Seven-year-old environmental advocate Roohi Mohazzab, recognised for her climate advocacy and as the World’s Youngest United Nations Keynote Speaker, launched the ‘Dear Earth Paper Bank’ on National Forest Martyrs’ Day at Providence School in Kozhikode, Kerala.
The children-led initiative, launched to turn waste-paper collection and recycling into everyday environmental action, was formally inaugurated by Shri M.K. Raghavan, M.P., in the presence of Adv. K. Jayanth, MLA; Padmashri Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri; Dr. Anisa Muhammed; School Headmistress Sr. Minisha A.C.; students and others.
Led by The Children Movement for Climate Compassion Foundation, founded by Roohi, the initiative aims to establish a nationwide network of school-based Paper Banks. The campaign has already received participation from 50 schools in Kozhikode district, with the vision of growing from “One Child → One School → Every District → The Entire Nation”.
From Paper To Forests
What began with a child’s question about saving paper and trees has grown into a school-based movement for environmental responsibility. The Dear Earth Paper Bank will establish special collection boxes in participating schools, where children will collect used and discarded paper and ensure that it reaches appropriate recycling channels instead of becoming unnecessary waste.
Students will take an active role in collection, awareness and responsible paper use. The initiative’s objective goes beyond collecting paper, seeking to encourage children to reduce unnecessary paper consumption, reuse wherever possible, choose recycled paper and understand the connection between everyday choices and the protection of forests and natural resources. Its campaign message is: “SAVE PAPER • SAVE TREES • SAVE EARTH”, alongside “Collect Paper → Recycle Paper → Save Trees → Protect Our Future”.
Children As Changemakers
Roohi’s campaign is based on the belief that children can participate in addressing environmental degradation and climate change. “I am a child. I cannot vote. I cannot pass a law. But I can ask schools to save their paper and ask every child in India to do the same,” she said.
The initiative draws attention to the environmental cost of paper production and the potential of recycling to conserve trees, water and energy. Widely cited environmental estimates mentioned in the release indicate that recycling one tonne of paper can save significant quantities of trees and water and requires substantially less energy than producing paper from virgin raw materials.
For Roohi, the issue is also about creating a habit of responsibility among the next generation. The campaign argues that while one discarded sheet of paper may appear insignificant, the collective decision of millions of children to save, collect and recycle paper can become a wider environmental movement.
From Kozhikode To India
Roohi’s environmental journey has extended beyond the classroom. At the age of six, she addressed an international audience at the United Nations Asia-Pacific Headquarters in Bangkok, speaking about environmental responsibility and the need for collective action. Through school campaigns, tree-planting initiatives, environmental awareness programmes and child-led advocacy, she has promoted a message connecting children, climate action, compassion and protection of nature.
The Dear Earth Paper Bank is described as the next step in this journey, moving from individual environmental activities towards a structured, scalable and children-led movement involving schools and communities. The campaign also seeks to bring children together around a common purpose that transcends differences of background, language, community or geography: protecting the Earth they share.
Climate Peace And Compassion
At the centre of Roohi’s vision is the belief that protecting nature can also become a pathway towards a more compassionate and peaceful future. Through the Paper Bank, the initiative aspires to create a platform for children’s participation, global citizenship, compassion and peaceful collective action.
The initiative received an earlier soft launch from Smt. Bindu Krishna, Minister for Women and Child Development, Government of Kerala, who visited Roohi at her home and personally participated in the Paper Bank initiative. Her support, according to the release, added an important dimension to the child-led campaign and highlighted the potential of children to contribute to environmental awareness and social responsibility.
A Larger Movement
With the grand launch on National Forest Martyrs’ Day, Roohi Mohazzab and The Children Movement for Climate Compassion Foundation aim to expand the Dear Earth Paper Bank across schools and communities, creating a network of children who view every sheet of paper not merely as waste, but as an opportunity to protect a tree and contribute to a healthier planet.
The larger vision is expressed as: “One child can start a conversation. One school can start a movement. One district can create a model. And a nation of children can create change.” The Dear Earth Paper Bank begins with one sheet of paper, with the ambition of helping build a forest of collective action.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
The Dear Earth Paper Bank places children at the centre of a message built around conservation, compassion and peaceful collective action. By connecting a simple everyday material such as paper with forests, natural resources and environmental responsibility, the initiative seeks to make sustainability part of children’s daily choices.
Its wider vision also links protecting the Earth with bringing children together across differences through a shared purpose. As the campaign seeks to grow from one child and one school to districts and the entire nation, can small, consistent actions by children help create a stronger culture of environmental responsibility?
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