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Shreyak Mahajan is on top of the world, and why not?
The 20-year-old mechanical engineering student of Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, Delhi, will be part of the International Antarctic Expedition 2014 led by polar explorer and environmentalist Robert Swan.
Global food packaging major Tetra Pak in association with TERI had launched LEADearthSHIP, a programme for under- and post-graduate students, in 2013.
As part of this was the ‘Antarctica Calling’ contest, which required students from Delhi and Pune to suggest an innovative sustainable project through either a two-minute video or a set of three pictures on the theme ‘Tetra Pak in the life of every day India’. Shreyak’s entry was picked from a shortlist of 55.
What won him the trip was the story he created around a family living in a slum which was afraid to feed its children adulterated milk and used Tetra Pak cartons.
Shreyak says, “The multiple rounds of interviews were very exhausting. One morning, I got an email from Robert Swan saying that I will be part of the trip. That was a rare moment when I got up and did a jig on the spot. My father was very excited, but my mother was a little apprehensive initially.”
Sustainability leaders from around the world form this year’s 90-member contingent.
The 15-day trip starts on March 8 and ends on March 23.
“I am most excited to see the E-Base that Swan has set up in Antarctica. It is made up of completely recycled consumer products and runs entirely on renewable energy,” says Shreyak.
On the importance of such projects, Supriya Singh, Associate Fellow, Educating Youth for Sustainable Development, says: “Everyone today is talking abut climate change, but when you go to Antarctica you actually see it first hand. The entire trip is about building a network of sustainability champions. I think there are great things happening internationally and we can definitely learn from them.”
Many participants who get selected for the trip have to go through the trouble of finding sources of funding. “I don’t have to worry about that,” says Shreyak.
What is slightly worrisome is that his friends have asked him to send postcards from Antarctica.
“I have no clue how I am going to do that,” he laughs.
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