UAE youth sow seeds of green future

Ritika Sharma / Emirates Business

In solidarity with the cause of World Environment Day on June 5, Dubai-based youth organisation Green Hope conducted a waste recycling campaign and planted 150 saplings, taking strides towards a green future.
Members of Green Hope, which works to promote sustainable development amongst all sections of civil society, collected large quantities of recyclables, such as paper, cardboard, cans, bottles and cans from homes and neighbourhood. A total of 1500 kilograms of recyclables were collected by these young eco-warriors, some as young as 9 years old.
Talking to Emirates Business, the 15-year-old founder of the youth sustainability organisation, Kehkashan Basu, said, “The response we got from our members for this recycling campaign was phenomenal. They spent over 4 weeks collecting these recyclables — many of them went door to door in their neighborhood explaining the need to recycle. Over 25 members participated and contributed actively towards this campaign. We work on the implementation of the sustainable development goals, one of which deals with sustainable consumption.”
“Reducing waste, adopting recycling are key concepts which can lead to sustainable consumption and our members work very hard to spread awareness about this and it reflected in the amount of recyclables that our members gathered. Our youngest contributor was 9-year-old Ayesh who brought in 11 kilograms of plastics. In total, we gathered 1500 kilograms of recyclables,” she added.
The waste thus collected was handed over to TADWEER for recycling. Basu said that the core philosophy of the organization is that with the global population crossing 7 billion, our planet’s resources are under tremendous strain.
“Thus it is imperative for citizens to reduce waste and imbibe a lifestyle that is based on sustainable consumption. This recycling campaign was Green Hope’s small action leading up to World Environment Day (WED) on 5th June. Tree plantation is one of Green Hope’s key campaigns and the youth members also planted 150 saplings today to show solidarity with the green cause,” she said.
Till date, Green Hope members have planted several thousand saplings in their bid to reduce carbon footprint and global warming. Green Hope is organising a youth conference on June 4 to celebrate WED2016 and over 150 students have registered from schools and universities across the UAE.
“We also have two student delegations coming from Oman and Bahrain. It will be day of youth engagement and interactions with various activity workshops through which we will raise awareness about this year’s theme “Go Wild for Life” and the urgent need for biodiversity conservation,” she said.