Save our Future I Save our Planet I

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my name is

13 years old global primary activist

from

india so it’s like according to me

there is such a terrible movement in

life of person or

a scary thing which makes uh which they

see

and which makes them feel too act on

that

and i also have that terrible movement

or

that scary moment in my life um so in

2013

a very devastating flash flood occurred

in

kidanath and hitted many people animals

and children’s

life the flood was like very destructive

and

the that like the flood there was a huge

destruction of houses

and of agricultural land uh the flood

terrified and it impacted many kids

including me it made me think

of the reason behind it and that was the

time

when i came to know about climate change

and global warming

being a kid exposed towards nature and

wildlife conservation

i always had a very strong perspective

towards

uh the prediction of biodiversity uh

which

led to the curiosity into me to learn

more about climate change and global

warming

and as i learned about child rights and

the destruction of the biodiversity that

was happening

and how it was going to destroy our

future the future of

this generation our children’s future i

started realizing that

this uh like this is a really really big

problem

and action has to be taken right now

um so uh i started researching about the

actions taken by gum government

and by the organizations basically by

everyone to their levels

and the first thing that i saw and

uh like the first feeling that i had was

that i was shocked

because when i saw the difference

between the documents available

and like on internet and the work done

on ground

that was totally different and that

was the time which made me realize

that all of them are entrusted in their

own profits

luxuries and comforts and for that they

are destroying our future

it’s like the destruction uh that

they’re doing right now is going to have

a very bad impact on all of us

and the decisions that they are taking

today

are taken at the cost of our future and

that was the time when i thought that

enough was enough

and it is really important for me to do

something

and i wanted to take an action on my own

so

uh like into in 2017 i

took my very first action by filing the

petition

at national green tribunal against the

government of india when i was nine

asserting that the indian government has

failed to

do their duty well and to mitigate

climate change

and uh that was the time after that uh

like

when my activism got started so

like after that in 2019 i along with 15

other child petitioners including brett

attenborough

we all filed a complaint at united

nation under child rights committee to

protect the child rights

and it’s like right now i have been

working

on air pollution and cleanness of ganga

and most probably like my most focused

and

uh like the work in which i’m like

more entrusted and which i found really

fun is

empowering school college united states

student because that’s

when i need children of my age those who

are really interested because it’s like

i do found most of them really working

really hard

and most of them who are really

interested in it so

i do really found like going to schools

and meeting kids and empowering them

making them aware

and basically making them feel that yes

it is important for them to

fight for their rights and for their

future and it’s really important for

them to raise their voices

um so it’s like today i’ll be talking a

little bit

uh about energy sector of india and how

it is impacting us

so i wouldn’t go into like much more

longer details but

i would just share with you all like

what i basically feel

so it’s like power act as a

like crucial component for the

economical growth

development and welfare of the nation

and

the demand of electricity in our country

has increased

rapidly from april 2018 to january 2019

a total of electricity

that was used was over one trillion

kilowatts

of electricity um it was used across the

nation and

the major portion of this electricity

generation

came from thermal energy so what i know

is that thermal energy includes burning

of wood

oil coal and other fossil fuels

which contributes to co2 emissions

um i what i have found is

like what i have found from the epa’s

report

is that uh 523 million tons of co2

emission happens

from all the thermal power plants in

india and this is just this report we

really don’t know the grand reality

um so but consider considering this

report

it’s a like huge amount of co2 that’s

been released

and at the same time we all know that

co2 emissions are contributing to

global warming and climate change and

over three quarters of global warming is

happening

due to co2 emissions only so this is

like co2 is one of the major contributor

towards which is taking

a whole into my future and which is

going to destroy it

um we are the one who are responsible

for all this

so it is also like the co2 mission

is also leading to ocean

acidification coral bleach and

it is causing a lot many respiratory

diseases from smoke

and from air pollution which many people

in delhi are facing right now and

this is a problem which happens every

year but

till now what i have seen because i have

been working and campaigning on

like on air pollution since last year

and i fi i like in first i had my

online potential going on and like

many times i like uh

uh mo like kind of like made videos

uh like requesting our prime minister to

do something on that but i was not

really able to find

any kind of like any sort of response

from him or any sort of action and what

i have seen is like

every year when like from the october

when stubble burning gets started and

when

the air pollution the quality of hair

gets like gets

getting worse and worse what really

happens is like

there’s many debates organizing tv shows

and there are many meetings that’s been

happening but what really happens is

like

in debates what i see is like blame game

has been happening

like all around everyone is just blaming

that this is not our fault

this is this government’s fault this is

this government fault or this is

farmer’s fault or this is someone else’s

fault but no one is really seeing that

this is impacting

lot many people are there this is a

compact thing like

the children’s like me or smaller than

me living in delhi and the nearby cities

this is impacting the older people and

especially the poor people living out

there

because still we being common people we

can still buy

like things necessary for us unnecessary

for our health like um

maybe we say if the air quality gets

very very very very bad that

we are not really able to like breathe

then

we would buy air purifiers for us

no matter what it cost because it is

essential for us and we are buying musk

but

most of the poor people doesn’t really

have much like

money to buy proper or like good quality

mask

so this is what’s been happening and

