2019 has been a year full of environmental awareness, from new young voices contributing to global conversation to a wave of groups dedicated to saving and protecting the environment, we are in an ecological crisis. What I notice is the efforts taken by mostly teenagers to make people aware of this problem. In this day and age, more people are able to educate themselves on the issue of climate change by just a click of a button. In fact, a person that has been very influential this year is Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old climate activist. Many teenagers have admired her efforts towards combating climate change and the insight that she has on the issue has compelled people to follow suit.
A lot of my subjects in school such as geography and ESS have greatly expanded my knowledge on the effects of climate change and the ways we can prevent it. I find myself gradually growing more and more passionate about this subject and finding new ways to address the problem within Sri Lanka. One of the ways I wanted to explore the ecological crisis is by incorporating a United Nations Environmental Programme within the Colombo Model United Nations which I am leading this year. I feel as though this committee will allow students to effectively and creatively assess the ecological situation. I hope this committee will inspire delegates and provoke change within Sri Lanka.
I was also involved in my school’s climate strike this past September and it was a very invigorating experience for me. This strike was organized by the leaders of our secondary school service clubs, we planned the strike for about a month. A challenge was how to take practical steps in our small school community would result in a large reduction of our school’s carbon footprint. We created a pledge which entailed some ways that everyone in the school community could reduce their role in climate change, an example is paying carbon tax. Since we go on a lot of school trips for sports tournaments and art trips, we could be paying a little extra to reduce gas emissions.
Before asking people to sign the pledge, we marched around the school to show that many students in the Overseas School of Colombo are passionate about this issue and want to draw attention to it. Many of us created posters from recycled paper and other materials. We also made some digital posters to spread the word online. As one of the leaders of Girls for Girls, I worked with some of the members to spread the word on our Instagram page and by creating posters to raise awareness. The march was followed by an assembly where we educated people on the need for change especially within our school community by presenting a PowerPoint. Since Fridays for Future was inspired by none other than Greta Thunberg, we wanted to share one of her speeches directed towards world leaders at the United Nations Climate Action Summit.
This experience has definitely made my list of highlights for the year. The issue of climate change is somewhat sensitive for people but it needs to be addressed and being able to start a conversation about it even in my small community will help greatly. I am glad that I got to be a part of something much bigger than me, every small step counts and it was inspiring to see how many students joined our march to show their support. I hope to continue taking action toward a more sustainable future.