Unique shoe strike on Sept 25 to highlight climate issues

Hyderabad: In a first strike of its kind, city youth are gearing up to protest climate change in a unique way in keeping with safety precautions for Covid-19. Instead of people participating, their shoes, which are being collected, will be placed at a pre-decided location with notes demanding climate action.

The event on September 25 is in solidarity with the global strike where more than seven million youth will participate demanding

climate justice

. The strike is being led by Fridays for Future Hyderabad (FFFH), an initiative of the city’s youth. After the strike, these shoes will be donated to under-served people through an NGO.

Lashing out the model of development being fostered in the state, Angel Vinod, 23, said, “Wetlands and forests are crucial for our survival. We cannot keep increasing infrastructure while ignoring ecology. The government has all the tools and funds to restore and conserve these and it is their duty to do so.” The statement discussed how youth believe that the concept of development being followed by the current government revolves around the idea that only humankind deserves to develop at the cost of all other life forms.

The problem with this approach is that it destroys the natural topography and established functional ecosystems in a matter of few years. One dangerous trend followed by the government that needs to be stopped is converting forests to eco parks. Parks can not mitigate climate change, forests are all that we have to save us, said FFFH in a statement. Social activist

Priyanka Kota

, 28, said: “Conservation is true development. The only way we survive is by co-existing with our ecosystems naturally.”

FFFH said, “Hyderabad was once a city of lakes with 3,000 to 7,000 water bodies. Now barely 100 to 500 remain. Instead of restoring and making them alive, the government is rather keen on fencing them and build walking spaces. These lakes, with the right effort and political will, could be large reservoirs of water to take care of the localities around it.”