To help India live up to the commitment made at the Glasgow conference to reduce carbon emissions, Catholic schools in the great metropolis are asking pupils to adopt lifestyles compatible with this goal. Fr Magi Murzello notes that zero was invented in India, and now the country must make another contribution.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) – Fr Magi Murzello, rector and trustee of the St Andrews Educational Foundation, is behind the Zero Carbon programme in all Catholic educational facilities in the Archdiocese of Bombay.
On 1 November 2021, at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) held in Glasgow (Scotland), India officially pledged to cut its carbon emissions.
In Mumbai, thanks to the zero out carbon initiative, “we became the first school in India to kickstart a decarbonisation project,” Fr Murzello said, speaking to AsiaNews.
The school’s efforts follow the magisterium of Pope Francis, who, in the encyclicals Laudato si’ and Fratelli tutti, insists on the need for energy transition.
EduFocus, the magazine of the Archdiocesan Board of Education, which Fr Murzello edits, published the very first encyclical by a pope on the environment.
To promote the zero out carbon initiative, on the cover of the magazine, Fr Murzello put a picture of Aryabhata, the father of Indian mathematics who is considered the inventor of the zero.
“The invention of zero, the most exquisite jewel in India’s crown and its biggest cultural product, revolutionised the world of science,” he explained. Hopefully, India’s pledge will “give the world another diamond from her crown”.
“Our schools must be at the heart of this zero-carbon transformation because schools spark and galvanise community change.” What is more, “young people have been the driving force of climate action around the world as they must safeguard their future.”
To help India achieve its goals, school staff and students signed a card making a personal pledge to change their lifestyle in order to reduce carbon emissions.
For Fr Murzello, “children can choose to turn off the lights and fans [. . .], unplug electronic gadgets when not in use, recycle tetra-packs, glass and plastic, use cloth bags instead of plastic”. They can even use an app “to calculate their carbon footprint” and “educate family and friends on how to reduce their carbon footprint.”
The zero out carbon initiative will continue throughout the year, and Fr Murzello expects “that very soon this will be embraced by other schools in the city and across the country, touching the lives of every Indian.”