A class 11 student of a private school here is leading a push to declare climate change a national emergency and he has gained support of several influencers.
Aman Sharma's petition on the international forum change.org, addressed to Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, demands that a national climate emergency be declared and the global issue be tackled with utmost commitment.
The petition has collected 206,593 signatures so far and has been supported by celebrities like Australian actors Nathalie Kelley and Maddison Brown, and Bollywood actor Nikhil Dwivedi.
Speaking to PTI, the teenager said, "I have been organising climate strikes in Delhi as the soaring temperatures here become unbearable, and about 300-400 people show up for them."
"The problem is we are facing water shortage and heatwaves in India, and people are dying every day due to this. In 2017, pollution killed 100,000 children under the age of five years in India, and Delhi is the world's most polluted capital!! Chennai is already in a dire situation due to water scarcity," the 16-year-old student said.
In his petition filed in May, Sharma has also requested the Ministry of Environment to fully commit to the Paris Agreement which seeks to limit earth's warming by 2 degrees Celsius and implement stricter rules to reduce clearing of forests.
"A major change is needed in the way government forms its environmental policies. They need to refocus their policies from making the environment a better place for all of us, and our future generations to live in," he said.
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