Addressing climate change is an opportunity

almost four years ago when i first

joined woodstock i fell in love with the

hillside

the pink and orange winter line the

monkeys that hopped from tree to tree

every morning

and the charming little cafes it was all

part of our town’s charm

but about two years ago i saw a very

different side of this town

we were on our way back from a field

trip when our chaperone mrs mark

asked our driver to stop what i saw here

just about 500 meters from the library

chalk the center of our town

was a massive landfill a rather common

site in india

this landfill holds decades worth of

trash from masui’s 30 000

residents and the hundreds of thousands

of tourists that visit the city

every single year given how common

landfills are in india

what shook me about this particular one

was seeing shanty houses

stacked right on top of the landfill

little children

about the same age as my seven-year-old

brother were playing barefoot with tyres

and sticks in the muddy puddles

a frail metal grill is the only thing

that stood between them

and this pile of filth of the city’s

discard

how many people can each one of us think

would call the landfill home

this day is imprinted on my mind it got

me thinking about a whole lot of things

the most important of which was the

future that i currently saw

versus the version of the future that i

wish to see

the unfortunate foreseeable future is

one with the consequence of all the

landfills we’ve built

the fossil fuels we’ve burned the

ecosystems we’ve destroyed

and the species that we’ve wiped out of

the planet

a future that is frightening just like

the landfill

a future where we the people are forced

to fight for

our very own survival every single day

and in the process of fighting for this

survival

we lose what’s most important to us our

freedom

i’ve recently discovered that the word

freedom has no set definition

to me as an 18 year old freedom means

having the opportunity to celebrate

one’s individuality

without the barriers of societal

constructs such as wealth

class gender race or religion

to those kids on the landfill freedom

probably meant

just having the ability to live without

a reminder of our selfish world every

day

to chase each other because their the

rest of the world seems to have

forgotten them

i believe that each and every one of us

has our own personal definition of what

freedom

means to us and whatever that definition

is

believe me it’s under a massive threat

the sixth mass extinction a global

emergency

an existential crisis i’m talking about

what is otherwise called the climate

crisis

over the next few decades life as we

know it will cease to exist

ecosystems will collapse thousands of

species will go extinct

and soon billions of humans will either

be displaced

or will die freedom will be a thing of

the past

because we will all be busy fighting for

our survival

and whether you want to believe it or

not well you will be affected by the

climate crisis

in more ways than you can count it

doesn’t matter who you are

how much money you have or where you

were born the climate crisis will become

the biggest

most painful reality of our times

climate change

is the biggest threat to our freedom and

we’ve already seen this in many parts of

the world today

in the past decade or so droughts have

become

extremely frequent in africa happening

at least once in every two years

the record the recurring famines and

droughts have

greatly increased poverty hunger and

have caused major conflicts

in 2007 for instance the country of

sudan witnessed what was the world’s

first

climate change conflict the conflict

which started as an ecological crisis

over a decade ago

has caused political turmoil a civil war

and has left 5 million people without

food security it’s also killed about 2

million people

in the past few decades climate change

has been

the key risk multiplier for so many of

our political and military conflicts

especially in africa soon this will

become the reality of our

entire world and climate related

conflicts will threaten our peace

our democracy and therefore our

individual freedom

however as an optimist i still believe

that we can make it out of this

we will find a way to survive but what i

also believe more importantly

is that climate change is an opportunity

now you may think i’m crazy

but here’s a very recent example covet

19 was a massive challenge for the world

we saw economic recessions political

turmoils

toilet paper shortages and way too many

tick tocks

but we also saw fascist leaders fall

marginalized communities take

charge and for the first time in history

we saw people fight for equality and

justice like never before

during this time most of us chose to

willfully curb

our own freedom and for the greater good

as a result

i believe that we’re more united and

more connected than we were before

we’re now at a crossroads with an

abundance of opportunities created by

the pandemic

for instance we can reimagine learning

in schools

or we can completely strengthen our

health care systems

what i’m saying here is that with every

challenge comes an opportunity

the climate crisis is the biggest

challenge that we’ve ever faced

and therefore it is also the biggest

opportunity

we can either sit back and bear witness

to the impending doom

of the world as we know it or we can

create a much better world

one that is much closer to utopia than

we have been told

