On average, 83 million people are added to the world population every year. As per the latest estimates by the UN, we will have a global population of 9 billion by 2030.

However, we only have one planet to live on- Earth and it has finite resources to sustain human needs. If the human population keeps growing at the current rate, our planet will not be able to keep up.

And that is the problem!

That’s what prompted me to launch this year-long initiative ‘Mission Sustainability: Population VS Planet’ in partnership with WION.

Through this initiative we aim to aware, educate and empower the current generation with solid facts and teach them the way for stabilizing the population for a better future. The population is directly linked to climate change, global warming, ecological disruption and biodiversity loss. And our planet is reeling under the burden of population explosion and the multiplying needs of humans. And there is nothing inexplicable about it.

Today, you and I are witnesses to the rising housing crisis, deepening poverty, growing unemployment, and declining health in our country due to unsustainable overpopulation. Among these environmental and economic crises, the two most apparent challenges that we face today are air pollution and climate change.

Recently, some of the prominent metro cities in India were rated as the most polluted cities in the world. This shows the quality of the air we breathe today. As for climate change, in the past few years, we have seen rising temperatures in India and shorter winter seasons. That is a sign of climate change and global warming that we face.

The connection between air pollution, climate change and population, is simple. More population leads to more vehicles, more pollution and higher climate temperatures.

But how do we save our planet from the impending disaster?

I feel, education is the key to saving our planet. By inculcating environmental awareness as part of school education and empowering the youth to be climate warriors, we can make future generations a part of the ‘Save the Planet’ movement.

Mobius Foundation understands the importance of education and instils this as a basis in each of its projects. Some of these initiatives include:

Project Aakar: It aims to spread awareness and promote population stabilization methods especially to the rural population of India.

World Environment School: There is a growing need to understand the environment and adopt a sustainable lifestyle. This school aims to teach students just that.

Gyan Anant Vidyalaya: Situated in Atrouli village, the school makes quality education accessible to the rural area and emphasis on educating the youth there about the environment.