Oceans are not the same anymore. Everything has changed and ‘Humans’ are responsible for it. Due to human’s big blunder of expelling plastics and waste to the ocean, the entire marine system is in ‘red alert’ zone. The shocking fact is that there are over 5 trillion pieces of plastic that are floating under the surface, gradually eliminating marine life. We might have to react quickly before it’s too late.
We have seen sea turtles getting badly affected by plastic straws that got stuck in their noses. We also saw whales dying after swallowing so many plastics. Humans are only responsible for these infamous activities. If it continues like this, then we may have to face some serious consequences later on in the future. Examining the present scenario, the world needs more problem solvers to restore things back to normal.
Thankfully, a 12-Year-Old from India’s Pune, by the name of Haaziq Kazi waves his hands and gives some ray of hope to the world through his invention that can clean and save our oceans and its creatures. When other children of his age are busy watching cricket, football, movies and playing PubG, he is already inventing things.
Hailing from Mumbai, this child prodigy has designed a ship ‘ERVIS’ that could help suck waste out of the oceans’ surface. Speaking soon at the #TEDxGateway event in Mumbai, Haaziq Kazi’s ship is gaining attention for all the right reasons. Kazi says that he had the urge to design ERVIS when he was in school. It all started when Indus International School asked its students to come up with a cool project, and perform a TED Talk on it.
Inspired by documentaries on the National Geographic channel on plastic and its impact on marine life given today’s scenario, Kazi started doing some research. He took his research to another step in intensity when he stumbled upon Dutch inventor Boyan Slat’s TED Talk on how he calculated to tackle the ocean’s plastic problem, reports The Better India.
“I figured I could create a ship, which can go and reverse the damage that we, as humans, have done. Hence the idea of ERVIS was born,” he said. When asked about how he really feels when he is praised as the child prodigy, Kazi said,
“I don’t think about it too much. My life goes on, as usual. It’s the same school, same assignments, same home, same friends and so things haven’t really changed much. Except sometimes, it does feel good when people talk about it but being an introvert, I don’t like talking too much about it. And when I sometimes really think about it, I feel a bit overwhelmed visualising the problem I am trying to solve”.
He said that he was very keen working on this project since 2016 as he took around two years to complete the masterpiece. During the process, he collaborated with few scientists and designers to come up with a model of the same with the help of a 3D artist, according to Rediff. Thanking his parents and school for their guidance and support, he said: “ERVIS, my dream, my passion.”
Speaking about the roadblocks, he said:
“I was figuring out on what I wanted ERVIS to do, understanding the magnitude of the problem and how I don’t end up having ERVIS contribute to the problem that I am trying to solve. Did you know that one of the biggest contributors to the waste problems is ships, which are in the ocean? They use high sulphur fuel and dispose of waste in oceans. I wanted ERVIS to address the problem by using cleaner fuels like hydrogen or RNG and do waste collection from ships in oceans.”
ERVIS will be steered by cleaner fuels like solar, wind, RNG and hydrogen. Talking about how the ship was only created for a school project and nothing beyond it, he said, “To be honest, nobody thought ERVIS had a future at the time. My mum was super supportive. They were always proud of me about how I applied my thought process on a problem that I felt passionate about, but that was about it.”
Kazi added, “The sheer magnitude of the problem represents an opportunity of massive scale, the opportunity for us to come together through ERVIS to tackle the problem we have created”.
