Our world is full of problems isn’t it?
Out of all of them, I wanted to turn climate change into an opportunity. Yeah, it’s a huge problem. 
With that in mind, I chose to focus on environmental psychology in Lebanon.
Well, let me tell you my story…
Once upon a time, in the living room, the little me was watching a movie, and the rock was saving the world from an earthquake. Knowing that these disasters exist, the younger me dreamt to be a natural disasters’ expert.
Then I found myself happy playing in the garden, walking, and taking care of plants. Until my eco-anxiety started growing enough to make me urge mom to avoid using plastic dishes unnecessarily. 
Binge-watched documentaries like “I am Greta”, “Our Planet” Netflix series, “2050”.
However, I always wanted to fight this anxiety.
Joined climate events, competitions, raised awareness on instagram.
I had the will to learn from climate activists like Greta Thunberg, whom I told her inspiring story to my classmates and teacher, last year.
Later on, I found myself fascinated by chemistry.
Then, I volunteered to write online environmental articles on Lebanon with Tunza eco-generation. There I posted my poem called “2030” which I wrote when I was 15.
During the summer vacation, I discovered entrepreneurship with Shabab Lab, and came up with a team project aiming to make recycled notebooks at home, like this notebook. 
After that, I began watching STEM documentaries.
Then, I volunteered with a mental-health club.
Despite all of this, one thing still didn’t make sense to me.
Why do most people never recognize how crucial their role is in solving climate change? Why is Lebanon one of the most affected countries by climate change and yet the least country that takes climate action? Why does 70% of my society make fun of those who take climate action? 

 What’s missing is compassion.

Frequently environmentalists succeed at making the community feel guilty for not taking climate action. I realized that I wanted to focus on the group of Lebanese youth who are not understood nor validated by environmental activists. I wanted to be there for my Lebanese focus community, to tell them I’ve been there and together we’ll figure it out.
The Rise Challenge experience which I participated in in the year 2022 made me realize that my "why" is the biggest motivator.

It was a fun experience to design a solution for a problem I want to solve.

The first thing I did was setting my main goal “To have a Lebanese society that accepts environmentalism and is willing to do its role when it comes to using the available eco-friendly resources, free from guilt.”

Then I gave my organization a name and logo.

This greenery represents how powerful our mindful actions can be, and this person represents every human being. Why? because everyone is involved in climate change, though some big oil and gas company owners, for example, are more involved in climate change.

Next: the name.

Khotwe Khadra is an Arabic expression which means “Green Step” because every step we as a community make somewhat increases our chance of preventing negative consequences of climate change.

But, what is the green step we’re talking about? Is it consuming 50% less unrenewable energy? Is it living a 100% eco-friendly lifestyle?

Surprisingly, it is not that simple!

What we define as personal climate action is recognizing who is the main cause of climate change, and taking action based on this principle.

And this can take many forms among lebanese teens’ life, that I’ll name a few of:

Awareness, Advocacy, Accountability, Energy, Digital world  and Fun.

Above all, the concept of my project is based on the theory of punishment and reward. 

Creating a project taught me that:

To create a successful project you need to let your tireless motivation keep you going, you need brilliancy, perseverance, integrity, and empathy. 

Secondly, No one is too small to make a change

Also, Slow and steady always works

Fourthly, Obstacles might keep you down, but don’t let them keep you down for so looooong!!

Moreover, There are 8 billion passions worldwide!! Finally, Welcome all experiences, you never know which one will help you create the change you wish to see in the world.