Teen Activist Sagarika Sriram Wants Young Voices To Be Heard, Climate Curriculum In Schools

Climate change is the generational curse of last century and the buck stops with trend-defining Gen Zs who have simply had enough. "What's really important for me is for adults to really recognise that children have a voice," 16-year-old Sagarika Sriram said. The energy and dedication of young climate activists like Sagarika Sriram is testimony to how change happens with action.

Sriram's passion project to make climate awareness the norm is called "Kids For A Better World", a student-centric initiative aimed at bringing climate-conscious education to all schools around the world.

"Kids For A Better World" was set up by Sriram when she was just 10 years old. Originally from Chennai, Sagarika Sriram currently runs the much-needed climate initiative from Dubai, UAE. "My aim is just to really encourage children and teach them from a young age or what they can do to protect our environment," she told Indiatimes.

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How K4BW came into being

Sagarika Sriram was pursuing a course in HTML coding and web design with Johns Hopkins Centre for Talented Youth (CTY). The end-result of this project materialised in "Kids For A Better World". Not much later, Sriram realised that she wanted to "expand K4BW into something that could be available globally".

To improve climate consciousness among school kids, K4BW undertook various "Sustainable Summer Workshops" wherein Sriram and her peers educated climate enthusiasts about the perils of global warming and mitigation techniques.

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Sagarika Sriram/Indiatimes

What separates Sriram's approach is her grit for action. "We taught them the basics of climate education [including] recycling using what they can do in their own houses." Sriram also stressed on the importance of switching from single-use plastics to more environmentally friendly reusable alternatives including bottles and straws.

"Our goal is basically just to educate people so they can make those their own climate conscious decisions in the future," Sriram told Indiatimes. Sriram and K4BW understand the importance of preserving and widening the scope of climate consciousness. To this end, Sriram undertook climate-centric presentations in different schools across the UAE. "They can go home and teach their siblings or their parents about eco-friendly alternatives to some of our biggest problems."

Sriram's long-term goals for K4BW

Wondering what Sriram's endgame is? She wants the adoption of climate education across schools around the world "so that children are taught at a young age and they're aware of what's going on so that when they get older they know what they can do, and they can teach more people" along the lines of Italy, where climate education is now mandatory.

Besides her public calls-to-action, Sriram has helped set up a kitchen garden in her family home, where they grow fruits and vegetables and compost it all themselves. "It sort of minimises our carbon footprint. We don't have to go to the supermarket as much to buy these certain fruits and veggies," Sriram told Indiatimes.

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Besides that, Sagarika Sriram practices a vegan diet, which she says helps minimise on using single-use plastic bottles for milk and other products.

Covid-19 was an opportunity for climate activists to demand more proactive action from leaders and to spread more information about the dangers of climate change. "Even during the pandemic, I'm still educating people, and it's not that because of the pandemic all the environmental issues have stopped because if anything, we've seen that it's expanded."

Sagarika Sriram / Courtesy - Anna Nielsen

Challenges of a teenage climate activist

The effects of climate change are becoming more pronounced with each generation. Owing to the natural balance felt by older generations, it may be harder to bring them into the fold of climate-conscious behavior.

"With adults it's a little bit harder because they tend to believe that they have more real-world experience because obviously they are older than us, but I think what's really important for me is for adults to really recognise that children have a voice," she told us.

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"We should be involved in policy-making and decision-making, and I think there's slow steps to passing that roadblock and getting past that obstacle." Currently, Sagarika Sriram is also involved with Child's Right International Network and numerous organisations that focus on the youth perspective of climate change.

To assert the importance of young voices, Sriram helps educate people in her community. "By doing that, we tend to make more people aware and adults tend to really understand the influence children can have since it is our future," Sriram said.

Sagarika Sriram / Courtesy - Anna Nielsen

Using tech to engage kids

The "Kids For A Better World" website offers a "green card," an incentive scheme wherein children complete various activities for which they earn points that may be redeemed against eco-friendly products. "[This] encourages children to just get their work started so that they can really see the benefit of what they're doing." In the coming few months, Sriram and her peers hope to set-up a smartphone application.

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Now, Sriram wants to expand her "eco teams" globally which are currently based out of Dubai. "My goal is to incorporate it in schools, [in] India, Dubai and globally. Currently we've partnered with organisations like Garbage Free India and we've done online talks with them and and I want to continue doing that," Sriram added,

Sagarika Sriram also highlighted the role played by technology in helping spread awareness about climate change. "The majority of us are communicating over technology. Over the pandemic, the main way we've learned about information and the main way we've been learning about things and spreading a message has been over the internet over social media, and so I definitely do think that [technology] is essential to the climate movement and spreading a message."

Sagarika Sriram / Courtesy - Anna Nielsen

Why climate education should be compulsory

Sriram strongly feels the need to imbibe climate education in school curriculums across the world. "Right now it's necessary for the future of Earth and for our survival and climate education should be mandatory like Maths and Science."

With COP26 coming up, Sagarika Sriram feels that leaders around the world need to recognise that "children have a voice and have the knowledge and the perspective to create impact like Greta Thunberg and Gitanjali Rao."

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It's not uncommon for children to feel unheard. In fact, age is used a factor to dismiss valid points made by many child activists. "People need to just understand that children really do have the knowledge and the intelligence for being able to have a say in the policies and the rules that are in place," Sriram told Indiatimes.

To climate change deniers, Sriram says there is ample scientific evidence to support changes in climate. More so than ever, the effects of climate change in the form of natural disasters like wildfires, floods, and erratic weather are being felt across the globe.

"Someone came up to me and said that climate change is an issue for the future generations. But the thing is, we are the future generation... If you keep saying that, eventually there is not going to be a future generation."

What do you think about Sagarika Sriram's story of young children contributing towards positive climate action? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.