isn’t is possible we can break the rigid

and oppressive economic political

and social systems that have guided us

for far too long

and that have led us to this day we can

truly redefine freedom

through the creation of a world that is

much more egalitarian and just

we can do all of this through a concept

that i like to call

inclusive sustainable development now

what exactly is an inclusive sustainable

development

inclusive in this context simply means

the inclusion of all people

of all communities in any development it

mean

i i’m talking about real inclusion not

tokenism

it means the empowerment of those that

have historically been marginalized

and exploited it means the consideration

of those that are affected by our

choices and it means the equal

celebration of

everyone’s creativity and individuality

the reason inclusivity is so important

is because

marginalized and exploited communities

have not only suffered the consequences

of others actions but they’ve also been

excluded from economic growth and

development

sustainability according to the internet

is meeting the needs of the present

without compromising the ability of

future generations

to meet their own needs in practical

terms

sustainability means adopting new

principles

building new lifestyles and creating a

new normal

the trick really is in creating a new

normal and i really want to stress that

a normal that encompasses new social

orders

one where sustainability is not seen as

an option

but it’s seen as a compulsory way of

living

it means creating a foundation that is

so strong that we never have to face

another crisis like this one

development as i studied in politics

class is the stable increase

in the standard of living however for

this development to be inclusive and

sustainable

we will need to focus not just on

absolute development

but on relative development what i mean

by relative development

is simple it’s addressing economic

political

and social inequalities while still

developing

through development that is both

inclusive and sustainable

we can solve a myriad of social

political economic and humanitarian

crises

by solving these problems we can bring

justice and equality to communities that

have been

disadvantaged because of the development

because of the developed world and by

doing that

we can ensure that no child has to grow

up in a world

where their home is plagued by other

people’s trash

we can ensure that people no matter

their socioeconomic or cultural

background

have the opportunity to be the architect

of their own freedom

and of their own future here’s

the thing like i’ve said before multiple

times in fact

we’re now fighting for our survival

which is the very fabric of our freedom

in this fight everyone has a role to

play

the urgency of climate change demands

every single one of us to act

it demands us to use our privilege our

power

our skills and our voices every industry

whether it’s fashion food technology or

travel

will have to adapt and become more

sustainable in order to survive

from here on we’re going to have to

change every single aspect of our lives

from the food we eat to the cars we

drive to the clothes we wear

to redefining what need is we will need

to account

for the social economic and

environmental costs of our actions

and of living the realities that we’ve

been living for far too long

the first step is becoming a little more

empathetic and a little less selfish

we need to think not just about our own

freedom

but about the freedom of the billions of

people who will be

affected by climate change and by our

individual actions

as consumers we need to be conscious of

what we buy

and how often we buy it and

of what businesses we support as

thinkers

we need to think of creative sustainable

alternatives

and we need to act on making these a

reality

as citizens we need to demand our

leaders

to prioritize climate justice in action

i also believe that my generation more

specifically

has the most responsibility in fighting

climate change

than any other generation before us now

here’s why

we’re responsible for the creation of a

sustainable and inclusive world

because we’re ultimately going to have

to live through the consequences

of climate change we need to act and we

need to act

now we can no longer wait for the very

generations and governments and

corporations that have led us to this

crisis

to be in control we simply cannot trust

the generation and leaders before us

we have to take control and we have more

power than we know

look at fridays for future for instance

a climate strike

started by a single young girl is now a

global movement with

millions of supporters now i’m not

saying that you need to do something of

this magnitude

all you really need to do is understand

the gravity of the climate crisis

and factor it into every single decision

you make

every single day so to all my classmates

juniors and seniors

hear some unsolicited personal advice

make sustainability and inclusivity a

guiding principle in everything that you

do

every single one of us has a role to

play

every single one of us has a

responsibility to ensuring

that in the coming decades we use

climate change as an

opportunity to create a more just more

equal and ultimately more free world

i’m still figuring out what my role is

in this fight against climate change

but i do know one thing like all of you

sitting here today

i have a role to play and i can only

hope that you see your role too