A TEENAGER passionate about the environment is doing a 100km run to support the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust after its difficult year.

Nimisha Pant has just finished studying her A levels at The Ridgeway including politics with a module highlighting environmental concerns, which sparked her interest.

She wants to raise money for the charity that plays a big part in her life and to help wildlife.

She said: “I want to create more awareness of the trust as they’re important on a local level.

“We must be head-on at levelling our carbon emissions.

“The work the volunteers have done has been amazing and I visit the different reserves they manage.”

During lockdown, Nimisha, from Old Town, had time to try different books, so she gave philosophy author Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation a try and found it shifted her views on the issue.

The 18-year-old has taken part in lots of climate discussions in her politics class where she was encouraged by teacher Helen Buttery to believe it is possible to make a change.

She was also on the BBC’s The Big Questions in January of this year.

Nimisha added: “I really enjoyed it ‐ hearing what other people have to say and having a general discussion about how Covid has impacted the planet.

“I’ve looked at the structure of global governance in my class and why challenges to the environment put a greater emphasis on us taking action as an individual.”

These discussions really heightened Nimisha’s interests and it has persuaded her to study a law degree in Exeter specialising in human rights.

Nimisha moved to the UK at just one years old, when her parents, Kirti Bila and Shanti, immigrated from Nepal. She then moved with them and her two younger siblings, Ayan and Nitika, to Swindon when she was 15.

Her dad studied law and her mum studied botany, which helped with her understanding of plants and species and really influenced her from an early age. They both now work for the NHS which has encouraged her to want to help others.

“When it comes to being an activist there is a bit of a stigma but it should just be about having the passion regardless of your background or where you live,” Nimisha said. “It doesn’t matter about the politics, it’s just our world.

“The environment relates to our earth and it is just one planet even if you were raised with different cultures and religions, it’s universal and everyone is going through the same problems. So it reunites us all and forces us to collaborate.”

Nimisha is running 5km a day, every day for a month at Coate Water. She started on June 25 and will finish on July 25 and aims to fundraise £1000 for the charity.

“The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust help shape the opportunities and policy development we’re able to do. They are a non-profit organisation so rely on donations and volunteers to carry out their work.

“People have had the time to review the sense of beauty these places have and be in there with nature. They have gone to these places and it’s revitalised them and they have engaged with them.”

To donate go to www.gofundme.com/f/nimishas--100k