Meet The Young Climate Crusaders

    • admin@nie.com
    • Publish Date: Nov 22 2016 3:05PM
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    • Updated Date: Nov 24 2016 3:27PM
Meet The Young Climate Crusaders

' The more young people taking action to help the planet, the better off we all will be'

Parrys Raines is known around the world as the Climate Girl. Since her early teens the 21 year old law student has been in global speaker on environmental sustainability and intergenerational issues. She describes herself as an environmental educator. She spoke on the environment problems we are facing and what students need to do. 


Q Can you tell us why are you known as the climate girl?
I was 11 when I started to speak out about the issues associated with climate change, and I really started to find my voice when I was 12. I began voicing my concerns about climate change and its impacts on my generation, especially young people in developing countries. From this point on, wherever I went, I was known as the "climate girl" by those in the environmental industry. When I was 14 I made a decision to start my own educational website for young people, to educate them about what was happening to the planet, and more importantly, highlighting the positive solutions available which they can implement in their daily lives to help curb the impacts of climate change. 


Q You have spoken on various environment issues, can you tell us about that?
I gave my first speech to a large number of school children for World Environment Day when I was 12. From this event I decided I wanted to be a voice for those who do not have a voice. This has included speaking about the importance of protecting the natural environment for my generation and future generations, but also advocating for climate justice, education, equality, youth participation and intergenerational equity.
 
Q How can students help in saving the world? 
There are so many ways students can help save our planet from the devastating impacts of climate change. I always tell young people find what you love and protect it. Use whatever resources and talents you have to get the message out. For example, you can write, sing, dance, start a campaign, start a business or film your message. My generation were born with technology in our hands: we are the sharing generation that values instant communication. Young people need to leverage social media platforms to share their message to a worldwide audience and connect with others globally who share their passions.  One tip I would give about spreading your message, always highlight the issues but focus on the solution/s, as people connect with positivity and optimism.  I would also say you have to find the right people to help you achieve your goals and this involves finding the right decision makers.
 
 
 

Q How did you gain interest in environment? 
When I was six years old I asked my mother why we had to use sunscreen. She told me that the planet was changing and there was a hole in the ozone layer. I became very curious about the natural world from this point onwards. The more I learnt, the more I wanted to learn. Over the years I learnt that the places I love, such as the ocean and the bush, were and will continue to be impacted by climate change. 
I grew up sandwiched between the ocean and the Great Dividing Range  on the east coast of Australia. I would go surfing in the morning and rock climbing or mountain biking in afternoon. When I was in primary school I would always address my school projects from an environmental point of view. It was from growing up in nature that I learnt to respect it, admire its beauty and understand its value. I went on to learn that we can look to nature to solve some of the problems we are facing today.  
 
Q You have also spoken in the UN conference can you tell us about that?
I have been very fortunate to have been invited to present at four United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) conferences. I was 13 when I spoke at my first conference.  The first three UNEP conferences I attended were youth conferences focussing on the environment. These conferences were held in Norway, South Korea and Java. What made the youth conferences special to me was meeting other young people from around the world. These young people are doing great things in their countries to help their own communities and the planet.
 




'Donald Trump will not abandon the Paris deal'

India's 'Green Girl' Yugratna Srivastava, a third year engineering student, will meet United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon on the occasion of Paris Agreement on climate change being implemented. The meeting is slated for November 4. She was also selected by the UN to represent youth at an event where 150 countries signed the Paris Agreement on climate change in April. 

Q You have represented the youth at the Paris conference on global warming, can you tell us about that?
Last year, in Paris, UNFCCC hosted the 21st session of UN Climate Conference- COP21, which resulted in “Paris Agreement” – widely called as historic agreement. I participated in COP21 as accredited youth delegate of Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation, and as a part of UNFCCC youth constituency YOUNGO(Also referred as International Youth Climate Movement). I was involved in following the negotiations, under the YOUNGO working group of Loss and Damage and Mitigation, and making sure that the final text of Paris Agreement reflects the causes that young generation believes in – primarily intergenerational equity and 1.5 degrees limit. The Paris Agreement was developed on ADP(a document constituted post COP-Durban) and one of the most negotiated part of text was Article 2 which saw the negotiations extend overnight. At the end, the clause of maintaining further increase in temperature up to 1.5 degrees was in text, and so were other crucial things we were pushing for. I was also involved in organizing workshops and side-events in COP21 and Conference of Youth (COY11) held prior to COP. In Paris, I also had the honor to interview the outgoing UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon at the Earth to Paris event by UN Foundation. I asked him about what a “universal climate agreement” means to him and that we as young people often feel powerless to make an impact, so what does he suggest we do. I also spoke at the closing plenary of first week of COP21 on behalf of youth constituency. Plant-for-the-Planet delegation to COP21 was one of the most diverse youth delegation. Follow up to COP21, I spent one week in Marrakech this year in COP22 where the countries met again to discuss implementation of Paris Agreement. The youth movement at COP22 pushed a lot for Article 6/ACE which involves youth education and capacity building as a part of implementation. I believe that Marrakech is a good start to implementation since the work on APA-1 text (follow up to Paris Agreement)started and lot of issues including the Adaptation Fund were finally addressed. There will be a follow-up done until the parties meet again at inter-sessional in Bonn next year. 
 

