The Inspiration

The Reason

My journey to Sustainability has been a complicated one. As a child I always had a passive love for nature, meaning that I love to observe it. While I hate going out in the wilderness (a personal preference), I love watching a sunset, or taking a walk on a beach at night. It was this tendency of mine that lead me to start a campaign in primary school. I must have been about 8 or 9, my best friend and I at the time, noticed that most of our classmates were so occupied in their own lives that they hardly stopped to observe the little things. Like the diverse ecosystem of insects my school had. So we started a campaign, and sort of a competition, telling everyone to count how many and what type of insects they see on a daily basis (in alphabetical order). Whoever got the most letters in the alphabet would be the winner. I was shocked at the amount of people who participated in our campaign, the whole school got involved and I remember feeling so proud. Because people so young actually got involved, it encouraged them to stop and observe the world around them.

Now I’m not going to lie, as a teenager, I fell into the same behavior we made a campaign against as a kid. I too fell into the perpetual and exhausting mindset of believing that everything is about me. And more specifically, everything in my phone. I was aware of the things happening in our world, like the polar ice caps melting, or Venice (one of my favorite places) sinking. But I’d see a post about these on my phone and immediately scroll away, because who wants to read about depressing stuff? Certainly not me! It was when I attended a Sustainability module in my University, when I realized the gravity of the situation. And how ignorance is in fact, not a bliss! (In some situations). In my class, we had to fill daily survey forms to record our carbon footprint. These forms made us keep track of everything we do in a day, the food we eat, the transport we take, music we listen to, etc etc. Because everything and I mean EVERYTHING we do as individuals, has a carbon footprint. This made me overly paranoid, but it also meant that I was making conscious decisions to reduce my carbon footprint. That’s the conclusion of this story, the more someone is aware of something, they will be more conscious of it. And this is why I’ve made this blog, I will do the reading and the research for you. All you have to do, is observe and think. Think about what you can do as an individual to fix the multitude of problems global warming has caused us. And discuss them, with anyone who’s willing to listen. This blog isn’t about reporting, it is about creating solutions. I believe that the key to solving any problem, is to keep the conversation alive. I am willing to do something about Climate Change, the real question is, will you join me?

Saanvi Jiteendra

Writer & Student