The Climate Project (TCP) - a world-wide organization that supports Mr. Al Gore’s efforts on promoting climate change activism - launched its India chapter (TCP India) this weekend.With support and patronage from Mr. Gore and Dr. R.K. Pachauri and with funding and in-kind support from the JSW Foundation, TCP carried out a training session at the India Habitat Center, New Delhi. During the session, some hundred carefully selected Indian delegates from different professions were personally trained by Mr. Gore and others to spread the message of climate change and take up informed actions within their communities.Mr. Gore categorically emphasized the need for India to play an even greater role in combating climate change and in being a leader in taking such initiatives. “India is the world’s future”, he declared and went on to inspire the delegates to take the right action now lest all of us would regret later.

At a dinner hosted in his honor, a day before the training session, Mr. Gore talked about the opportunity that lies ahead, to raise global consciousness to a higher level. “As we do so” he further went on to add, “we will find it much easier to solve the crisis of extreme poverty, to solve the challenge of HIV/AIDS, to find the political will to halt the destruction of precious forest of the planet and the devastation of ocean fishery, to stop the chronic civil wars fought by child soldiers and to bring relief to all those who are suffering unnecessarily from easily preventable diseases.”He also pressed upon the need for nations to come together to address the above challenges, all of which are now defined as political problems. “Our ability to address them will increase as we develop the capacity for vision and build the moral authority essential to taking action together as a civilization,” was the take home message by him for the night.

The training session was even more thought provoking and the energy level and the charisma carried by Mr. Gore ensured that every eye was fixed on him throughout the day. There were useful inputs by Dr. Pachauri and the rest of the TCP team that kept trickling and adding to the learning experience as well. Mr. Gore’s passion and concern for the planet and towards the human civilization was exhibited in every single sentence that he put across. The audience only got more and more engaged as Mr. Gore shifted from one slide to the next. He concluded the day with sending best wishes to all and hoping for a better planet. He left back a fully charged up audience impatient to get out and spread the message while still wanting to hear and learn more from him.

TCP India is slated to be an independent body with a skills based advisory board to lend expertise and advice towards issues pertaining to climate change. It is also being setup to spread the TCP message further and to develop “Green curriculum” to support existing training/education.

 Original post by Govind Singh at whatswiththeclimate.org voice of the Indian Youth Climate Network.