By Surabhi Vinod K T
I live just 80 feet away from a tributary of the Arkavati River in Bangalore. You will mistake it for a river amidst the urban setting. But it’s not. It’s industrial waste, mixed with garbage people leave behind, hoping the water will carry it away. Stray dogs often crowd around, digging through the piles for scraps, instead, they get plastic and rotting food.
I’ve asked people who’ve lived here longer what it used to be like, their memories unfurl as they talk about clean water, fresh air, people resting by the stream, an ecosystem that floursihed through this lifeline, for nature is a giver, and we take without ever thinking of giving back.
I’ve never seen that version of the river myself, but I believe in it. I dream of seeing it restored, not just cleaned up, but brought back to life. If I ever get the chance to start something on my own, it would be to bring people together to work on this.
Maybe it starts small, just me and a few friends, walking down to clean a patch, planting something native, talking to others around.
The 21 Days Climate Consciousness Challenge by Young Influx did exactly that, pushed each of us to reflect, take small steps, and become more aware, starting with ourselves and then looking outward at our surroundings. I took it up with the intention of being consistent and completing all 10 tasks, but I couldn’t follow through with two of them.
Still, every challenge taught me something that stayed with me. I had no idea that even storing or sharing a blog like this, especially with attachments, adds to the digital footprint I leave behind. Every small action we take, or don’t take leaves a mark on the environment.
From calculating my carbon footprint, which stood at 1.01 tonnes, far below the global average of 7.7 tonnes, I started noticing the invisible energy trails I leave behind. In a world driven by AI and digitalisation, we rarely pause to ask how much power we consume for convenience.
Thousands of unread emails, the apps we’ve forgotten but left installed, the ones quietly running in the background, they all contribute to emissions. And I hadn’t heard of eco-anxiety either, the emotional weight of climate change. But when I learned about it, something clicked. I’ve felt this for as long as I can remember.
Watching people casually toss plastic-wrapped waste into empty plots which are already restricted from dumping, hearing news about water depletion while growing up in a place that lived it, all of it left a restlessness I never had words for. There’s no one yet I look up to as a climate role model, I just try to channel that unease into small actions, doing whatever I can, whenever I can, to ease that heaviness.
I’ve been a vegetarian for as long as I can remember, not because of my family or tradition, but because I chose to be. Over the years, I’ve heard it all: “So you only eat grass?”, “No wonder you’re so lean!”, “Have you even tried chicken to avoid it?” Honestly, it used to bother me. But now I simply remind myself, I get to decide what I eat, how I look, and what I stand for.
And if you’re trying to make a change in your food choices, I hope you give yourself the space to grow into that decision, because even your plate can impact our planet. When we talked about fashion practices in the challenge, I realised I’m not there yet in terms of fully sustainable clothing, but I’m learning. I paint over my old clothes to give them a new life, turn scraps into cosy outfits for my pets, and donate what I no longer use, but never the worn-out, torn ones. Giving should never be an act of passing on guilt.
How many of us actually know the names of the plants we walk past every day? I didn’t. That’s when I came across apps like PlantNet, which help identify plants using just a photo. It opened up a whole new way of seeing the greenery around me. I also rediscovered Ecosia, a tree-planting search engine I had come across years ago and forgotten about.
Just imagine, something as simple as using a browser can contribute to reforestation. It reminded me that digitalisation isn’t all bad. Sometimes, it offers tools that support change. I also took a closer look at how I commute. I know I still rely on petrol and contribute to emissions. It’s not something I’m proud of, but it’s something I want to change.
As the famous quote of Louis Pasteur goes, “In the field of observation, chance favours only the prepared mind.” The moment we decide that we need to start working on something, our mind begins to observe what once felt invisible. Patterns appear. Questions surface. Once you start observing, you start caring. And that’s where the journey truly begins.
Even as some global powers, despite their influence and advancement, choose to walk backwards in climate commitments, we must remind ourselves that their choices don’t define our possibilities. Progress doesn’t always follow power. A conscious mind holds the strength to resist such ideologies and rewrite the future with responsibility. The most powerful shifts don’t come from loud voices or big promises, but from quiet consistency and the courage to choose better.
This is so beautifully written, This 21 days were so informative, I indeed relate with this post. Shout out to you for portraying it so well.
Very well summarised, beautifully composed and shed a light on one of the major issues of today’s time.