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