My Son and the UN COP-15 in Dec.2009, Denmark

[Aunty Kamala]

Dear Friends at Gandhi-King,
I am happy to announce that my son, Linkesh Diwan, is one of 20 youth selected as part of the Indian Youth Delegation to the UNFCCC, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, this December in Copenhagen, Denmark. IYCN - Indian Youth Climate Network is the only youth group going from India, on behalf of the concerns of those who will live longest with the decisions made or not made at this critical conference. India contains over 500,000,000 people who represent nearly 1/2 the malnourished people on the planet.
As a parent, have been very pleased to see Linkesh's common sense ideals, which take such great inspiration from Gandhiji - Trusteeship, Simple living as a goal, rather than the development of consumer societies, not stealing from the rest of the Creation or future generations. In the practice of these ideals he has had practical experience from living in Holy Mother Amma's Ashram in Amritapuri, Kerala since he was 12 years old.
Linkesh has written a wonderful essay in response to the 'development' question, called, "What is Development?" the web link to this article is:
http://www.whatswiththeclimate.org/2009/10/07/what-is-development/
for those who are interested in a refreshing voice coming from our youngsters today.
Sunderlal Bahuguna, who lived with Gandhi in his youth, and later helped start the CHIPKO movement which has since become 'Save the Himalayas' and expanded even further to saving all Forests throughout India has said of development:
"The solution of present-day problems lie in the re-establishment of a harmonious relationship between man and nature. To keep this relationship permanent, we will have to digest the definition of real development: development is synonymous with culture. When we sublimate nature in a way that we achieve peace, happiness, prosperity and ultimately, fulfillment along with satisfying our basic needs, we march towards culture."
About the present day rush in education and media towards westernization and consumer lifestyles, Holy Mother Amma has said,

"Even if India emerges as a major economic power, what purpose will it serve if there are going to be crores of people starving or lacking proper education? Our advancement should manifest as food for the hungry, homes for the homeless and uplift of the downtrodden. Real advancement is the refinement and culture of the human mind." (Interview with The Hindu. Sept. 28, 2007:5)

The ecological and climate crisis is, in its roots, an ethical crisis.
Youth today have urgent need for 5 areas of concern to be heard:
1.Planetary application of the Precautionary Principle of development.
2.World-wide moratorium on all green-felling and forest destruction.
3.World-wide moratorium on all disposable plastic production.
4.World -wide moratorium on all transport that causes any pollution 1 day each week, as we struggle to arrive at cleaner levels of CO2 emission levels.
5.Re-orientation of all education for the next 50 generations to create people with skills and capacity to deal with living in the toxic mess we have made of the Earth garden. See this link: http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/north-pacific-gyre-mi...

Now, more than ever, we need Gandhi's gumption for a new Quit School movement, new teachers, and a new vision of what globalized trusteeship and swadeshi look like. The world is now a neighborhood, the population is immense, and citizen democratic participation needs to be meaningfully expressed at the community level, with all due respect for the creation that surrounds us.

Seeking Your Loving Blessings for our Youth in their efforts to be heard,

Aunty Kamala

[Ashni Mohnot]

Congrats on your son's selection to attend this conference! Sounds like a great opportunity.