Press release -
Vinisha Umashankar starts new sustainability initiatives
Fourteen-year-old Vinisha Umashankar, from Tamil Nadu in India, was one of two winners of the Children's Climate Prize 2020. Her solar ironing cart- innovation had an enormous media impact both in her home country India and globally. Since the win, she has also received an award from India's Prime Minister and has been praised by the Mahindra Group Chairman. Vinisha is now developing her project and is taking new sustainability initiatives for the environment and climate.
Vinisha Umashankar received a prize of SEK 100,000 from the Children's Climate Foundation for her solar ironing cart, an innovation aimed at reducing the use of coal-fired irons on the streets of India, which together consume about 50 million kg of charcoal every day and pollute the air. Vinisha is now using her prize money to develop her project and further improve the solar ironing cart, making it more user-friendly and efficient. Vinisha talks about a before and after being awarded the Children's Climate Prize.
"Before I won the Children's Climate Prize, nobody knew anything about me or my solar ironing cart. But after just a few months, a lot of people from all over the world have shown their support and love for me and the idea, which means a lot."
One of the people who noticed Vinisha's initiative is one of India's most prominent businessmen, Anand Mahindra. As a result, all Vinisha's future projects will also be supported by Mahindra Research Valley. Vinisha continues:
"People were amazed when they heard about my solar ironing cart and they were genuinely interested in how it works. I wasn't expecting there to be so many people who believe in what I do and actually want to support me and my idea."
Vinisha is also taking new sustainability initiatives and plans to contribute to better air quality by planting hundreds of native tree saplings at the foot of the mountains near her hometown, Tiruvannamalai. She also has other innovations in the pipeline and more ideas on how she can support people living in poverty and exclusion. We have probably only just started seeing and hearing about Vinisha Umashankar.
Related links
Categories
The Children’s Climate Prize is an international prize annually awarded to children who have made extraordinary efforts for the climate and environment. The winners of the prize are celebrated at a gala event in November in Stockholm, Sweden. They receive a diploma, medal and prize money of SEK 100,000 to continue developing their projects. The prize is founded by Telge Energi, the Swedish frontrunner in renewable energy.
