Beautiful and moving! Those are some of the few words that get at the power of the new action photos we received from India today.

School children in Nagpur, Chennai, and Mumbai all staged powerful demonstrations this week drawing attention to the interconnectedness of a safe climate, saving tigers and their threatened habitat, and the urgent need for a global agreement to get back below 350 ppm co2 in the atmosphere.

Children's Academy School, Asha Nagar, IndiaThe actions were organized by Kids for Tigers, an environmental education programme run by Sanctuary Asia in schools across India that aims to bring out the vital connection between the survival of the tiger and our ecological health.

Here’s the report from the action in Nagpur:

Mission “350”: Nagpur  Kids for Tigers, the Sanctuary Tiger Programme, sends out a global message to fight “Climate Change”

On Wednesday, November 12, 2008, students of Nagpur’s Centre Point School, Wardhman Nagar, got together to remind adults to ensue that they do not leave the next generation an unmanageable world.

The communication, which took the shape of a huge numeral 350, was crafted to highlight the fact that India’s development strategies are going to collide with the inevitability of climate change.  The significance of 350 lies in the fact that currently the carbon concentration in our planet’s atmosphere is around 387 parts per million (ppm), and rising. The world’s leading scientists say 350 ppm is the safe upper limit for Carbon Dioxide. It is the number that human being needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid adverse impacts of  “climate change”.

If we fail to do this, the consequences will be almost too terrible to contemplate, ranging from famines and mass starvation,  to floods and diseases for which we have no cures. Literally millions of Indians will be adversely affected. Kishor Rithe, President of the Satpuda Foundation, which has been the lead partner for Kids for Tigers in Central India for eight years said on the occasion: “Protecting the tigers’ forests is the best way to fight climate change because every tree by weight comprises 50 per cent carbon. If these forests die, the world will inevitably become warmer and both tigers and humans will have a bleak future.”

The event, coordinated and implemented by volunteers of the Satpuda Foundation, was possible because of the enlightened support of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) the national sponsors for Kids for Tigers. The programme is being implemented in over 600 schools and covers a national population of over one million children.

Shri Krishna Swamy School, ChennaiSays Shailesh Lanjewar, KFT coordinator: “The central theme of the programme “Tigers, Forests and Climate Change” seeks to prepare children to live in a warming world and, apart from Save the Tiger initiatives, also involves carbon audits in schools, public rallies, environmental campaigns and a unique “each one teach one” ‘adult literacy programme’ in which children will explain to adults the cause and effect of climate change.”

Mr.Bittu Sahgal, Editor of Sanctuary Magazine and mentor of “Kids for Tigers” programme lauded the children and the organisers and promised to share the initiative across the world with the organisers of www.350.org — founded by Bill McKibben — with whom Sanctuary has entered into a strategic partnership to win public involvement in our battle against fight climate change. Sahgal believes that: The election of President Elect, Barrak Obama is one of the most hopeful signs that a global fight back against climate change might succeed. India must play a pro-active role and not that of a spectator watching a horror show, because, while the developed world must assume prime responsibility for the crisis, our people will be the first victims.”

Offering her fullest support, Mrs. Mukta Chatterjee, Principal, Centre Point School, Wardhman Nagar and her staff promised to work with Kids for Tigers in the months and years ahead to ensure that Nagpur city and the nation at large are seen as solutions providers and not a part of the problem. The Satpuda Foundation team that implemented the programme included Ravindra Pawar, Manish Chate and others.

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