A young advocate of sustainable living

All of 15 Sadhika Alampally penned a book titled 'Beginner's Guide to Sustainable Living'.

A student of Oakridge International School, Sadhika provides simple yet effective ways to save the environment. The book has information and advice from eco-friendly fashion to the zero-waste bathroom.

The debut author says, "The book also aims to inspire people, who have no experience in the field of environmental sustainability. It is an attempt to convey how everyone and anyone can take action to help sustain the environment, all from the comfort of home."

'Beginner's Guide...' has three sections Hygiene, Sanitation, Food & Fashion. In each section, she talks about the different ways in which people can become more environmentally conscious while going about daily activities revolving around hygiene, food, and fashion. Sadhika informs that she says chose these three sections because upon research, she observed that these are the three aspects of people's daily lives where they harm the environment the most and produce the most non-biodegradable waste.

This book helps people find ways to live in better harmony with the environment by providing people with statistical data to help them understand their negative impact on the environment along with eco-friendly replacements for commonly used unsustainable products and additional tips. The book is also filled with multiple pictures to make it more engaging.

Other than environmental sustainability, she has various passions and interests. "I am very passionate about filmmaking and love to make a variety of YouTube videos, from short films to lifestyle videos. I also love creative writing and I am an avid reader. I love music as well and enjoy playing my guitar whenever I get time. I also like to play tennis and attend many Model United Nations competitions whenever I can."

About the inspiration to write the book she shares, "There are many things, which inspired me to write this book. I originally embarked on this journey for a school project in which we had to select a topic we were interested in learning about and make a product about it. The topic I decided to choose was environmental sustainability, as I'd always been interested in learning about how I can become more eco-friendly. This is because my mother is a huge advocate of eco-friendly practices. She always buys locally sourced food from organic fairs and local farmers and is a sustainable fashion designer."

Who is your favourite author? "There are various authors I look up to and admire. I love Agatha Christie as her mystery novels always have me at the edge of my chair. I also admire JK Rowling for creating the timeless classic that is Harry Potter. I love Veronica Roth as well as I find her dystopian novels extremely gripping."

"Her efforts in helping the environment inspired me to take it a step further and learn more about sustainability. To gain experience and knowledge to write a book, I led the zero-waste lifestyle for three months. This is a lifestyle in which one produces little to no non-biodegradable waste in their day to day activities. Throughout this lifestyle, I became more and more inspired to start incorporating some zero-waste practices in my daily life, and this newfound passion reflected in the effort I put in the writing process of my book," she informs.

About publishing the book she says, "I self-published my book with a company called Notionpress. It is an online publishing company based in India. There are various paid publishing packages on the website in which people who are interested in getting their book published get help with formatting their book and marketing it. I chose to use the free publishing package and was required to submit a front and back cover design (I used their designing tool to make this) as well as the completed manuscript of the book. I set a price for the book as well. Throughout the publishing process, I was assigned a consultant from Notionpress whom I was able to work with to clear my doubts and get advice on how to go about publishing my book."

Talking about her future plans Sadhika shares: "I plan to do a lot more in terms of environmental sustainability shortly. For example, over the summer, I want to gather a large group of people and organise a tree-planting drive. I also want to be able to sell some of the eco-friendly products I made during my zero-waste experience. I also want to write another book pretty soon, as I have found that I enjoyed the writing process, and I love to express my thoughts and ideas through my words."

"I want to work towards combining my love for film with my interest in sustainability as well because I feel short films and short documentaries are a great way to put across important messages about the environment," she concludes.