Time to act against pollution, says 8-yr-old climate activist

Geetanjali Gayatri

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 4

All of eight years, Licypriya Kangujam is very disturbed about the blame game between governments as stubble-burning wreaks havoc with the very air we breathe and smog chokes the lungs.

“We children are unable to go out of our houses; schools have been shut and the air quality keeps falling while governments trade charges. Ultimately, we are all affected and the one thing that will save us is action against pollution,” Licypriya, a climate activist from Delhi, says.

Wearing a mask connected to a potted plant in a transparent box,  Licypriya stands outside the Haryana Vidhan Sabha to drive home the point that clean air is the only hope for survival of mankind.

“This is SUKIFU (survival kit for the future). I have come all the way from Delhi to launch this outside the Vidhan Sabha to emphasise the need for focusing on our climate and pollution. These kind of pollution levels are not acceptable,” she says.

The “wearable plant”, she says, is a zero-budget kit designed from trash to fill the lungs with fresh air. “Delhi pollution gave me this idea where I carry a plant in a box, link it with a pipe to a mask and breathe in clean air. If children carry these wearable plants around, it will emphasise our concern as also bring attention to this crucial subject of pollution,” she maintains.

Licypriya chose Chandigarh for her “demonstration” since the city is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, which is being held responsible for the smog and the deteriorating air quality. 

“I was helped in this project by Prof Chandan Ghosh of the IIT, Jammu, and I hope the government will do something to save us and our future generations,” she says.

Her mission was to be noticed, to make a statement on the vulnerability of the human race and to send out a message that the environment is being destroyed. She managed to put across her point effectively with her “wearable plant”. 

We children are unable to go out of our houses; schools have been shut and the air quality keeps falling while governments trade charges. Ultimately, we are all affected and the one thing that will save us is action against pollution.— Licypriya Kangujam, climate activist from Delhi