A confession

I have been thinking about Greta Thunberg a lot of late. Predictably so. She has been all over the news. Anyway, this post isn’t about her or what she is doing. I don’t care whether she is a child actor, or has been instigated by certain elements, or whatever. She has been talking about a burning issue that a lot of eminent scientists and environmentalists have been drawing our attention to, for years. And she has been phenomenally more successful than all those eminent adults, even if it means attracting vitriolic comments from full grown adults, and trolling from none other than the POTUS. 

This post is about me and my own relationship with climate change. I know climate change is real, because I have seen my hometown Chennai drowning in 2015, I have seen my lovetown Mumbai witness increasingly erratic weather and monsoons. I worry about climate change incessantly. But I don’t care enough to do anything about it. In that way, I am a bit like Anushka Sharma, at my own level. 

I don’t use public transport, I like disposables, I enjoy AC, I love gadgets, I used to be a flying consultant. I haven’t done a single thing that contributes positively to the environment. Except I am not a flying consultant anymore. And I have always been a vegetarian. Those two aren’t conscious choices for the sake of the environment, so nay! No brownie points there. 

When a 16 year old takes a stance like this and travels across the sea from Sweden to UN, it takes tremendous effort and focus. When I can do 1/1000th of that change to my life, I will be in a marginally better position to comment on Greta Thunberg. And meanwhile, I am going to work hard to see what’s that one change I can make to my own life that will make me feel like I have taken a step in the right direction as far as the environment is concerned.

While I am at it, I will sit back and enjoy how Greta is taking on the biggest troll in the world.