Sustainable living need of the hour, says climate activist

Visakhapatnam:

Climate

activist Deepsri Peela, who has been campaigning in the city on Fridays since before lockdown began, has shifted her fight to the digital sphere.

On Friday, which marked the 21st week of her ‘School Strike for Climate’, Peela said the ‘Fridays for Future’ digital campaign started before the pandemic in an effort to include more people in the movement. The digital campaign has drawn more participants since lockdowns were announced in various countries.

The 15-year-old girl is also a part of the ‘We the Planet’ digital campaign. “We have celebrities from all over the world who will be speaking about individual and systematic changes that they plan to incorporate in their own lives in order to inspire their own audiences,” said Peela, who is organiser for Youth Climate Save Movement, India.

Peela started the ‘School Strike for Climate’ campaign to spread awareness on the global climate crisis. “Covid-19 has already taught us many lessons and the need of the hour is to lead a sustainable life and to live in harmony with nature,” she added.

On aspects of global warming she finds most damaging, Peela said, “It is ecological breakdown and the disturbances in wildlife that the crisis is causing. An ecological imbalance due to rapid species extinction and endangerment is breaking our ecosystem. The animals that were once abundant and the forests that we lived in harmony with are vanishing as we are ‘expanding’ our civilisation,” she said.

“The only support I wish for comes in the form of action. And until now, I’d received none. I would do this even if my face was unseen and my identity hidden. If my voice is heard, that’s enough,” said the activist.