Climate change is one of the biggest problems that the world is facing today. Drying up water bodies to melting glaciers, cold places becoming warmer and hot places becoming hotter are all result of climate change. The problem is only rising with the carelessness and negligence of the human race. The biggest reason for climate change is the external forces exerted by humans, that is, pollution of any kind. Stopping climate change is an urgent need to sustain life on this planet without destroying it completely.
Actions, agitation, and steps taken towards stopping climate change are slowly visible around the world. But these steps are just not enough to save the planet yet. The problem of climate change cannot be solved by the concept of one step at a time. It requires a big leap.
Ryan Maia, a philosophy and international affairs student from Northeastern University, Boston, has taken up the burden of reducing climate change. After interviewing several governments and non-governmental organisation officials of Singapore in 2017, Maia came up with creative solutions to promote sustainability.
“Going to Singapore opened my eyes to the solutions that exist out there and the potential for the solutions that exist around the world,” said Ryan Maia after his research visit to Singapore. He learned about the country’s plans and preparations against climate change and also about various programs that can recycle sewage water into drinkable water.
For his co-op activity at Northeastern University, Ryan worked at the Institute for Economics and Peace, Australia. There he studied about the work Australia and New Zealand doing to help the Pacific Island’s prepare for climate change. His study was presented at a conference held in Washington D.C. in early April 2019. Maia also educated children in Boston about climate change, sustainability, and necessity to stop it immediately. It was his experience and research that made the work possible for him. ‘Eco-scholars’ is a program co-founded by Maia that will educate students about the environment.
“The way we’re trying to address this problem of climate change is thinking globally but acting locally,” says Maia.
Disha Mazumder