Q How can students help in saving the world from global warming? 
Climate Change and Global Warming are problems that need both policy and on-ground solutions. The role of students, and in fact youth in general, becomes very crucial when we talk about on-ground solutions because young people have power to influence behavioral changes in the society. The students should start right from their schools and their communities- educating their peers, holding awareness campaigns(especially in the rural areas), forming school action clubs, joining the local NGOs, pursuing studies in this unconventional field and taking green jobs. 

Q Why does India lag behind when it comes to taking action against pollution? 
When we talk about India, we need to understand that we are talking about 17 per cent of world population, which does not have historical emissions. I don’t believe India is lagging behind in putting efforts(given it’s constraints) in mitigating climate change, but it’s undeniable that we need accelerated action. India’s INDC(Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) to UNFCCC is a 38 page long document and addresses a wide range of issues, with pragmatic solutions. Consider the National Air Quality Index (AQI): it already provides us with statistics, but what we do with those statistics is important – are people driven to take personal initativew when they see the pollutant levels rising? 
 India lags behind because we have a diverse economic class, diverse standards of living – from poorest to richest and inclusive development, leaving no one behind is a challenge (but not an impossibility!). A simple example is fossil fuel subsidy – we cannot remove it, but obviously people can give it up voluntarily. Talking about coal power plants – about 47 CVF countries have pledged to go 100% renewable at COP22; these countries are mostly underdeveloped or developing countries and hence leading by example. 
 
Q Have you over the years faced any struggle while campaigning against global warming? How have you countered it? 
Many a times, when we are involved in negotiations, it feels that the process is too slow; sometimes it feels that we are not doing enough. One of the examples was UN Environment Assembly(UNEA -2) in Nairobi this year in May. The closing plenary extended until 5 AM in the morning and a last resolution was put on hold. In moments like this- when we have 150+ nations sitting in a hall, and it feels so difficult to reach consensus on a simple document – it feels very sad. But when you process the emotions, you realize that it is a form of evolvement which is teaching you the complexity of this world, and why we need to put in even more effort with more positive energy. 

Q The entire North India was gripped with severe smog few days back, what does India need to do so that this situation doesn’t arise again? 
Nine million globally have been killed by air pollution as a WHO report. The smog has been attributed to industrial emissions and Diwali fireworks. This is the point where we realize that we actually cannot do anything about past – you cannot un-burn the crackers and you cannot shut down all industries in one day. I, like all of us, feel extremely helpless. India needs to take a major lesson from this situation. Industries in the NCR region need to regulated, we need to shift towards green Diwali, adopt sustainable methods of farming, and hopefully newer, stricter laws and bye-laws need to be implemented in the region.
 
Q Do you feel that Donald Trump will abandon the climate change deal? 
What I believe is that environmental problems do not recognize any political or geographical boundaries, so even the solutions should not. We already have the Paris Agreement, which is a universal agreement in many ways. In COP22, John Kerry’s speech was very positive, re-affirming that US is committed to climate action. US decision to shut down Arctic drilling was historic and very welcomed-  it will be worthwhile to see what its stand will be on 100bn USD green climate in near future.      


 

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Comments

Kashish Verma Bharti Public School Swasthya Vihar

Congratulations! And I am really proud to see that people like you exist to bring a change to our world.

V.Ananya D.A.V. Public School

Really inspiring , hats off !!

Vihan R. Yalamanchili DDMS P.OBUL REDDY PUBLIC SCHOOL

Its fortunate that we have young people who will work to save and protect our environment in the world. If we only had more such people, the world would be much better and nature would be much more pristine.

Himanshi Dhawan Saffron Public School

By seeing such people, one can say that the world is not completely strived off the nobility, generosity etc. The world will continue to be made a better place to live in by such people who think that it is their responsibility to correct something that they find wrong. Hats off to the climate girl!!!

Vishakha Bhalla BOSCO SR.SEC.SCHOOL( PASCHIM VIHAR)

awesome level of participation, very well done.

Prakash.B Bethel Mat Hr Sec School

Had a good time reading this...article...

Harsh Dhiraj RAMJAS PUBLIC SCHOOL(PUSA ROAD)

Nice

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