Exclusive| Vedang Raina says the young generation are the changemakers: We have a voice and we are loud about it
In an exclusive shoot with us as he went for a beach clean up in Mumbai, Vedang Raina talks about his passion for the environment and the role of Gen-Z in it
Vedang Raina recently got to associate himself with an environmental cause as he headlined a beach clean up drive on the banks of Mithi River in Mahim, Mumbai, along with some school kids. Talking about the enriching experience, the actor says, “That feeling of actually going and getting your hands dirty is when you understand the seriousness of it all. Sitting at home, one says a lot of things like ‘save the environment’, ‘reuse and recycle’, but you realise what the actual ground level situation is when you go to such places. It is a nice reality check and ends up making you feel that you did something good for the community.”
Vedang Raina insists that he is very passionate towards saving the environment, and he feels glad to have got the opportunity to show that. “It’s an honour to be the face of the voice of this generation. Even though I feel like my contribution to these things is as much as anybody else. But it's the least I can do as a person who's out in the public eye, raise my voice about these matters,” he says.
In Mumbai, beaches have been one of the biggest attractions of the city, but as a Mumbaikar, Vedang feels sad seeing their state today. “I think about how Mumbai has so many beaches, but it's never a tourist attraction to visit these beaches. Nobody comes to Mumbai for the beaches really, maybe because of how the state of them are. We should really think and work towards keeping our beaches clean, and changing the whole narrative around them and our coastal areas. Maybe we can make it a tourist attraction, a place where people feel like they can come here to be near the ocean,” he laments.
While the current generation is seldom shrugged off as superficial, Vedang believes they are the changemakers. “We are the more technologically advanced generation but we are also the generation that has a voice and is loud about it. We have strong opinions and I think the movement for the environment also started with us. We took an interest in these issues and made an effort towards creating an awareness about them. Our whole generation, we are the change and we are going to be the voice of the country,” he insists.
The actor asserts that global warming is the biggest threat to the planet today and we need to take steps to combat it: “Global Warming is probably the scariest and the most dangerous thing that can happen to the planet and we are headed in a weird direction. I have felt a very tangible change in the past 10 years in how every monsoon, summer and weather has changed. The efforts may start at an individual level, but then they need to go to a bigger level too. We should do our best to combat it and the least we can do is plant a seed, once a month or three months.”
