Bhubaneswar: The ‘Unmukt Green Army’, environment wing of city-based NGO ‘Unmukt Foundation’ joined hands with school and college children Friday morning and other organisations to urge leaders across the country to declare a climate emergency as soon as possible.
More than 100 people of all age groups gathered at the Ram Mandir square for the second ‘Global Climate Protest’, in line with Greta Thunberg’s ‘Fridays for Future’ initiative, an effort to urge world leaders to declare a Climate Emergency.
The peaceful protest march, starting from Ram Mandir towards Master Canteen, began with slogans of ‘Ebe nahi ta kebe nahi (If not now, then never!)’, ‘Ab ki baar, Nature Sarkaar’. Placards depicting the dangers that people face due to the climate change were carried by the participants. Five-year- old Samrat Sahu in his small shrilly voice shouted, “You will die of old age, we will die of climate change,” trying to bring the critical issue to the notice of others.
The Climate Strike was conducted simultaneously in cities across India and the world. The next United Nations Climate Summit (COP25) at Madrid beginning December 2 will be a worldwide effort to ‘pressurise our leaders to act’. Among the initiatives mulled are the phase out of fossil fuel, reduce consumption and restore biodiversity among others.
Showing support towards the strike were Extinction Rebellion, children of ‘Happy Hours and Kinder Garden Schools’, students of AIPH University, KIIT University, volunteers of Navodaya Alumni Association of Odisha (NAAO), and Sujit Mahapatra of Bakul Foundation and tree-planter Bijaya Jena took part in the procession.
While a number of countries have declared climate emergency, India still has a lot of ground to cover in this aspect. Mother of a five-year-old, Santilata Sahu expressed her concern over what her kid will have to face when she. “More and more trees must be planted. Plastic must be banned. There is so much we can do, and we must contribute to protect the climate. We must be careful about saving water and the resources that we use,” she said.
On reaching Master Canteen square, popular story-teller Prachitara Mishra conducted a story-telling session the tiny tots, who stood in solidarity ‘with our planet, urging everyone to act now’. This was followed by a specially-prepared dance performance by ‘The Unmukt Dance’ group spreading awareness banning the use of plastic.
Bringing the protest to a fitting close was Pratyush, who, through his water pollution themed mono-act, delivered a stinging reminder to all of us, of the dangers of living against nature.
PNN
