Mumbai, Jul 28 (IANS): Actress and environmentalist Bhumi Pednekar on World Nature Conservation Day on Wednesday, shared that she has tried to use social media as a tool to reach out to as many people as she can and find new ways to reach out to the youth to spread awareness about conservation.

Bhumi said: "With all the focus on Covid-19 and restarting the world, we have to realise that climate change is happening as we speak. Yes, the entire attention has gone to the coronavirus pandemic as it should have but I'm hoping that the pressing issue of climate change hasn't taken a backseat with governments."

Bhumi is deeply concerned about extreme weather conditions that are affecting people across the world.

The 32-year-old actress said: "The pandemic has given us time to recalibrate, reset ourselves and our outlook towards the environment. We must pay heed to what is happening around us at all times. Even though mother nature got some time to heal, the looming danger has not yet been averted. We are still seeing forest wildfires, flash floods, polar caps melting happening around us."

She stressed that climate change needs to be taken seriously.

"We have accelerated it to levels of heavy repercussions and there seems no stopping. Flash floods, drought, forest fires, disease outbreaks, mass extinction - we have seen it all. Our basic behaviour needs to change towards this global crisis," she said.

The actress is single-mindedly trying to raise awareness in India about the severe impact of climate change.

She said: "We were taught about planet conservation and the impact it would have in the future. But for us, the future felt like some 400 years later. But that's not the truth, it's now. Effective and sustainable resources definitely will be the game changer for us."

The actress added: "I, as a conscious Indian citizen, have tried to use social media as a tool to reach out to as many people as I can and find new ways to reach out to the youth to spread awareness about climate conservation. We all will need to be climate warriors and constantly do what we can."

Bhumi said that through her initiative, Climate Warrior, she has happened to meet and come across "genius minds" who are working tirelessly to bring about a change at their own personal level.

She added: "And that is the key. We really need to come forward and speak up for the world leaders, policy makers to take action."

On the work front, Bhumi will be seen in "Badhaai Do" and "Raksha Bandhan".