New Delhi: She is just eight years old. She wants to launch a solo mission to the moon to research ways to save planet earth. However, at this moment, the world’s youngest climate change activist, Indian Licypriya Kangujam is working to prevent carbon emissions. Licypriya Kangujam has said that unless these emissions are stop, the planet earth will be destroyed.
Kangujam was influenced by the images of the devastation caused by the Nepal earthquakes in 2015. The earthquakes killed some 9,000 people and destroyed one million homes. Then as a four-year-old she had participated with her father in relief work for people hit by the tragedy.
Now Kangujam is leading a youth movement. It has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Indian lawmakers to pass a new law. This law will be aimed at capping carbon emissions in the world’s third largest producer of greenhouse gases.
“I am fighting to save our planet and our future,” she said as she protested outside Parliament House here September 23. Kangujam clutched a placard that read: “Child movement for climate, pass the climate change law.”
The Indian capital is a sprawling metropolis of some 19 million people. It is also one of the world’s most polluted cities. During the winter months toxic haze can often confine families to their homes.
Kangujam was born in Manipur, home to pristine mountains and crystal clear air. Hence she is outraged by the air quality that exists in Delhi.
“I am worried about the health of the school children and small, small babies,” Kangujam stated from her residence in Noida.
Just a week shy of her ninth birthday, Kangujam’s home is testament to both her activism and her youth. Awards and trophies from international agencies fill a cabinet. But then there is the child in her still. She and her six-year-old sister Irina loves having pillow fights, they sing karaoke, dance and watch films like Frozen together.
Kangujam’s ultimate ambition is to become a ‘space scientist’.
“I will go to the moon and I will research how we can get the fresh air to breathe. How we can get water, fresh water to drink, and food, how to grow the crops. This is because our planet is dying soon,” she stated.
Well for once, one cannot but just admire her grit and wise thinking. Let her leave her dreams and the earth may benefit.