I stare at the vast Himalayas, I see a growing share of brown versus green, the same colour as the floodwaters that recently ravaged communities in the Assam. As I pass by the river near the house, plastic garbage shines under the dominance of the sun’s yellow. As I move towards the well near the house, I see the blue water inside it become shallow day by day. We are the so-called smartest species on this planet but are we doing anything to prevent this?

Imagine the year 2050 after we fail to stop climate change from its course of action. You wake up in a heaving, overpopulated metropolis choked with smog and pollution. You look out your window at the dark clouds that envelope the sky, at the grey buildings that tower above you and the plastic bags that tumble in the breeze. Temperatures rummaging up to their highest and everything seems like it’s over. What you know is a failure and what you see in the end.

About 65 million years ago, an asteroid had hit earth that resulted in the extinction of most of the living beings on Earth. It took a lot of time for our mother nature to heal from that mass destruction and millions of years to reach what we call today, the year 2022. No asteroid except the asteroid of the ill practices of mankind will be the reason for the mass extinction of all life forms on earth one day. Animal and plant species are disappearing at alarming rates. Natural events have triggered the past five extinctions, but this sixth mass extinction is destined to be due to human activity and choices if we do not stop it soon.

If you wonder if things were ever different, then always remember what your grandparents told you about how the world used to be and try to find the answer to the question, “How can I contribute to my mother earth?”.

I asked the same question to my grandfather and received a response that I did not understand at first.

“The main solution to this problem is by reducing inequality”, said my grandfather.

I dug deeper into this topic and realized that bridging the gap between rich countries and poor countries will help in saving our Earth. Bridging the gap between youngsters and education will help in combating climate change. Building trust between people and governmental policies will help in combating climate change. Loads of such questions had a single answer that is, “Reduce inequality and provide good education”. The only way an individual can contribute to saving this earth is by being aware of the circumstances, launching new projects and taking small steps, that’s it! The score after that will take care of itself.

Talking about my fight against climate change, I was made aware of the ongoing crisis in a completely different way. My mother told me with tears filled up in her eyes, that my grandfather was no more.

I stood there and it felt like the world around me had just stopped. My grandfather was my hero, best friend, and the only person I ever truly talked to. He passed away due to pneumonia. Being an 11-year-old, I did not know what it was but later my mother explained it to me saying that it was a sudden increase in air pollution which led to this acute lower respiratory infection. Back then air pollution for me was like a demon that took my grandfather away and no one can ever imagine how angry I was at it.

When I turned 15, I started researching climate change and the ways to reduce it. I took an oath that I will work to my full capacity every single way but I would not see a man-made problem, hurt our planet. I started organizing tree-plantation drives and several such events at my school to make people aware of how big an issue this is.

To improve the world, I have started somewhere. Change takes time but it also takes people.

Investing in our planet is something every single person should be aware of. People nowadays are so indulged in the rat race and have become so selfish that they have stopped doing things out of love and have started doing things for their benefit. Money, fame and everything would not matter if one day our planet gets wiped out.

Children should be taught about climate change and its adverse effects from a young age. They should also be encouraged to carry out projects and should be left alone to answer a simple question that is, “What should be my contribution to this world?”. In order to save people, we need to give them food. In order to get food, we need to save our planet. People, plates and the planet should be the three P’s everyone should be made aware of.

Since “youth will change the world”, I feel obligated to take part in creating a future, sustainable world and move from words to deeds. With our avalanche of ideas, enthusiasm, creativity, and energy I am sure that if it’s put in the right direction, we will see a prosperous future for sure. United, we must shape in our hands a new E.R.A., the era of Education, Reflection, and Action.

We can because we must.