MEET THE GENERATION WHO WILL CHANGE THE WORLD

One year is very hot and the other year very cold, and now there are diseases that result from climate change. During floods there was cholera and diarrhoea. 

Before there were little floods but today there is a lot of floods that come out during heavy rain. In 2015 where there were floods and so many properties were eroded away with the floods that came. These floods happened because of deforestation.

Deforestation is very bad. There is loss of habitat for the animals because of deforestation and the houses may be flooded away because the trees can support the soil, holding the soil together, so when there are no trees, when the heavy rain comes, that soil will be eroded away. 

Climate change may affect so many people and livelihoods because, for instance, when drought comes, it means there is not any food and people may face hunger. 

The effects of extreme rain weather upon my life is that the house of my parents fell down because of that rain weather. The crops in the fields of my parents have been eroded away because of those rains. So, I dislike rainy weather so much. 

For us to mitigate the climate crisis, we have to plant trees, practise irrigation by water conservation [and] avoid smoke-producing behaviours. When you plant trees, you can have good rain, good air. To help with mitigating the climate crisis, I plant trees. 

If I was the president I would encourage people to plant trees and stop smoke-producing behaviour because these behaviours make the country face a bigger climate crisis.

After joining Respect Our Rights and working more closely with Save the Children, it really opened me up as a person.

In Respect Our Rights we’re from 14 to 17 years old and we take part in different activities.

We campaign, we do activism to see a change, to have a better future.

Adults need to hear us because we are more aware of the damage that they have done to our world.

Our opinion is valid no matter the age, no matter who, no matter where we are from.

So, if I was a world leader, protests or climate change wouldn't have to happen because we would already have a very good plan to save the planet. We would already have quit plastic and turned the world into an eco-friendly world to make the cities green and everything. I would listen to children.

Usually for us, hero means someone that saved the world. Is that individual. That’s not realistic. Not only one person can save the world, but if hero means each of us to take action to reduce our carbon footprints and to do good things for the environment, then yes, I would consider myself a hero.

So, the area where I live is Prizren. Climate change challenges for Prizren, there's a lot of heatwaves and there is also sometimes can be a lack of water. You can sometimes you cannot even see any water in the river. And I think this is terrible and this is all due to climate change.

For me, the climate crisis in my country, exists, it is growing.

We need to learn from other countries that if we don't take actions now, we will not be able to manage them in the future.

We are the cause of climate change, and we are destroying our own home, our own planet. And that just gives me a fear.

But we, although we destroyed it, doesn't mean that we cannot heal and help the planet.

Gaza, as any city in the world, is also affected by climate change. An example of that is the very long winter. There has been a change and this has definitely impacted our lives.

Other disadvantages of climate change on Gaza is when it rains a lot, it causes floods. When there is a lack of rain, many crops cultivated in Gaza need water. So, if a small percentage of rain falls, this will affect the agricultural season.

I love spring the most. But now, the weather is hot during the day and cold during the night, so I have to cancel visiting my friends.

I was invited by Save the Children to address climate change, to learn more about it.

We could also raise awareness among people in the refugee camps, to plant between homes if spaces are available, because this will have a positive effect on the Gaza Strip and outside it.

Now, the thing that I like so much, acting, has become my platform to spread awareness among people.

In the act [of the play], we showed how some people chop off trees and burn so many tree logs for Holika Dahan and how they waste water in the name of Holi, the festival of colours. A lot of water is wasted.  

Eventually, those people understand and start spreading awareness that water is necessary for living and we will only survive if there is greenery.

We live in slums and do not have a brick and mortar roof. We have put a tin on the top instead. Even with the fan switched on, the fan starts circulating hot air, which is why it gets very hot. During winters, we feel very cold. 

The river Ganga flows about two kilometres from here. There were floods in 2019. For a week, our houses were filled with the flood water. So, we're constantly facing threats due to climate change. 

The most important thing is to reduce pollution. Reduce the use of cars to a minimum and instead use bicycles more. A good amount of trees should be planted. We must stop felling trees. And we must reduce the extent of industrialisation so that the pollution resulting from it can be reduced. 

The way the climate is changing, in the next 5-10 years, these steps will become necessary, and we will have to take them. 

[To be a] child champion means that the champions always wish well for their neighbourhood and the community. They take a stand for their society and support everyone in their happiness and sorrow.

[It’s an] example of how with the help of children,  society can be led and how children can voice their opinions with the support of their neighbourhood. Children can try and understand the issues faced by the neighbourhood and how they can contribute towards solving those issues. 

You can see rubbish everywhere. People don’t look after the environment, they don’t care, they just throw litter everywhere.

At school, at home, I recycle. At school, we recycle plastic bottles and cans. We sell them and collect money for the school. At home, we make handicrafts. For example, containers with cardboard, sticks, wood, plastic, and things like that. We store things, coins, pencils, etc.

 I want to do a campaign in which once a week there are no cars, so people walk or cycle, so we protect the air and the environment and have less pollution.

They [an organisation of women] wanted to build a house, but they didn’t have any money and they saw here there were many containers, so they said why don’t we make a house of them? All day long, from morning to night, every day with a container, a stick, and we mixed sand. It was difficult but we kept building. There are more than 500 bottles and they were all done by hand by just women. It was a great goal to build this house. It was an ecological house.

One of my dreams is to have an association of empowered women and girls who come through and to do ecological handicrafts so people can see all that can be done with the things they consider rubbish, but it’s not.

I would like adults to learn that we can do many things with the stuff they throw away. We want to protect the environment because it’s our life, and the life of their children, of our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren and so on.

There are many things I’d like to change in this world. First of all, inequity. For example, giving more opportunities to women. It’s very difficult for women to get a job, and if they get it, it’s a lower-income job than men. Men have executive and important jobs. So why can’t women?

The biggest change [in climate] I’ve seen was it was sunny one day and the next day, it rained really heavily. It seemed pretty abnormal.

When it rains, the rubbish is washed out. It smells bad and we can’t cross the bridge because it’s full of rubbish and it makes us sick.

I’m a bit scared when it rains heavily. I have been since I was a child. In the past, I lived in a house near a cliff. One day there was a storm. It rained so heavily that the house where I lived collapsed. So, we have to be very careful, one of those rocks could squash us!

Also, we’re affected because pipelines flood and we can’t go to school because we can’t cross over.

Water is also often scarce. We have to wait around eight to 15 days to get water. We have to recycle water so it lasts longer and things like that.

We have to protect this world because otherwise what’s the future for our children and for us.