As an environmental soldier, the condition of the planet and how individuals are relaxed about nature stresses actor Bhumi Pednekar. On the event of World Nature Conservation Day on July 28, the actor says she assertively accepts that our age must be the age that recovers and reestablishes our planet.
“We’ve reached a brink where we’ve pushed our planet to a point where things have gotten out of control. If you see what’s happening around — the flash floods in Germany, parts of Maharashtra and China — it’s all bad. There are forest fires in the US, there’s heat wave in Canada. Now it’s important for us to understand that we’ve pushed it beyond our control and if we don’t set things right, and then it is not going to be good for future generations to come,” alerts Pednekar.
The 32-year-old actor further says that it’s rather inequitable to all the young children that they could not have the kind of life she and others had like like “not having the freedom to breathe clean air and drink clean water and enjoy nature the way we did.”
She adds, “Today is the day about realising that what we’ve left is best and we need to hold it tight and protect it and regenerate more. That’s our duty towards our future generations. We were born in an abundant planet and now we’ve reached this point… We need world leaders to acknowledge and the general public to acknowledge that what we’re doing right now isn’t okay. We need to coexist with nature and with different species. We, humans, in general are so selfish. We often forget that we can’t keep abusing nature and our resources.”
The Sonchiriya actress is continuously working on the ground and macro level with various people and environmentalists and is also responsible for educating and raising awareness among people regarding climate change and its consequences.
“The most difficult thing is when you go and tell people about it and they’re like, ‘Oh climate change isn’t real, and it’s all made up.’ My response to such people is that they’re so comfortable in the lies they’re living that they don’t want to face the truth. They don’t want a life of inconvenience,” she adds.
However, Pednekar is hopeful, and feels that the perception of people regarding this is slowly changing because of the pandemic, which can help in the cause of restoring the environment.
“In the last two years of the pandemic, we’ve learnt a lesson. It came at a heavy cost, but suddenly, people are discussing the topic. People are being compassionate towards nature, but it’s not enough, we need a lot more,” she emphasises.
