Change begins at home. So, before advocating sustainable living to the world, Goodwill Ambassador of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Dia Mirza Rekhi ensured that her children — Avyaan, 5, and Samaira, 17 — learnt about wildlife protection and pollution-free living first. Now, she is turning those lessons into a series of five illustrated children’s stories. “It should be published by year-end. It is about two children, Avyaan and Samaira, and their interaction with nature. The series is based on all my real-life experiences and interactions with children and the questions they ask me when in nature.” Mirza hopes the books will introduce urban children to the beauty of nature and “let them discover biodiversity and the eco-systems that support life”. “Urban families must be responsible for introducing our children to nature every day and interacting with it.”

On the film front, her first production, Panha, backed with Ananya Rane’s One India Stories, won Best Indian Short Film at the All Living Things Environmental Film Festival (ALT EFF) and has since travelled to multiple festivals. The film reflects Mirza’s vision of telling “intentional, impact-driven stories.”

A still from ‘Panha’