SOLE

Changemaker: Kritika Jain

Country of Implementation: India

It is widely recognized that the quality of the air we breathe and the water we intake can affect our health, it is much more difficult to comprehend that the chemicals we use to clean and disinfect, can compromise the climate and, as a result, our health. In the past few decades, the use of harmful chemicals has increased drastically. Chemicals become the major ingredient of every manufactured product.

Unfortunately, some chemicals like BPA can leach from goods, and are found in the indoor air, water, food, house dust, and most disturbingly in our bodies. For the sake of cleaning the environment, we have made our environment full of chemicals, which have been associated with various diseases. The current scenario of the Covid-19 pandemic further escalates the use of cleaning and disinfecting agents.

As public health scholars, we believed that this issue of chemical pollution is an untapped climate opportunity that needs to be solved sustainably. To deal with this challenge which is caused by chemicals, we need a simple, smart, and sustainable solution. Simple innovation can create a sustainable impact. With that thought, the search began and we came across Bio Enzymes, which is an eco-friendly, chemical-free, non-toxic solution. Bio Enzymes have the potential to replace all harsh and harmful chemicals.

So, now the step is to create awareness about this solution. To widespread the solution and address the challenge, we use an innovative student-centered approach in which university students and high-school students participating in the program become the drivers of both the teaching and the learning processes. The program aims to motivate and guide young people, the school community, and participants’ families so they can make well-informed choices about environmental health and contribute to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 13, Climate Change. This flow of action creates a ‘ripple effect’ within the school and community.