by Sarabjeet Singh
Yesterday was a lucky day for me at the Bella Center. I met “Push,” or Pushpanath Krishnamurthy, who has walked all the way from his home at Oxford in the UK to the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, to show his solidarity and support to the struggle against climate change. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with him and interview him.
Sarabjeet Singh: What do you do and how did this idea come to you?
Pushpanath Krishnamurthy: I am Climate Change Campaigner with Oxfam ,and I strongly believe that this is the time to act and do something about climate change. I was willing to do a direct action and realized that a walk is the most carbon neutral thing one can do. And here I am! It took me about 20 days to reach here and I have thoroughly enjoyed this adventure.
SS: Why climate change?
PK: Well, during my visit to India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and a couple of African countries, I witnessed the number of ecological problems that climate change has caused. In the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh and Kerala in India, the rise in sea levels has made the agricultural land brackish. As a result,, farmers have started shrimp farming which has a lot of bad side effects. Even the paddy cultivation is completely under threat and as you know, we have been witnessing a growing number of farmer suicides in the past few years. The African countries have caused the least problems but are among the first, worst and hardest hit.
SS: What inspires you to work for climate change?
PK: I am a Gandhian follower, and believe the spirit of standing up when you something unjust happening is the most noble thing to do.
SS: Tell us something about how you planned your trip. How did you gather support, and what were the problems that you faced?
PK: I contacted a few colleagues at Oxfam and some friends from India. Since I am not very familiar with using computers, one of my friends helped plan my trip. I got a lot of support from my wife and children, who are also here with me. They too have walked a few legs of the journey with me. I began my journey on November 16th from Oxford along with David Bryer (ex-Director of Oxfam) and a musician. I reached Harwich (140 miles from Oxford) on November 27th , took a ferry, landed on Esberg (on the Danish coast) and walked another 16 days to reach Copenhagen on December 13th. On the way, I was carrying no food with me, to express solidarity with hundreds of people, who have been affected by drought and floods, and I was eating only when I was offered a meal from local people.
SS: Would you like to tell us something else and do you have a message for the youth?
PK: I would like all of you to visit my website, www.gopushgo.com. Another thing I forgot to mention was that my brother, Krishna Raga, recently released a music album called, “Earth Depressed,” dedicated to the environment. As far as a message is concerned, I am really glad that the youth are raising their voice here and I hope that my campaign will help contribute to the global movement against climate change.
(Originally posted on whatswiththeclimate.org)
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