Graphic Courtesy of Sofia Savid ‘24
By Helen Gloege ’23
Disha Ravi is a 23-year-old climate activist from Bengaluru, India. Ravi, who became involved in climate activism at age 19, is a co-founder of the Fridays for Future’s group in India. Prior to learning about the climate crisis, Ravi “believed that the hardships faced by the people in her village, Bandihalli in Karnataka, were normal,” as said in an interview with Forbes India. An article in The Guardian reported that her village, Bandihalli, “would flood every time it rained, getting worse every year.” The article quoted Ravi in an interview saying she had seen her “grandparents, who are farmers, struggle with the effects of the climate crisis,” but she wasn’t yet aware of the true source of these issues at the time.
Ravi’s climate activism takes many forms, from working to “clean up lakes, [planting] trees and campaign[ing] against plastic” to having “spoke[n] out against sexism and capital punishment,” according to the BBC. As defined by the Yale Climate Connection, climate justice encompasses the ways in which inequality and inequity lead to certain populations facing greater difficulties in the face of a changing environment. The climate justice framework therefore contains intersections of racial and social justice issues, as stated by The Guardian. This means various activists like Ravi have also participated in activism that expands beyond just environmental justice, as mentioned above. Ravi also has a job as a “culinary experience manager with GoodMylk,” a company that aims to make “plant-based food accessible and affordable” in accordance with her interest in vegan food, as mentioned in Indian Express.
In February 2021, Ravi was arrested for her role in creating a “toolkit” in support of the Indian farmers protest that was “shared widely online, including on Twitter by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg,” as described by Vox. After 10 days, Ravi was released on bail. In the nine months since her arrest, little progress has been made on the investigation into her involvement, according to Forbes India. The same article reported that the arrest prevented her from attending COP26 as “her passport was withheld.”
When interviewed by Vogue in 2020, Ravi spoke on the issue of environmental racism, stating, “People of [color] are suffering from the climate crisis first-hand — a lot of people don’t give us the attention that we need.” Ravi further expressed the need to give space and attention to people of color when it comes to environmental issues.