Meet These Six Young Climate Activists Fighting For A Better World!

The year 2019 was truly a testament to the power of youth in spearheading social change. Be it Greta Thunberg’s inspiring speech at the UN against climate change, or the Parkland shooting survivors advocating for greater gun control, this is the age of young activists. In the spirit of things, we are highlighting six stellar teenage girls who are galvanising gender justice, raising awareness, and contributing to many social causes at a young age.

1. Trisha Venkatesh, 16, Bangalore 

Trisha was born and raised in California, USA, but has been living in Bangalore for the past few years. In the US, she was a part of “Girl Scouts of America”, in which she got the opportunity to organise awareness campaigns on the hazardous impacts of smoking, and hosted a workshop on “Basic Technological Skills of the 21st Century” for refugee families settled in the US. She also set up a “school supplies” drive in her neighbourhood, and shipped over 500 books and stationery items to an orphanage in Salem, Tamil Nadu.

She started a chapter of ‘Girl Up’ last year in her school in Bangalore to help women in her community. Within one year, they have conducted STEM workshops in schools, held clothes drives for local organisations that provide for abandoned women and orphans, hosted awareness campaigns on gender-based violence, spoken at local government schools about gender inequality in India, and raised over Rs 1 lakh through a bake sale for ‘Girl Up’.

2. Tanushah Ramadass, 17, Chennai

Tanushah is a 17-year-old teen activist hailing from Chennai. She is very passionate about climate change and feminism, and believes it is essential that more individuals are involved in these movements. She’s the founder of APL Girl Up and is a current Girl Up Teen Advisor.

After the huge Chennai water crisis, she’s been conducting various presentations across schools in Chennai on conserving water and harvesting water. She’s the founder of a climate movement called ‘Evolution Today’ that aims to take climate action and bring climate justice to get India’s government to declare a climate crisis.

3. Srijani Datta, 17, Delhi

Srijani is an intersectional feminist, working on areas such as gender equality and climate action. She actively participates in school strikes for climate action, including the global school strikes. Under the ‘Girl Up’ initiative, she has worked in different areas of achieving gender equality, her major act being teaching girls from an underprivileged background and helping them gain access to information about health and hygiene.

4. Ananya Kamboj, 15, Chandigarh

Ananya is an ambassador of football, peace and youth empowerment. For the last three years, she has been representing India as a Young Journalist at the Global Football for Friendship (F4F) social programme. Last year, she founded ‘Sports to Lead’ – to explore and educate on the power that sports has in creating a positive impact on society. The programme particularly looks at sports policy and how one can use programs and policies for maximum impact.

She hopes that these conversations and ideas will help achieve a greater benefit of sports in society. She plans to explore how sports can be used to create meaningful change, and bring attention to some of the challenges that people face when trying to make an impact. She was also invited by the United Nations twice to share her views on Football for Friendship. She was also a goodwill ambassador of BRICS countries and has participated in various other projects, including ‘Girl Up’, ‘Girls With Impact’, ‘Lean In India’, ‘SDGs For Children’ and ‘She’s Mercedes’.

5. Tarini, New Delhi, 17, Delhi

Tarini is a passionate teenager from Mother’s International School who believes feminism is an essential requisite. She started a ‘Girl Up’ club in her school a little less than a year ago, and they’ve engaged in many activities ranging from bake-sale fundraisers to online activism. She’s been extremely vocal about women’s issues and has written about the same on various platforms. She’s currently working towards starting a zine. She considers one of the biggest impacts of her club to have been the involvement of boys in the same and their enthusiastic participation towards planning potential club activities, and it is something that gives her great hope for the future of the feminist movement.

6. Malika, 16, Jaipur

Malika’s ambition towards deconstructing the gender binary has led her to become a member of Girl Up @ JPIS, allowing her to generate awareness and take concrete measures towards the rampant issue of gender inequality along with her peers. She is the co-founder of the Jayshree Periwal Debating Society, and is also leading Parvaah Organisation – an NGO founded in Delhi with the intention of achieving sustainability and providing a healthy and safe environment to the generations to come.

She is the student coordinator of Udaan Foundation, an NGO based in Jaipur running multiple projects including production of sustainable and biodegradable sanitary napkins, producing kurtas for women using recycled material, and running a school for underprivileged children. Additionally, she’s the Student Ambassador for TOSS – The Open Space Society, which encourages today’s youth to partake in engaging social activities such as dramatics, reading and writing, radio communication and podcasting, photography etc. Through these projects, and a few others, she intends to play her part as a responsible and aware centennial.

Inspiring, isn’t it? You too can use this time to further gender equality by starting a ‘Girl Up’ Club in your community because your activism cannot take a break! These girls are enrolled in the Girl Up Campaign’s program in India. ‘Girl Up’ is an initiative of the United Nations Foundation “by girls- for girls, girls-led and girl-driven”. Girl Up has a presence in over 120 countries and has impacted over 58,000 girls so far.