It is believed that this is the first case of a person ending their life because of a despondency about climate change. The Telegraph reports that 19 year old Greenpeace activist, Theo Khelfoune Ferreras, a film student from Walthamstow, took his life because of the worsening climate crisis combined with the Covid pandemic and in addition to the stresses of being a university student.
His sister, Lisa Khelfoune, said that he wanted to contribute to society and he lived the way he thought. He mainly wore second-hand clothes, rode a bike everywhere and liked to walk within nature such as forests and in nature reserves.
His sister said:
I think he had a complete feeling of helplessness. Theo felt like what he was doing was futile and he lost hope in the future and this devastatingly affected his mental health.
The co-Executive Director of Greenpeace UK, Will McCallum, paid tribute to him:
We were shocked and saddened to hear of Theo’s passing. Our hearts go out to their family and friends at this difficult time.
I believe he’s going to be buried in Epping Forest because a fundraiser has been set up by his sister to do this and donations have reached £10,000. That’s a beautiful touch. His sister added that she started the fundraiser “in order to hopefully ease the pain of this tragic loss on my parents”.
She is very impressed by the response and describes it as a “mind-blowing display of human compassion and support from family, friends and even strangers.”
Comment: May he rest in peace. A good soul. He was loved and he was concerned about the direction humankind is travelling towards like many others. It is a depressing scenario. I am sure many millions are equally despondent. And Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the brutality perpetrated adds to these negative feelings.
This is a story about the human-animal. Humans are animals like other animals. We should not distance ourselves from them and think we are superior to them as taught by religions.
Climate change is destroying the world’s largest living structure
