At just nine years old, I was facing the horrible impacts of air pollution in my city Delhi.
Once I was on a visit to Europe and I was shocked when I saw the clear sky in
Switzerland. I could see the clouds and the stars clearly and more importantly I could
breathe because of the good Air Quality Index there. I felt like I was in a dream, living in
another world. Right when I got back, I felt the first breeze of heatwaves along with the
polluted air and it hit me. Why can't the dream world exist in my own continent? What's
the reason behind the extreme weather conditions in India? As a kid who was always
drawn to nature and loved being surrounded by nature, it made me curious and I found
that most people were not even aware about climate change in Asia.
Fast-forward to when I was fourteen years old, I was strolling alongside a shoreline at a beach. The heartbreaking sight of plastic waste marred the beauty of nature. That moment was a turning point when I found the purpose of my life, to protect our planet. So I started spreading awareness about climate change and the need for sustainability in our lives through social media and having conversations with people around me. I joined organizations like Fridays For Future and WWF and started my climate activism journey.
I faced a lot of situations in my climate journey, like one day, I met a startup founder who was rigid about the amount of carbon emissions his business was producing. They were
serving hot food in plastic packaging which was not only extremely harmful for the environment but also for human health. I had a realization that not a lot of people know about the effects of microplastics.
I started to notice that there are a lot of sustainable businesses with healthy
products but their packaging is not sustainable at all or as I like to call it, it's not people
or planet friendly. For example, I went to buy wooden cotton buds, but what were
they packaged in? Plastic. What packaging does a shampoo, even with natural
ingredients come in? Plastic! Even strawberries come in a plastic packaging! So, no
matter what the industry of a product is, almost everything is packaged in plastic.
I felt that living a sustainable lifestyle and spreading awareness about climate change is
important, but it's equally important to bring systematic change. I started guiding
businesses on how they can reduce their carbon emissions, specifically by transitioning
to sustainable packaging. I founded Climate Conservancy, an international youth-led
nonprofit, working to increase access to climate education. We work with 9000 young
people in more than 60 countries and have impacted 4,95,000(1) lives. If youth can make
this effort, then imagine how much impact can be made at a governmental and industrial
level.
According to the United Nations, marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted by climate change. So, those who contribute the least to climate change are the ones who are most affected by it. Those vulnerable populations have the right to be aware about the impacts of climate change and what action needs to be taken for the same. In the story of the Earth, the impact of climate change is written into every chapter, creating a dense tale. We must contribute to writing a happy ending by engaging in climate action.
Some of you may think, how would it be even helpful if one person takes an action?
But when you're taking an action for the environment, you're taking an action for
yourself because everything in this world is interconnected. You are nature and nature is
you. I am nature and nature is me.
(1) More information in the Indian numerical system
(2) ARROW, the Asian-Pacific Resource & Research Centre for Women
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