Kovid Bhushan Pathak: An eco-conscious social activist

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    Young social activist Kovid Bhushan Pathak is a 15 year old 10th grader from Kathmandu who is relentlessly working to fight climate change and help children from rural and disaster affected areas. He is also one of the organizers of Fridays for Future Campaign in Nepal, which was originally initiated by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

    His Journey

    When the massive earthquake of 2015 hit Nepal, many children from rural areas were affected unpleasantly. This disaster made young Kovid think about his ability to help people recover from the massive loss they suffered. Kovid was just 11 year old back then but earnestly wanted to help the victims by contributing as much as he could. So, he helped the poor and deprived children by providing relief materials. Later in October of 2017, he co-founded a group ‘Sakhaa Nepal’ along with his sister with an aim to engage young minds in activism and help children in need. Through the group, Kovid has successfully conducted different small-scaled yet meaningful activities. For instance, he and his team recently organized a piano recital event in order to collect funds to help tornado affected children of Bara and Parsa. “Our team handed over the funds we collected to the chief minister of Province no. 2 who is planning to rebuild schools and renovate school infrastructures of the affected area,” said Kovid

    Currently, He is actively engaging to fight climate change through the group Sakhaa and has initiated Fridays for Future movement in Nepal with his friends. This movement was originally initiated by Swedish student Greta Thunberg, who has caused a stir in climate change activism in the world. “Greta started this campaign with an aim to alarm the world about the climate crisis and even made her ideas heard in the parliament of Sweden. We want to support her campaign and show the urgency of climate crisis and aware people about global warming in Nepal,” said Kovid when asked about this campaign. He and his team are planning to have a climate strike on 20th and 23rd August in Maitighar Mandala, Kathmandu.

    Kovid thinks normal citizens can help fight climate change by taking small steps and being a bit more thoughtful. He believes changing by our perspective and conspicuous consuming behaviors, we can lead to a cleaner environment. “Habits like throwing waste materials in dustbins, mitigating the use of private vehicles and switching off unnecessary lights can lead all of us to an eco-friendly life,” Kovid suggested.

    More on  #FridaysforFuture

    It is a people’s movement following the call from the activist Greta Thunberg to school strikes. It was started in 2018 by Thunberg and now it has more than 1.4 million young participants all around the world which encourages young children to be mindful about the rapid climate change happening in the world. Numerous scientists have proved that we have only 12 years to stabilize our climate otherwise it becomes irreversible. Thousands of children have taken part in rallies all around the world calling on lawmakers of different countries to transition into green and cleaner economies.

    Glocal Teen Hero and his future plans

     Kovid participated in last year’s Glocal Teen Hero as an observer and he decided to apply this year as per his parents’ suggestion. “GTH is a platform which can provide young minds the motivation and recognition they need to move forward. Being selected as Glocal20under20 has further incentivized me to continue helping people in need and fight climate change,” he said.

    In the next five years, he plans to expand his campaign and work with different environmental organization. As the climate is changing rapidly, he thinks it’s about time every person should be aware about the climate crisis. Likewise, he wants to continue helping deprived and illiterate children by collecting funds for them.

    Kovid Bhushan Pathak was selected among the 20 brightest young entrepreneurs, innovators and game changers below the age of 20 in Nepal, for the year 2019. This annual list is the ultimate honor roll of young game changers reshaping Nepal for the better. The platform seeks to encourage the youths to share their initiation, creativity, and enthusiasm which will then motivate them and more of the other youths in the nation to develop an entrepreneurial thinking.