Speaker: Aya, Zakho, Dohuk, Iraq
How (and why) are you taking action on climate change solutions in, for, and with your community?
Aya: Hello everyone. I'm Aya from Kurdistan region of Iraq, a senior student studying civil and environmental engineering. I am happy today to journey through to share my climate action story, which is about recycling plastic bottles to a friendly concrete. What encouraged me to do this is the plastic bottles around me in my community that's making it pollute. So instead of polluting my community by plastic bottles, I have started this action to collect it and bring it to my home to make it slices and use it in a specific mixed design of concrete to make an ecofriendly concrete which is containing slice of plastic and bottles and also other components. So as a recent study shows that only 9% of the plastics produced have been recycled. So I have found a solution to increase this rate and also to give a sustainable construction material to use it for buildings or other decorative materials. So this small action has a large effect and this was my small action. So what's your action? Please share it to us with us and hope that others get benefits from it.
Who or what inspires/inspired you to care about climate change and climate solutions?
Aya: Actually, there is a lot of things that inspired me to take care of climate action and finding solutions to climate change. But the most important one for me is natural disaster that our community and other communities, with global communities are facing from flooding, drought, rising temperature, and so on, even pollution. And also because of my education as I'm studying civil and environmental engineering, I'm now more familiar that what engineering field with all other fields can do to climate. So because of that, this all has inspired me to find innovative solutions and take action, fight against climate change, to live in a more sustainable world for us. And also for the next generation.
