High school student spurred into action after witnessing devastating fires: 'I decided I wanted to make my impact'

After seeing the effects of our warming planet firsthand, a California teenager took action.

Mira Shah, a high school student from California's Bay Area, has developed Karbon Economics, a student-run online journal that explores the intersection of economics and warming global temperatures.

As Inside Climate News reports, Shah always had an interest in economics. She was inspired to tie it in with environmental issues after a couple of key events.

Five years ago, a brush fire started on the hill in front of her home. And earlier this year, some of Shah's family members were impacted by the devastating Southern California wildfires that displaced thousands of people.

Those events are among the ones that have become more common because of our planet's warming temperatures. Studies have found that the Southern California wildfires, in particular, were exacerbated by the warmer, windier weather.

Shah started fundraisers to aid firefighters and families displaced by the fires, but she also wanted to do something longer-lasting.

"I decided I wanted to make my impact on the world and stop it from getting too bad," Shah told Inside Climate News.

That's where Karbon Economics comes in. It is a peer-reviewed journal that has published such articles as "How Climate Change Is Driving Up the Cost of Everyday Life" and "Is Plastic Poisoning the Future of Farming?"

All of the journal's staff are high school students, from Shah's school and other neighboring schools. They encourage article submissions from high school students worldwide, which student editors and academic mentors will review.

"Our mission is to elevate youth voices in economics and help demystify the systems that shape our world," Karbon Economics' website states. "... We believe in collective learning, rigorous thinking, and the power of student voices to shape a better-informed future."

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This project has been in the making for a couple of years for Shah, who says she wants to highlight not just what's happening, but also the impacts those events have on people. 

Using the Maldives as an example, she said that fellow students should not only understand that rising sea levels could put the island nation underwater, but also consider where its residents will go, the impact on the global economy, and what they would do in similar circumstances.

That mission has impressed Shah's academic mentors, such as Aparajita Ghosh, a molecular biologist and environmental-science teacher at Shah's school.

"This is very impressive, what Mira has done with a few of her friends," Ghosh told Inside Climate News. "It's amazing what they are doing to increase our awareness, and do everything necessary to protect and save our environment."

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