Madhvi Chittoor: A Colorado schoolgirl with eco-ethics mindset   

She was in her Bharatanatyam best, dancing on the theme, “Art for Climate” as her mudras did the talking at the UNGC 26 on climate in Geneva in September 2023. Then 12 year old Madhvi Chittoor went on to speak to an august gathering that included Philip Jaffe, mayor of Geneva, Alfonso Gomez, UN Representative from Estonia, and child activists, to save our planet. Just earlier in 2023, she met Madame Vice-President Kamala Harris. This was after she received a reply to her letter to US President Joe Biden where she implored the Congress to reign in #AI. The POTUS wrote back to Madhvi, appreciating her concerns for big tech. The Colorado girl with an eco-ethics mindset had posted, “According to Goldman Sachs, up to 300 million full-time jobs could be lost around the world as a result of the automation that ChatGPT and other AI tools could usher in. As much as 18 percent of the global workforce.” Now, Madhvi is onto to a huge task list of getting the world to implement policies on Climate Change – with Madhvi4EcoEthics and the EcoEthics Global Movement in intended partnership with OHCHR, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and UNICEF. She will host its International EcoEthics Summit, on Climate Action and Inclusivity in June 2024 in Colorado USA. A Colorado school girl with big ideas The school girl who started Madhvi4EcoEthics, a non-profit in 2017, at just six years of age, and founded the Global EcoEthics Movement in September 2020, saw a CNN documentary Midway, the Plastic Island at five which changed her happy world. In her mother Lalitha’s words, “She cried, and implored that she wanted to do something to help.” With wide eyes, and an earnestness that’s infectious Madhvi explains, “The film showed the great Pacific garbage patch, trash on shores. It was aired when President Obama was visiting that island to inaugurate the Midway Atoll National Refuge. Birds like the albatross scooped plastic along with their prey, feeding it to their chicks, a big Styrofoam ball floated, pieces pulled off from it by the ocean waves, and birds dying due to plastic in their stomachs - bodies decomposed but the plastic was still there. The sad thing is that Midway is in the middle of nowhere, far far away from the civilisation in the Pacific Ocean but all the trash is on its shores. It made me incredibly sad. It inspired me to act,” says the pigtailed 12 year old. Now, as part of the UN Child Advisory Team, and the youngest member, she was selected at UN Child Advisor in February 2022 at 10 years old for the formulation of UN General Comment No. 26 – “I am part of a team of 11 other advisors selected from – UAE, India, Greenland, Rwanda, Zambia, Vietnam, Samoa, Kosovo, Brazil, Peru and Columbia. We call ourselves CAT – Children Advisory Team, have monthly zoom calls and milestone meetings with the UNCRC (UN Committee on the Rights of the Child), where I have provided inputs to the committee based on my experiences on the climate crises,” says Chittoor. Such is her belief in the path that she has been involved in many projects already, for example, a project for UNEP LEAP – Our Rights, Our Planet – for children to learn about their environmental rights to a healthy environment.“To raise awareness about UNGC 26, I organised workshops for LGBTQ+, disabled persons, and children in rural areas with the youth and children in the Global EcoEthics movement. I participated in the data analysis, summarising the findings of the first round of consultations by early September 2022. All the results helped the Committee to write the first draft of the General Comment,” says Madhvi who worked with the UNCRC to create a “Global Charter”. Her movement engaging other children through EcoEthics Global was able to collect 1066 responses from children from across the world, “In total, 16333 children participated in the consultations globally. What really impacted me was how some children felt that their voices were not important. Each child participating with their voice on the global charter was given a UNCRC certificate signed by Mikiko Otani, the then Chair of the UNCRC. The UNGC26 was formally launched on September 18, 2023 at the Palais des Naciones in Geneva, Switzerland,” says Madhvi who interestingly has a Guinness record for being the youngest composer, with her song now in the Jeffco Public Schools PTA reflections as trailer for the 2023 theme. Madhvi has also written a book Plastic: My Food, and is always deep in changing policies. She is called ‘Styrofoam Ninja in Colorado’ thanks to her movement to ban Styrofoam. “The upcoming law in 2024 in Colorado – Ban on Styrofoam containers and plastic bags in grocery stores began on July 6, 2021, I was responsible for the passage of House Bill HB21-1162. I have campaigned for such a statewide bill since May of 2019, as an eight year old,” says the teen who surprisingly has been on an activism rampage ever since she saw that documentary - public speeches, signature campaigns, river cleanups, writing letters to legislators, meeting politicians and holding workshops etc. On “Super Conservation Day”, she met with 35 mayors from across the state, and the diminutive girl worked with the then State Representative Lisa Cutter, State Rep. Alex Valdez and other legislators, and with Environment Colorado to write the legal format for the legislation. “I even met with Governor Polis, (2021), convinced him to sign the bill to law,” she pipes, whose zealous work has since seen a ban of Styrofoam trays in 155 schools in Jefferson County Public Schools, eliminating 25 million plus Styrofoam containers. Meeting Madame VP Kamala Harris It’s onward with immense dedication for Madhvi who recollects meeting VP Harris, “The meeting with Kamala Harris was unnerving! My mom and I got a call from an unknown number, saying, ‘This is the Secret Service.” We were both so confused – wondering - did we do anything wrong? They checked our Social Security number, and said, ‘You are going to meet with the Vice President, Kamala Harris. I was so excited. I had the opportunity to sit at the table with her, governor Pollis etc. We spoke about the global plastic policy, and she felt it was a great idea. Because of that, the US signed the global plastic treaty, ratified in the UNEA 50 in Lisbon March, 2022., at the United Nations Environment Assembly in March 2022,” she smiles. One meeting in November 2020 is very much on the 12 year olds mind - after many meetings with the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, changes were made to the permit process to putting in an oil well – to sample the water before and after. Stressing on more transparency in the oil and gas industry workings, she adds, “I want to bend the PFAS - national and globally. In Colorado, a bill to ban PFAS in consumer products and PFAS used in the oil and gas industry, was among the first. The girl whose Tamilan parents immigrated to the US years ago is insistent that without their support, especially her mother Lalitha who quit her IBM job to rally around her activism, her strides into changing the world would not have been possible – be it taking her across the world, on holiday, and to spread the word. Even today, she loves music, playing the piano and violin, and dabbling in arts and crafts. Where’s the time, and she giggles. One finally sees a glimpse of the child in her, as she quips, “some serious time management.” Her recent Geneva trip saw her visit chocolate shops, and “I tasted the fondue for the first time, it was delicious,” she says. There is no rest for the girl called “NoStyroFoam Ninja” who has galvanised a nation and world to sit up and take cognisance of steps to save the planet. Now, as she dives deep into lobbying to work towards a Global Toxic Treaty, her hope is, “to preserve Planet Earth for my generation and future generations". “I want people to unclutch themselves from non-green wants and conveniences, and greedy economics. We are going on a rampage of our resources in the name of innovation and economy. That’s why I am against the oil and gas industry. Fracking is depleting our fresh potable groundwater. Do you know crypto-currency and blockchain technology needs many servers and to cool these servers we are plundering our freshwater resources like lakes and rivers? Same thing with AI. I really want all living beings to live in an ecosystem where there is oxygen-rich air, clean sweet water , clean soil and great health,” she says. And for that, hosting a summit with the UN next June is among the many leaps to change human narrative. The writer is a senior journalist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_’s views._ Read all the  Latest News **,**  Trending News **,**  Cricket News **,**  Bollywood News **,**  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook**,**  Twitter and  Instagram**.**