Sansad TV Perspective: Mission LiFE and Climate Change

In the series Sansad TV Perspective, we bring you an analysis of the discussion featured on the insightful programme ‘Perspective’ on Sansad TV, on various important topics affecting India and also the world. This analysis will help you immensely for the IAS exam, especially the mains exam, where a well-rounded understanding of topics is a prerequisite for writing answers that fetch good marks.

In this article, we feature the discussion on the topic: ‘Mission LiFE and Climate Change’.

Anchor: Vishal Dahiya 

Participants –

1. Minal Pathak, Senior Scientist, IPCC
2. Pawan Mulukutla, Director, Electric Mobility, Sustainable Cities, WRI India
3. Urmi Goswami, Senior Journalist
4. Dr Amit Kumar Mishra, School of Environmental Sciences, JNU
5. Anil Kumar, Principal, DPS Faridabad

Context – The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has called for people’s participation and collective efforts in combating climate change. Addressing the World Bank Event on ‘How Behavioural Change Can Tackle Climate Change’, PM Modi said climate change cannot be fought from conference rooms alone, it must be fought at the dinner table in every home.  

Mission LiFE

 A Global call for Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) was given by the Prime Minister while delivering India’s National Statement, at CoP26, held in Glasgow in October-November, 2021. Subsequently, Mission LiFE was launched by PM Modi on 20 October 2022. 

• Under Mission LiFE, the government’s efforts are spread across many domains such as making local bodies environment-friendly, saving water, saving energy, reducing waste and e-waste, adopting healthy lifestyles, adopting natural farming and promoting millets.
• The idea promotes an environmentally conscious lifestyle that focuses on ‘mindful and deliberate utilisation’ instead of ‘mindless and wasteful consumption’.
• The mission LiFE emboldens the spirit of the P3 model i.e., Pro Planet People. Mission LiFE unites the people of Earth as pro-planet people, uniting them in all their thoughts. It functions on the basic principles of ‘Lifestyle of the planet, for the planet and by the planet’. Through the P3 community, the mission seeks to create an ecosystem that will reinforce and enable environmentally friendly behaviours to be self-sustainable. 
• It advocates for the circular economy where the concept of ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’ can help in striking a balance between development, economic growth, and sustainability.

Also read – LiFE Movement.

Mission LiFE – a three-pronged strategy 

Mission LiFE aims at following a three-pronged strategy for changing our collective approach towards sustainability. 

• First is by nudging individuals to practise simple yet effective environment-friendly actions in their daily lives (demand);
• Second is by enabling industries and markets to respond swiftly to the changing demand (supply) and; 
• Third is to influence government and industrial policy to support both sustainable consumption and production (policy).

How behavioural change can tackle climate change

LiFE envisions replacing the prevalent ‘use-and-dispose’ economy, governed by mindless and destructive consumption with a circular economy, which would be defined by mindful and deliberate utilisation. The Mission intends to nudge individuals to undertake simple acts in their daily lives that can contribute significantly to climate change when embraced across the world.

• One of the most powerful ways to tackle climate change is a behavioural change that must begin at every home. Each good deed by an individual for the planet may seem unimportant, however, when billions across the globe do it together, it makes a huge impact.
• Climate change cannot be fought from conference tables alone but has to be fought from dinner tables in every home. When an idea moves from discussion tables to dinner tables, it becomes a mass movement. People of India have actively participated in the mass movements like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the adoption of LED bulbs which helps in avoiding nearly 39 million tonnes of carbon-dioxide emissions every year.
• Making every family and individual aware that their choices can help the planet can provide scale and speed.
• Mission LiFE is about democratising the battle against climate change. When people become conscious that simple acts in their daily lives are powerful, there will be a very positive impact on the environment.
• Adequate pricing policies & institutions combined with the right incentives can alter deeply entrenched habits & help protect the environment.

Lifestyle changes that can help avert the climate crisis

Research shows that governments and individuals making small changes can have a huge impact on reducing emissions.

• Implementing resource efficiency in buildings—Insulation, low carbon construction material.
• Adopting low-emission innovations—Electric vehicles, heat pumps.
• Adoption of renewable energy—Solar rooftops, solar water heaters.
• Adopting energy-efficient appliances—Energy-efficient heating/cooling and energy-efficient appliances.
• Energy saving behaviour—Walking or cycling for short distances, using mass transit, line drying for laundry; reducing food waste.
• Consumption of products with low GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions—Reducing meat and dairy intake, buying local and seasonal food, replacing aluminium products by low-GHG alternatives
• Organisation behaviour—Designing low-emission products, replacing business travel by video conference when possible
• Citizenship behaviour—Engage through civic channels to push for low-carbon climate-resilient development in the state.

Making such consumer choices and behavioural changes can significantly reduce energy consumption, generating substantial reductions in GHG emissions.

Climate Resilient and Sustainable Development

Healthy ecosystems are more resilient to climate change and provide life-critical services such as clean water and food security. By restoring degraded ecosystems, society can benefit from nature’s capacity to absorb and store carbon and can progress towards sustainable development. For this purpose adequate finance and political support are essential.

• Scientists point out that climate change interacts with global trends such as unsustainable use of natural resources, growing urbanisation, social inequalities, losses and damages from extreme events and a pandemic, jeopardising future development.
• Tackling all these different challenges involves everyone – governments, the private sector and civil society. By bringing together scientific and technical know-how as well as indigenous and local knowledge, solutions will be more effective.
• Failure to achieve climate resilient and sustainable development will result in a suboptimal future for people and nature.

Electric Mobility and Sustainable Cities

Electric mobility is a crucial contributor to transforming mobility and achieving sustainable development goals and decarbonisation. The transition to electrified mobility, particularly in cities, provides the opportunity to vastly change transportation habits that have outlived their utility.

• The National Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020 is a national mission document providing the vision and the roadmap for the faster adoption of electric vehicles and their manufacturing in the country. 
• As part of the NEMMP 2020,  a Scheme viz. Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) was launched in the year 2015 to promote the manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicle technology and to ensure sustainable growth of the same.
• India’s ambitious e-bus program will see the deployment of 50,000 e-buses.

Conclusion – Climate change is a threat to human well-being and the health of our planet. We need to tune our minds and soul towards nature to bring about a large-scale change we need to save the planet.

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