in future if things would go worse and

worse they would be the one who

would be uh who are going to be on the

front line and those

they are the one who are going to be uh

like all the consequences

more than us and there’s also situations

like extreme weathers

uh like uh like extreme floods are

happening droughts

cyclones that have been happening

hitting all of us but still

it’s like the action taken from our side

and from the government side

doesn’t make me satisfied that yes we

are trying our best

um like the food supply is getting

disturbed

wildfires are getting increased a lot

and there’s increase in sea levels of

course when

ice caps are getting melted the whole

melted water is gonna come to sea levels

and it’s gonna

rise them up and up and soon like the

cities or places near seas or oceans are

gonna

get immersed into it um so

all this is impacting all of us uh like

us

being common people but what we see is

like

who is causing us to be honest if i say

that

because it’s like i’m going to be the

one who is going to get impacted because

of it a lot

and children’s of my generation are

going to get impacted because of it a

lot but

we are not the ones who are like making

uh

um who are making laws we are not the

one who are driving cars and who are not

like

maintaining our cars we are not the ones

who are owning the factories which is

called

which are causing a lot of pollution

which which are not really following the

norms properly we are not the government

we are not the person running the

government or running

uh the whole kind of flex system which

is

creating at this mess because of that

people

are not really understanding the

importance of

like taking action and not creating

pollution and all this

so if we are not the one who are doing

this why we have to be the one

facing this um we don’t even have like

little resources with us uh and

this is what’s been happening and there

is

none like none of the technology right

now

can like assure me or can

assure any one of you that if this

destruction would continue

then we can still survive if nothing

would be done

we can still survive and we can still

live happily like this so if no one can

really assure me this then it is really

important for us to take

action and our decisions taken today

will decide our future

so all we all have to think

wisely and we all have to make decisions

not only considering

short-term uh profits in our luxury

and money but considering the long term

effect

of it on all of us not only on

like that it’s about not it’s not not

just only about government it’s not just

only about your country it’s not just

only about your kids but it

it’s about each and every person or each

and every single species living

in the world because it’s not only gonna

affect me or it’s not only gonna affect

india it’s gonna affect each and every

one of us

so i uh as being a

kid i’m scared about my future because

the actions taken today doesn’t make me

satisfied and

i to be honest they are not really

enough actions taken today

and seeing all these things really make

me worried because

it’s like if we see the increasing

pollution level the increasing

uh polluted water level and water

scarcity all over

and the increasing temperature and all

of these things

these things somewhere make me worried

that how

things are going to be in my future

because evolution is getting worse and

worse each and every year

water scarcity is getting increased in

different parts of

india and over the world each and every

year so

what would happen in coming decades what

would happen

after some years even so it really makes

me

feel like really scared that what i’m

gonna do in my future

so i being a kid i’m really scared about

my future and there are many kids out

there

like outside those who doesn’t even know

that how climate change is

going to affect them and those who know

are really scared about it and

are really depressed about it and i

really want to live in a world where i

can breathe

freely without carrying an oxygen

cylinder on my back

because the conditions right now we all

can see that it is getting worse and

worse and

as i have been working on air pollution

and recently i

also wrote open letter to our prime

minister in that i also mentioned that

if nothing would be done then soon a day

would come then we

all have to carry oxygen cylinders on

our back

going to our offices me going to my

school and

like small kids living into their homes

only

so i really want to live in a world

where i can breathe

freely and where environment is healthy

for us and for other species as well

because

we human have created this ida ideology

that we are the superior but we are not

the one who superior each and every

uh species out there and each and every

life out there is important it’s not

just about

us only human because we can’t really

survive without without

uh environment without trees or we can’t

really survive without animals it’s like

ecological balance which has been made

and we really have to respect that and

we really have to respect mother nature

and for that we have to take this thing

out of our mind that we are the one who

are the spirit

and this is the thing which is i can say

is really difficult

but it ha it is a fact and we really

have to think about it wisely

and i want to live in a world where

biodiversity

it has equal importance as compared to

development i want to live in a world

where i can see that environment is also

getting equal importance as to

development because right now

everyone is just focused on development

and how they can gain more and more

profit

and that’s what all like that is what

uh like is all about uh them and

i don’t really personally feel that uh

this is what

is going to like solve the problem

so it is really important for all of us

to

understand that action has to be taken

from ourselves only

so it is really important for all of us

to start taking actions right now and

from our levels because it’s like until

and unless we try our best we can’t

really

uh be like okay so we have

we haven’t done this but you should do

this we can’t recommend anyone else

so i tried my best i try to live a

sustainable life i try to reduce

my carbon footprints as much as i can i

and i would like suggest all you all

that

this is like our life and think about

the coming generation and about the

children’s as well don’t

be like selfish one think

wisely and think about everyone and it

is really important for all of us to

take action

uh rather than ourselves if we are not

taking action

correctly and on the government as well

if they are not doing well

so this is the thing which government

can’t do

can’t change the thing alone we can’t

change the thing alone so it has to be a

bit

which in which we all have to contribute

so

let’s be brave and let’s start taking

actions from right now

and i would close here and hope that

like i’m really excited to listen

everyone out here in the panel and

thanks for hearing me