London:
An Indian student and award-winning environmentalist from the University of Bristol in the South West of England has inspired a trend of plogging, or jogging combined with litter, in several UK cities.
Originally from Pune, Vivek Gurav was inspired by the Swedish concept of “plogging” – which combines “jogga” (jogging) with “plocka upp” (a pick-up truck) – to encourage people to use their local streets the most proud to keep them clean.
In India, he founded a plogging community known as “Pune Ploggers” in 2018, with more than 10,000 members who have collected over 1 million kilograms of waste and wanted to continue that trend when he left his fellowship position at the University of Bristol in September accepted. last year. Since then, his university says he has covered more than 420 miles on 120 plogging “missions”, joined by volunteers from 180 countries and is now making the drive to 30 UK cities.
“I’ve only dabbled in Bristol, but I kept getting asked by people in Manchester, Leeds, Derby, to come and plog there,” said Gurav.
“So I decided to do a plogging challenge in 30 UK cities. Eventually I want to set up a UK plogging community, like I did in India. So if I can start plogging across the UK, orient people, give them a blueprint, then they can start their own groups,” he said.
The former app developer hopes to be joined by fellow pickers, environmentalists and avid runners as he visits each city by public transport. His slog through Derby, Nottingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Leicester, Birmingham and Worcester is followed on his social media.
Earlier this year, his efforts won 10 Downing Street’s Points of Light Award, which recognizes people who make a difference in their communities. Mr Gurav was recognized for his 250 ongoing challenges across Bristol to tackle litter and bringing together over 140 volunteers to clean up over 3,750kg of litter.
“The award came as a surprise! I believe this award reinforces the climate action cause that I have been trying to promote by cleaning up litter,” said Mr Gurav.
“Every individual matters, every action counts in the race to fight climate change and this award reinforces the conviction of my entire community of ploggers in India and the UK to keep going,” he said.
“I hope this award will really support and strengthen our cause. When I told my parents, they asked if I was lying. They are very happy and my father said he was very proud of me,” he added.
Professor Judith Squires, Acting Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Bristol, said the student’s drive to change the world for the better is nothing short of inspiring.
“Together with his volunteers, he has collected thousands of tons of garbage. It has taken hard work, intelligence and generosity – all qualities that Vivek has in abundance,” she said.
The University of Bristol notes that Mr Gurav’s life has changed dramatically since he moved to the UK for his Masters in Environmental Policy and Management MSc. Such was his success that Mr Gurav was recently invited to Egypt to speak at the Conference of Youth (COY) 17, the official youth constituency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Vivek Gurav graduated from his master’s degree last month and is working for an environmental consultancy as he continues his plogging missions. According to the University of Bristol, he plans to use the skills he has learned to make India more sustainable.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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