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As a single parent in her late 30s, Ganga Didi long worried about being able to provide for her child. Barely able to survive on her wages from cleaning office buildings in Kathmandu, she started looking for better opportunities.  One option was to learn to drive a safa tempo, a small three-wheel electric bus that is a common feature of Nepal’s congested capital. In the 1990s, Kathmandu introduced around 700 of these buses as a pollution-busting measure, a move that also helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

As a single parent in her late 30s, Ganga Didi long worried about being able to provide for her child. Barely able to survive on her wages from cleaning office buildings in Kathmandu, she started looking for better opportunities. 

When Arpit Dhupar won the Young Champions of the Earth prize, he was in a bar with friends and didn’t believe the news. “Are you sure I have won?” He repeated. Finally convinced, he celebrated with his friends, who echoed, “Are you sure you’ve won?”

What a year it has been. For the environment, not a good one. But for youth around the world, an outstanding show of courage, determination and fearlessness.

Volunteering every weekend with humanitarian organizations is not for the faint-hearted. For Mani Yezid, a water and sanitation student in Burkina Faso, the work has been hard, but rewarding. “I really wanted to make a difference in my community,” he said. “I saw the great difference that our work made, and I wanted to continue helping others in my capacity as a student studying water and sanitation issues.”

Air pollution is a complex issue that is difficult to communicate to most people. What causes air pollution? How does it affect our children’s cognitive development? What does air pollution have to do with rising temperatures?

When 26-year-old Peter Sänger and 34-year-old Liang Wu got together, they realized right away that they had something in common. Both firm advocates in the fight against air pollution, they believe that if you can’t measure it, you can’t beat it.    

When air pollution hit alarming levels in India four years back, 30 year-old Tamseel Hussain was watching. So passionate was he about documenting the issue, that he and a group of mobile storytelling and social media experts built the platform Let Me Breathe.

When thirty-eight-year-old Jasmine Shah moved to Delhi in 2013 and found himself engulfed in the city’s toxic winter smog, everything changed for him.  “This scale of air pollution in Delhi, and the fact that it is among the top ten most polluted cities in the world, resulted in my urgent call to tackle the issue,” said Shah.

By Hugh Weldon, 2018 Young Champion of the Earth for Europe We don’t talk much about air pollution. But we should, because the air we breathe is slowly killing us.

Arpit Dhupar is one of two Young Champions of the Earth for Asia and the Pacific. The Young Champions of the Earth Prize is powered by Covestro.

Arpit Dhupar is one of two Young Champions of the Earth for Asia and the Pacific. The Young Champions of the Earth Prize is powered by Covestro.