of those Millennials I mean what
possible information what profound
knowledge could this kid possibly have
to enlighten us with well it’s not
necessarily some sort of new
groundbreaking information that I’ve
come to share with you today rather I
hope that by recollecting some of my
diverse experiences that I’ll be able to
alter your perspectives on a very
serious topic and the topic is the
environment
what can a millennial teach you about
the environment well I’m guessing the
first thing that pops up to your mind
when the topic is brought up is global
warming climate change maybe even carbon
dioxide emissions yet what we fail to
realize is that the environment is so
interconnected that it encompasses so
much more than just that and therefore
the problems influenced and aggravated
by man are also much more abundant than
we think
allow me to elaborate turn back the
clock three years and I moved from
Pittsburgh to Pune India a city close to
Mumbai and in India was where I had my
first real experience with serious
environmental issues you see there there
smog was anything but unusual trash
could be seen scattered all across roads
even acid rain was quite frequently a
problem this picture was taken right
outside my community clearly the problem
was quite widespread
now rivers local water bodies these were
all sources of illegal dumping I mean if
you just took a look at some of the
local rivers in my city they looked so
murky so unsanitary quite frankly you
might think it looks more like sewage
keep in mind now that these were the
same rivers that we got our drinking
water from
and as a result most families had to
keep separate filters in their houses
just to prevent catching stomach bug
from drinking water straight from the
tap can you imagine that Garin Texas in
America for the most part we have
excellent quality water supply at our
disposal whenever we like that wasn’t
the case back in India though where
according to the World Health
Organization 97 million people lacked
access to clean drinking water and that
global number is much much larger yet
despite all the horrific circumstances I
just revealed what astonished me the
most was that to a pedestrian on the
road these sites were a commonplace
overlooked without even as much as a
simple glance of concern now this was a
result of years of neglect coupled with
ignorance and the situation is gradually
improving now but just realize for a
second that this was reality for us and
I’m trying to paint a better picture to
help explain to you what we faced on a
daily basis and having lived in two
drastically different countries I can
personally attest to the fact that you
can’t truly appreciate something until
you’ve been deprived of it and we need
to ensure that we are not depriving
ourselves of a healthy sustainable
environment so where do we as Americans
fall into place here Keep America
Beautiful one of the largest
environmental nonprofits in the United
States did a study where they reported
that litter alone cost the United States
over ten billion dollars annually this
doesn’t even take into account all the
other environmental problems we face and
their impacts on us
it’s simply noted that litter itself
costs us more than 10 billion clearly
the societal cost is huge to us yet we
read such a
following statistics like this all the
time don’t we
and after all statistics are well just
numbers they exist to point out problems
so that the necessary steps can be taken
to solve them and that’s where I believe
the issue lies
we’re often aware of the statistics
aware of the numbers yet we still fail
to take action or if we do take action
it’s after a majority of the damage has
already been done so my question to you
today is why why must we wait for
something to occur rather than being
proactive well I spend years of
resources and money to mitigate a
national upend emic that could have
largely been prevented in the first
place I mean what if what if we faced
some of the serious environmental
problems that some other severely
polluted nations face what impact would
that have on us on our long-term health
even on our economy now you might be
thinking this guy’s clearly crazy right
he’s out of his mind because we don’t
have trash all over our streets here in
Texas we don’t even have pollution
nearly severe enough to cause visible
smog right so why should we care well
too bad I say the United States
Environmental Administration tells us
that Texas is the largest emitter of
carbon in the United States and although
it hasn’t yet led to the same level of
problems as say those prevalent in New
Delhi India where people literally have
to wear face masks to filter out
pollutants on a daily basis does that
mean we should continue hoping that now
what happened to them there’s no way
that can happen to us and if you think
this isn’t a problem that we face here
in the States
just look to Los Angeles where pollution
levels have really gotten out of hand in
the last couple years despite all the
current regulations in place to impose
stricter emission limits the American
Lung Association reported in 2016 that
over half of Americans 52% to be exact
still
live in areas with unholy levels of
ozone and particle pollution so clearly
we’re not yet at a level where we need
to be in terms of sustainability
now having personally witnessed the
dreadful state of the environment back
in India I then decided to join some
local groups that were dedicated to
cleaning the streets and upon returning
back to America in 2014 I wanted to
continue with this environmental
initiative as I was now aware that minor
issues if gone overlooked could quickly
escalate into major long-term challenges
now like I said you may not even notice
much trash on our streets which is
definitely a positive but have you ever
walked down deep into one of the natural
parks in your area or creeks because
that is where most of the litter tends
to accumulate you see the first time I
really noticed abundant quantities of
litter here in Plano was when I was on a
long run with my cross-country team at
Arbor Hills and you know deep into the
long run I noticed a cluster of plastic
bags caught behind some bushes which
really made me wonder how much more
trash is really out there that we don’t
necessarily see on a daily basis but
that still exists I got my answer when I
joined a litter cleanup at coyote creek
quickly it became evident that the
reason we don’t see that much trash on
our roads is because most of it is being
carried down by rain wind and watershed
runoff into these parks and into these
creeks that poses a major problem to us
because chemicals from plastics and
other litter will leach into the
surroundings and over time these
chemicals will contaminate our drinking
water sources
now after realizing how much trash we
really do leave behind I decided to form
a sustainability Club in my high school
to conduct more such litter cleanups on
a more consistent and frequent basis
initially
only had about four maybe five
volunteers join us on our first cleanup
and over time the club grew in size but
what was important was that each of
those individuals was genuinely
committed and passionate I didn’t want
to simply get students to volunteer
half-heartedly because their main
incentive was to just get the required
number of National Honor Society hours
rather I wanted to create a mindset that
it should be our duty to preserve the
environment I believe it takes such
small scale efforts to make a larger
impact on society as a whole and I also
believe them a millennial generation
will spearhead such movements in the
future we need to strive to perpetuate
an environmentally conscious mindset so
what can you do on your part think twice
about throwing the plastic bag or
wrapper out the window of your car and
instead wait until you get home to throw
it away
reduce and reuse try to reduce the
amount of waste you generate and reuse
whenever possible you might be wondering
why I left off recycling not that it’s
bad or anything but contrary to what you
might think the recycling process is
actually quite energy intensive so try
to prioritize reducing and reusing
before recycling I challenge each of you
to dedicate just two hours a month to
join a local litter cleanup I think
you’d be quite surprised to learn about
the impacts we really have on our
surroundings and these cleanups are also
a great deal of fun as well in fact just
today
Plano hosted the great American litter
cleanup and how to turn out if I think
over 1500 volunteers a better future
needs to start with change today thank
you [Applause]