Let Me Breathe hosted its sixth city session with Twitter India in Chennai on November 23, 2019, with the aim of finding collective solutions to all kinds of environmental issues in Chennai.

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Previously held in Nagpur, Mumbai, Varanasi, Gangtok and New Delhi, the City Sessions are aimed at building a talking space between decision-makers and young people that are focused on climate change in a particular city. 

The session was hosted by Priyanka Thirumurthy (Tamil Nadu bureau chief, The News Minute) with leaders like Saravanan Annadurai (Spokesperson DMK), Americai V Narayanan (Spokesperson Congress), Vishvaja Sambath (Environmental health researcher, Health Energy Initiative) and Raj Satyen (Joint Secretary, AIADMK IT Wing).

City Session addresses urgent environmental issues

Chennai City Session threw light upon issues including urgent climate action, forest conservation, pollution in the city, sustainable mobility and better energy planning. 

The panelists interacted live with citizens on twitter to tackle some of the most unanswered questions online and also the new upcoming schemes of the Government to tackle pollution in Chennai.

According to Saravanan Annadurai, rainwater harvesting should be inculcated and awareness about it needs to go on the ground level.

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While Raj Satyen talked about how the Chennai Government has been very cautious in managing the water resources in Chennai.

“200 water bodies in Chennai have been restored by the government and authorities,â€_x009d_ he said.

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We shouldn’t look at air pollution as just a weather phenomenon. Constant solutions need to be looked at for it.â€_x009d_ said Vishvaja Sambath

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Looking about the solutions, Satyen said that the Tamil Nadu Government was the first to provide an electric vehicle policy.

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Americai V Narayanan thinks initiative and implementation needs to also start from an individual level to make Chennai a plastic-free city.

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“Transition to renewable sources for power needs to be looked at and implemented as a decentralised issue.â€_x009d_ said Vishvaja Sambath.

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Americai V Narayanan said, “We should bring e-rickshaws to Chennai as an electric mobility solution for the city and transport problem.â€_x009d_

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"From this City Session, we realised that collective action is crucial to solve any kind of climate issue. The participants discussed water, air and renewable energy issues and provided solutions to it. We aim to take this conversation forward in Chennai and on letmebreathe.in," said Tamseel Hussain, Founder of Let Me Breathe.

The next chapter of the city session takes place in Kolkata in December.

With City Sessions, we are trying to make the environment a mainstream topic. If you want city sessions in your state/city, let us know.