At this year’s POC Conference on 6th November, nine-year-old climate activist, Moksha Roy, implored her audience to make products that are safe for children and for their future planet.
If you asked someone to name a climate activist, the first name that would pop into many people’s heads would be Greta Thunberg, who became the face of climate activism at only 15. What is poignant about a young person demanding heavier action is taken against climate change, is that it is their future it is chiefly affecting, from decisions made by the generations before them.
When Moksha Roy (eight years old at the time) spoke at UN Water Week earlier this year, for similar reasons she captured her entire audience when she spoke. And so she was the perfect keynote opener to the Products of Change Conference 2024 on 6th November, to prenote the presentations that followed with a real sense of the ‘why’ and purpose, as well as urgency, of sustainable change.
Dubbed ‘a family of changemakers’, Moksha Roy shares her climate activism passion with her parents, Dr Sourav Roy and Dr Ragini Roy. They had both seen professional success in a number of areas, but it was when their daughter, Moksha, was born, that for Sourav and Ragini it became quite so apparent that there needed to be a safe and sustainable world for her to grown up into. In 2018, they founded the Centre for Big Synergy, a non-profit global facilitator to evolve products and practices to be more sustainable.
At the POC Conference, Dr Sourav Roy took to the stage first to introduce his daughter and his family’s mission to the audience. He implored, “Think about your children, think about the products that you are developing, the entire lifecycle, the transparency we are putting out in front of our consumers,” urging the audience to feel the same kind of urgency for the next generation that he has with Moksha.
Sourav added that, “The new generation are losing faith in businesses,” as it is the next generation who are tuned into the climate crisis, and are frustrated that they don’t see more action being taken. Young consumers are considerable stakeholders in business, especially in the retail and licensing segment that creates so many products tailored towards them. “Young people want to not feel guilty when they choose products or services, they want to still have their trust in you,” said Sourav,
He concluded with a plea to “Find ways to compete to collaborate rather than compete to compete; you are in the best position to do that.”
Next, nine-year-old Moksha Roy strode onto the stage and looked out at spoke to the audience, articulate and confident, in a way many grown-ups aspire to.
“Like every child I like toys and chocolate, like many other things that we want and need,” Moksha opened, “So from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed, I use a lot of things that your businesses make or sell. But as I am growing up, I am learning that many of these things could be safer and more sustainable than they are right now. And the people that can make that happen is all of you.”
Moksha continued, unknowingly linking to a theme that would be present throughout the rest of the conference; “We need to make sure brands are completely transparent and sustainable and honest about what goes into their products.” Transparency and traceability are of course fundamental to making sustainable headway, whether it be the rigorous reporting of data, aligned principles with suppliers, or honesty with consumers.
“The people who are developing such products, should be making them as if they were making them for their child and their child only so with all the love and passion in the whole world.” Whether the decision-makers at these companies have children or not, the motivation of protecting the next generation and the world that will become theirs should be a driver of change.
Concluding with what was one of the most memorable moments of the conference, Moksha said, “Children still believe that fairies and pixies make their toys and gifts so please be the fairy folk that you are and help to make a change so that children will never lose faith in your magical powers ever again.”
