A 12-year-old environmentalist from Abu Dhabi feted in Maryland.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Abdul Muqeet may seem like any normal twelve-year-old if you were to just pass by him on the street, but a quick conversation with him reveals how far from ordinary he truly is. The young man is leading an effort to save the environment by preaching recycling and an avoidance of using plastic.
“Plastic bags are the biggest threat to the environment today,” said Muqeet in an interview with The American Bazaar, here. “[They] take 450 to 1,000 years to decompose; our dear animals eat [them], their systems get choked, and they die a very painful death.”
The budding environmental crusader, who is currently in seventh grade, was in the US for an event called “Kids Are Heroes” in Frederick, Maryland. The organization calls on children from around the world to “empower, encourage, and inspire” volunteerism and community service, mainly to seek exceptional youth like Muqeet who go out of their way with their ideas and innovations to start a community-wide movement.
And how does he go about doing this? By making special bags out of recycled newspapers. These bags can be used for grocery shopping, holding personal items, or any number of other purposes.
“I try to make about five to ten bags every day,” he says.
The bags are known colloquially as “Mukku Bags,” and they’ve earned Muqeet the affectionate nickname “Paperboy.” Now, malls and shops across Abu Dhabi – where he is from – are using Muqeet’s bags to help mitigate their environmental footprint.
Muqeet’s passion for the environment began about three years ago.
“One day, when I went to my school,” he explains, “my principal announced that we [would] be celebrating ‘No Plastic Day’ on February 4th, 2010. [Later that day,] I asked my mom why we should not use plastic bags. [She] told me about the many harms of plastic [towards] the environment, and then I thought that if the plastic bags are harming the environment so much, why are we even using [them]? [So] I decided to stop the usage of plastic and spread awareness in my community.”
“It empowers children to be leaders,” said Muqeet, who was one of the thirty-seven children invited to the “Kids Are Heroes Day” earlier this month. At the event, he gave two speeches – one on environmental awareness, the other on his home country of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The thirty-seven children were all from four different countries: Trinidad and Tobago, Canada, the US, and the UAE, for which Muqeet was the sole representative.
In addition to Kids Are Heroes, Muqeet has also been honored and recognized by organizations such as the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). A video of Muqeet, which was played at the 2012 UN Climate Change Conference in Doha, can be viewed below.
Outside of his environmental pursuits, Muqeet enjoys playing video games and soccer, even hoping to one day play the sport for his school and perhaps even professionally. “I want to keep helping the environment when I’m older,” he says, “but I also want to play [soccer].”
Muqeet is the youngest of three children; he has an older brother and sister.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com