Acharya Prashant responds to a question about the educational changes needed for future generations to live in peace and fulfillment. He begins by highlighting a flaw in the question's premise, which only considers humans living with each other, omitting the need to live in peace with natureāthe trees, rivers, rabbits, and lions. He argues this omission demonstrates that nature is not important to us. He states that unless a stop is put on the coming generations, there will soon be no lions, jungles, or rivers left. As an example, he mentions that the Yamuna river in Delhi is practically dead, a situation caused not by its aquatic life but by massive human generations. He criticizes the cultural tradition of grandmothers blessing brides to be constantly pregnant, linking this mindset directly to the destruction of the Yamuna. He proposes a new direction for education, starting with the lesson that the planet cannot tolerate even one more human being. With a current population of 8 billion, projected to reach 11 billion by 2050, he asserts we cannot even sustain 8.1 billion. He connects the desire for children to the desire for their happiness, which in common parlance means consumption. At current consumption rates, humanity requires multiple Earths, and at aspired rates, it would need a hundred. Therefore, he contends that the arrival of a new generation is not beautiful or auspicious but a cause for alarm. A pregnancy, he says, is not good news but is catastrophic for the planet's other inhabitants. The speaker suggests teaching children that a woman's self-worth is not linked to motherhood and that her body is not merely an instrument for bearing children. He advises teaching them that real fulfillment lies in creativity and love, not in birthing or breastfeeding. He also criticizes the media for its toxic propaganda that glorifies celebrity pregnancies and weddings, creating 'baby goals' and 'marriage goals' that compel people to procreate. He points out the irony of an out-of-work celebrity gaining relevance through a baby, which then provides headlines. Acharya Prashant identifies the 'huge elephant in the room' regarding the catastrophic threat of climate change: human population. He argues that the only contributor to climate change is human beings and their consumption, which he describes as a function of quantity multiplied by consumption per head, or even 'quantity squared' since the desire for quantity stems from a desire to consume. He concludes that the simplest and most obvious solution to the climate crisis is to control the human population, as limiting our numbers would quickly restore the Earth's health.
