‘I feel angry about climate change’: Meet the Turkish teens channelling their rage into solutions

“My community is my inspiration,” says 17-year-old Beyza, an Earth Prize runner-up. 

“In Türkiye, we are living the effects of climate change. This region was Mesopotamia, where agriculture and civilisation was born, but now people are struggling with climate change and drought.”

While many young people march to demand climate action, Beyza has leveraged her scientific mind by developing a “drought-defying plasma-powered crop solution”.

“It’s not good to watch when the big governments can solve these issues - but we are trying to do that and not them,” says 18-year-old Diyar, who is working on the project with Beyza. 

“And since we are not able to change the climate - the problem itself - we are trying to solve the effects of it. I think if this problem got enough attention from much bigger authorities, it could be solved - that is the part people are angry at.”

Together with their fellow inventors on Team Ceres, they entered their solution into the Earth Prize, a global environmental sustainability competition for students that provides mentoring and funding for winning ideas.

As Beyza pulls the ‘Plantzma’ prototype out of her bedroom wardrobe and explains it on a video call, it’s clear they’re not your average teenagers.

“Our idea for Plantzma originated from the agricultural challenges we observed in our community and family,” says Beyza. 

“Many people we know work in agriculture, since our region has limited access to resources such as education, and they face significant issues due to drought and crop failure - there has been a 40 per cent decline in precipitation rates, leading to an 80 per cent crop loss.”

The probability of crop failures is projected to be as much as 4.5 times higher globally by 2030, and 25 times higher