My Climate Story

"Mr Chairman and dignitaries, we have to act now!", I said and the sound of applause resounded through the room. And that was how I ended the G20 Glasgow Summit ended, with a speech by me, a climate activist, Atiya, on carbon emissions and footprint minimization. Just then, I was reminded of my flight the next day to Tokyo, where I had to record a documentary for BBC on the growing pollution in japan. I was meeting the Japanese prime minister for an interview and would then visit some factories and make a report.

 The next day I reached the airport ready for my flight. After constantly vexing the ticket lady by questioning her about the number of pollutants released by the different flights, I finally hopped onto one and left for Japan. On reaching the Haneda airport, a woman approached me and said, "I really admired your speech at the G20 Summit. I love the passion you have for the work you do," "That is really flattering. Saving our planet is the duty of us all," I said with a grateful smile.

I was then taken to the Japanese prime minister's office. We had long talks and I then interviewed him. He was happy to answer my questions and arranged for me to meet with some factory officials and inspect a clothing factory. 

'The air pollution levels are horrible here,' said one. 'Many of our co-workers have been taken in by the air quality,' said another. After finishing my report, I was about to head back to Mumbai, when I received a call from the Nobel prize committee. 'Ms. Khan, you have been selected for the Nobel Prize for Peace for your commendable work in your field.' For a moment, my eyes almost popped out of their sockets. After regaining consciousness, I replied, 'Me? Okay. Thank you for letting me know. I will surely be there,' I stuttered in disbelief. 

On arriving in Stockholm for the announcement of the prize, I was called out by the panel of directors, 'And the Nobel Prize for Peace goes to Ms Atiya Khan,' I was was over the moon and thrilled to bits. That was truly my moment in the spotlight. 

The next day I received a call from an old mentor, 'Good morning Atiya, it is me, Mrs Menon, the principal of MCT school. I was excited to hear my old teacher's voice again. 'Good morning Mrs Menon, it is lovely to hear your voice again. How can I help you?', I said. 'We are hosting a climate-themed debate competition, and we would like to invite you as our guest of honour. We will all be glad if you could make it,' I was at a loss for words to express my excitement. 'Of course, I would be delighted to attend. ' 

The following week, I walked through the gates of my old school. It had not changed much and made me take a stroll down memory lane. 

The competition started. The children put forward excellent points, and it was quite hard to choose between the best speakers.

Finally, the competition was over, the results were announced and l was asked to say a few words. After delivering my speech, the principal came onto the stage to say a few motivating words to the participants. She said, 'I am so happy that this young lady from our school has done so much for environmental awareness. we are honoured to have her with us today. I really admire her thoughts and concern for the Earth and I hope that all of us can learn something from her.'

Suddenly, there was a flash of light and, I popped out of my trance and was back to being a twelve-year-old, standing bewildered at the front of the class, my eyes meeting with my furious chemistry teacher. 'Well, what is the atomicity of silver?!'