Bachpan Baithak

Everyday Climate Futures: Childhood, Play & Space

When we speak of climate, we often think of rising seas, hotter summers, and shifting food systems. But climate is also lived in small, everyday ways: where children play, what they breathe, how families migrate, and which foods find their way to their plates.

For children, these shifts are not abstract. A playground that floods every monsoon, a classroom too hot to sit in, or the loss of a seasonal fruit all shape their earliest experiences of the world. These everyday encounters with climate leave lasting imprints on how they learn, grow, and imagine the future.

At Bachpan Manao, we believe care and childhood are central to how societies prepare for change. That is why, during India Climate Week, we are hosting a Bachpan Baithak, an informal roundtable that brings together diverse voices to reflect on what climate means for India’s youngest citizens, and what this reveals about the futures ahead.

Together, we’ll ask: How do children experience climate in their everyday lives of play, space, and care? And how can these perspectives help us imagine futures that are not only climate-resilient, but also child-friendly and just?