The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Climate champ to campaign against plastics

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Sunday, Oct 12, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Climate champ to campaign against plastics

Vidya Venkat

Std. XII student of Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School has been motivated by a three-week expedition to the Arctic

K.N. Shruti

CHENNAI: K.N. Shruti, a Std. XII student of Sri Sankara Senior Secondary School, has returned from a three-week expedition to the Arctic recently.

This Young Indian Climate Champion, selected by the British Council through a nationwide competition, plans to campaign against the use of plastics in the city, among others, to tackle climate change and global warming.

She made a presentation on her experience during the Arctic voyage at her school recently. “In the Arctic, I saw that the melting of glaciers had resulted in the dwindling of the population of seals and polar bears,” she said.

“As part of the climatology group, my job was to study the climate conditions in various selected posts.”

Along with 28 other students from countries such as Canada, Brazil and Ireland, she toured the Arctic region in a ship. She also had the opportunity of interacting with leading international scientists working on climate change.

She spoke with concern about how the use of plastics and increased energy consumption among people world over were all linked to this phenomenon of climate change, and something had to be done urgently to stop the disaster. “I am planning to walk into neighbourhood grocery stores and advocate the use of paper and cloth bags, instead of plastic ones,” she said.

Shruti also plans to get in touch with government officials to ensure that the city’s green cover is improved. “I am looking for areas where we can plant more trees and also expecting people to come forward to assist me in this task.”

Asked whether she would lobby for industries to switch over to manufacturing eco-friendly products, she said it was not an easy task to accomplish. “Convincing industry representatives to go green is a big step. I would like to start with a small group of people and advocate them to bring about a change in their lifestyles and build a movement from there,” she said.

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