A 15-year-old girl invented a solar ironing cart that's winning global respect

Vinisha Umashankar and her solar ironing cart. She came up with the idea when she was 12 — then worked with engineers to create a prototype. Now she’s in Glasgow, Scotland, to speak at the COP26 climate change conference.

Last year, Umashankar won the Children’s Climate Prize, a Swedish award for young innovators. “If implemented on a large scale, this is an invention that can have a significant positive impact on India’s air quality and people’s health,” the jury of the Swedish prize said. The prize included a financial reward of more than $11,000 to further develop her innovation.

Umashankar was 8 when she first learned about climate change and says it has had a huge impact on how she thinks about innovation. She’s exasperated by how the world shrugs off environmental issues as if they are someone else’s problems.

“All of us should understand that environmental issues are real and can’t be fixed at a later date,” says Umashankar. “There is no stop button. There is no magic fix.”

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