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