Youth India

This piece, written by 350 messenger, Deepa Gupta, was originally posted on Whatwiththeclimate.org, India's new youth climate blog, on July 25.  This is what real leadership looks like, and it will be exciting to witness how such vision will soon manifest as youth leaders from across India meet for their first Indian Youth Climate Summit in Hyderabad this week...

Vision of young people is simple – we want to enjoy a stable climate that our parents grandparents have enjoyed, one without hundreds and thousands of refugees, resource scarcity, and natural disasters.

The IPCC has stated that to give us a 50% chance of preventing two degrees warming we will require global emissions to be stabilized at 450ppm. Now, even venture capitalists would agree that 50% chance of return isn’t a worthwhile investment. Imagine the loss of this investment resulting in the destruction of our planet. My vision for the long term is that India makes to the 350ppm target, which gives us a strong chance at preventing runaway climate change. Clean technology will need a very strong presence to make this vision reality.

My vision of the next 12 months, which will progress beyond that, is somewhat Gandhi-an.