Pune: More than 650 students of a city-based school, ranging from eight to 14 years old, participated in a non-profit film-based learning project in Sept, wherein they could imbibe lessons about the natural world through the medium of cinema.This ‘Stories of Nature’ initiative, which has been launched in its pilot phase in Pune by The Youth COSMO collective, aims to turn classrooms into spaces of reflection about nature for the next generation. The inaugural session and one more viewing have been conducted at the Bal Shikshan Mandir School in Kothrud already. Each session features a short film, followed by guided discussions with seasoned ecologists and experts. Till now, the children have watched short films on the life of salmon, and on forests. “The idea is to make learning about nature, climate change and sustainability more experiential. Films have the power to convey this perfectly,” Rima Bichu, co-founder of The Youth COSMO, told TOI. She added, “Unlike one-off awareness drives, Stories of Nature is designed as a sustained, three-year journey to embed environmental learning within mainstream academics.” Bichu also plans to introduce the concept across other schools in Pune, besides taking it to Mumbai and Bengaluru. The goal is to reach over 18,000 students and help them better understand nature by 2028. The programme has been co-created with the All Living Things Environment Film Festival (ALTEFF), India’s only dedicated green cinema event. For Stories of Nature, ALTEFF has curated a selection of films that bring alive themes of climate, sustainability, and conservation in ways that inform and inspire young audiences. The NGO Ecological Society also supports the project by mentoring educators to lead post-film conversations rooted in ecological knowledge.Aditi Kulkarni, principal of the Bal Shikshan school, spoke about the recent experience and told TOI, “Students enjoyed the session thoroughly. The movies were thoughtfully chosen for the right age group. This initiative is useful to sow the seeds of empathy in students and make them aware of their environment.” Sanhita Bhave, a student of Std VII of the school, said, “We were shown a movie on the life of a salmon fish. It was fascinating to know about her adventurous journey.” Founded in Pune, The Youth COSMO is a collaborative learning ecosystem to help students connect with nature. It also has a subscription-based bi-monthly periodical that blends science, stories, and activities on themes like climate change, sustainability, and biodiversity, aligned with the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020. The social enterprise also runs ‘Earth Katta’ community gatherings to foster planet-positive conversations.
