Once upon a time, I was born. A couple took me in and gave me a shelter. They took care of me, gave me water every day and gave me plenty of boosters when I was sick. I grew up with all the warmth and affection they gave me and I considered them to be family.
I gave them everything I could and to the best of my ability. We were all a very happy family and we were living peacefully and joyfully. But then one day, a person called money came and started to ruin this beautiful relationship. Things turned sour and our little family was nearly destroyed. I could not do anything, I was condemned to stay quiet, I couldn’t even move and stop my family from being friends with progress, greed, selfishness and after that everything turned out to be dark. They chopped my veins, my leaves that once gave them oxygen to breathe, and my heart that gave them food and love. They ripped my soul and left me to die.
Now did you know that 3 billion to 6 billion trees are cut each year and the global tree count has fallen by 46% since the dawn of human civilization? This has led to various types of pollution especially air pollution at an alarming rate. Trees, the lungs of the planet have declined and air quality has been reduced. Air pollution is so rampant that its effects may be imprinted on our DNA. There were an estimated 6.5 million deaths worldwide from air pollution-related diseases in 2012 as per WHO. Air pollution does not only affect our health but it can have dire consequences on the economy, on the ecosystem, and acid rain can corrode buildings, damage vegetation and make river water acidic. Air pollution is omnipresent and is present in all countries including mine - Mauritius. Even though Mauritius was ranked among the best countries in terms of air quality that does not mean the air is not polluted at all. As a youth, I always kept thinking about how bad the air we breathe is? As the world is getting richer, the air is getting poorer.
I don't want to be sorry to the future generations for leaving this planet in such a bad state. I don't want to want to be the reason why the future kids will not know much about trees. I don't want kids to wear masks and go to school every day. Those kids will never know that freshness of nature and I am sorry for what we did. We took trees for granted and we made the earth bleed and we still have the courage to make great plans to tackle this issue instead of implementing them. We still claim that climate change is not our issue when hundreds of people are dying because of earthquakes floods and becoming climate refugees. We put a list of myths saying that sustainable development is bad for business, the green economy is not profitable, that the earth has to heal itself, or the fact that climate action costs a lot of money when in fact it is climate inaction that is too expensive. Another myth is that individual actions don't matter and a person alone cannot make an impact.
Good news is that YES THERE IS HOPE. Can you see it? I can see it in the eyes of those kids whose houses are flooded away, and in the eyes of the future generations screaming for help because we couldn't save our planet or find another planet to move to. There are many activists who are doing a great job, devising new ways to heal the world by building new plans along with technology. Climate Digital Mapping is also an initiative by UNICEF where young people show the challenges and positive actions taken around the world to address air pollution in their communities through reports uploaded on climate digital map that will be displayed at the COP22 in order to put youth at the forefront; because if we want to solve a global problem, we need to take everyone on board!
As a climate digital mapper I was able to contribute and add my voice to the conversation. It was such an incredible experience, a roller coaster ride and to all those who think that you need to be President to make change, you are wrong. If we continue to place our greed over the planet, we will all be equally extinct. Humanity itself will fade. My awesome team have some shocking reports that highlight the seriousness of the problem and this is actually one of our objectives - to show people how air pollution can be cataclysmic.
Be the change because we need you. There is a long way to go and a lot of work to be done and this will never be possible without you all. Be your own climate hero and spread climate action. Achim Steiner said that "Every small actions matters because when 7 billion people do that thing, it changes the world ". Let us create the world of our dreams and save ourselves.
Thanks to the Voices of Youth Team and UNICEF for this innovative project. I encourage more young people to be involved and be climate action!