WARRIOR ARTISTE

A CHAMPION OF CLEAN-UP DRIVES AND CLIMATE STRIKES, ACTOR BHUMI PEDNEKAR RECENTLY BECAME A ‘CLIMATE WARRIOR’ AND CALLED UPON FELLOW COUNTRYMEN TO DO THE SAME. ADILA MATRA CAUGHT UP WITH THE BOLLYWOOD ACTOR TO TALK ABOUT HER ENVIRONMENT INITIATIVE, BUCKETLIST DESTINATIONS, AND FAVOURITE TRAVEL MEMORIES.

- ADILA MATRA

Tell us a little about ‘Climate Warrior’. How important is such an initiative in today’s world?

I have been very conscious about climate change since I was a little girl. I spent many nights thinking of it when I was a teenager. After I became an actor, my work and opinions regarding the crisis came to the forefront. Subsequently, my team at Yash Raj Films (YRF) and I decided to use my social media platform to communicate, and to celebrate the people who were actively working towards saving the planet. Climate Warrior is an attempt to change the thought process and help people recognise that climate crisis is the biggest threat that mankind has ever faced.

What are the challenges you face?

The biggest challenge is getting people to accept that there is a threat to our existence. I don’t think people understand that all the recent natural disasters and the frequency at which these are happening is something to be worried about. We think of it as a far-off phenomenon, but it is not. Major rivers are drying up, we are battling a pandemic, the ice caps are melting, and Arctic forests are on fire. Another thing we don’t understand is that these changes are irreversible.