Mumbai is suffering from increasing average temperatures, worsening air quality, bad transportation, frequent floods and has the risk of submergence due to sea-level rise. A youth-led environmental movement, in an attempt to tackle these problems and avert the catastrophes, gathered on Juhu beach on Saturday, 26 March 2022, for an event known as 'Global Climate Strike'.
Global Climate Strike is an event whose aim is to ensure environmental awareness and demand climate action. The event consisted of a short rally and discussion about the problems and what can and needs to be done by citizens, politicians and bureaucrats to solve them. The event witnessed the participation of over 30 people, which consisted of students, people working in environmental fields, professionals, educators as well as retired persons.
The message of the importance of climate justice was spread through their posters in English, Marathi and Hindi. With the slogan of 'People, Not Profit', they emphasized that the pursuit of profit should not get priority over the welfare of people and the protection of the environment.
Also Read: Mumbai Climate Action Plan: “This” Ward Ranks Lowest Across Most Socio-Economic Parameters
This was followed by discussions on various aspects of the environmental crisis. The intersectional nature of the climate crisis was emphasized, with some people speaking about its relation to mental health and physical health, and how the crisis affects different people differently due to various social, geographical, historical and economic factors.
A few people expressed themselves through poems. Other topics and issues that people spoke about and discussed include food, transport, waste management, trees, water bodies, air pollution, air-conditioning and concretization. They also discussed what we could do to solve these problems.
The environmental movement, Fridays For Future Mumbai demands that governments not propose or sanction environmentally destructive activities and work towards people's welfare by creating and facilitating sustainable and ecologically wise futures.
Similarly, while they appreciate the research done and the targets set under the Mumbai Climate Action Plan, they find a severe lack of action on the ground to fulfil those targets. Therefore, they demand the stoppage of deforestation, concretisation, land-filling of the sea, waste burning, air-conditionalization and road expansion, and demand improvement in bus services and greenery.
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