believe that climate change is undeniable and time is running out. The movement was launched in Britain in July 2018. Members have since staged dramatic protests including chaining themselves to corporate offices, performing“die-ins” in public buildings and disrupting traffic to push the climate change agenda in politics and the media.

But strategies looks different for India, where climate change was never a part of the conversation. “I don’t think the average person is talking about it,” Fassauer, 21, said. When she decided to start the movement, she barely knew anyone in and around the country. She first approached Shikhar Agarwal, who helped her start the chapter, and a climate activist from Jaipur on Instagram, who then helped her organize the demonstration last week. Quite aware of the “white-savior” notion, Fassauer now likes to remain in the “background.”

Is Change Really Coming?

The activist Fassauer had approached, Anshika Jain, is also the organizer of one of the “Fridays for Future” protests in Jaipur. She pursued her undergraduate degree in the UK and since returning to her hometown championed a protest that bought 300 people to the street. For her, organizing a protest in India meant dealing with a lot of obstacles, including getting permits from the traffic police and the local police station.

Anshika Jain at the Fridays for Future rally.

“The biggest and the most basic difference though is how we exercise freedom of speech, a basic human right,” Jain said. “In the UK, if you are going to demand something, they’ll listen to you and probably incorporate it, but here if you see what happened in Mumbai, with the Aarey forest protests, where the police arrested peaceful protesters, you will know it’s not the same.”

The Aarey forest, often known as the “green lungs” of the overly populated and cosmopolitan city, Mumbai, was under threat of being cut down for a metro expansion project. Local residents and green activists protested for months before the local police started arresting peaceful demonstrators. The case highlights the growing tensions and disparities in the country.

On the periphery, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is constantly rallying for furthering the green economy and investing in renewable energy — most recently he boasted about India’s advancements to combat climate change at the U.N. Climate Summit in New York.

But in reality, even though the renewable energy sector is witnessing significant growth in India, the coal industry is also expanding, and at a much greater rate. Similar contradictions are easy to spot in policies and budget cuts.

Modi recently changed the name of the environmental ministry in India to “Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change” — a move praised by many around the globe — but slashed budgets by a quarter soon after. He also followed by slashing budgets for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Many environmental groups, initiatives, and NGOs were not provided with funds while Modi carried out aggressive privatization and deregulatory policy that loosened restrictions on mining, coal, oil, and gas companies.

Average temperatures increased by 0.6 degrees Celsius (° C) between 1901-10 and 2009-18 in India, according to the IMD data released by the statistics ministry. Although this might seem trivial at an annual level, projections deeper into the future paint a more alarming picture.

For instance, according to the World Bank estimate, if climate change continues unhindered, then average temperatures in India could reach as high as 29.1° C by the end of the century (up from 25.1° C currently).

“I think that the entire country realizes there is something wrong (with the climate) but attributes it to god or just natural occurrences. They don’t think it’s because of human actions and the reality is, the people most affected by it (lower-income communities with little or no education) have nothing to do with it,” Agarwal said.

Agarwal, 22, moved back to his hometown in India before accepting any full-time opportunities in Singapore, where he pursued his undergraduate degree. He believes the consequences of climate change are quite visible in today’s time.

“We are seeing erratic rainfall in Mumbai in October, which usually never happens. The crops that farmers planted have been destroyed due to unexpected rainfall,” Agarwal, who was also present at one of the protests against clearing out the Aarey forest, said.

Extreme rainfall events are on the rise in India — one of the most immediate consequences of climate change — causing extensive flooding that disproportionately affects lower-income communities. Just between July and September, heavy rains led to flooding in 11 states, claiming around 1200 lives and displacing millions of people.

The tense situations and the looming existential threats have pushed many teenagers and young adults to fear for their future. Phrases like “Climate depression” and “Climate anxiety” have seeped into everyday language like did “selfies,” “shade” and “ghosting.” The fear seems natural when their future is dependent on decisions that are taken by those who wouldn’t live to see the difficult times.

"Introducing policies is not enough," Jain said. "We need a nationwide campaign to create awareness about climate change and declare it an emergency. Also, education, I believe is the best tool we have, not only educating kids but also educating adults, those who are the largest consumers at this moment."

So will it ever change?

Critics of Extinction Rebellion wonder if the inconvenience caused by civil disobedience is worth it, or if it is simply a "self-indulgent therapy." But politicians and the media, at least in Europe, have not been able to ignore XR's message.

In April, XR protesters blocked the main streets and bridges of London to pressure the government to sign on to a radical overhaul of the energy economy to reach zero-emissions.

In India, the third-largest carbon emitter of the world, XR members and climate activists are still struggling to help start a conversation.

Young Climate Activists Are Begging To Be Heard In India But Is Anyone Listening?