Children and teenagers aged between five and 13 used their old T-shirts to paint a message on the occasion of World Environment Day on Saturday.

The contest by a non-profit called Vinisha, which works for the cause of the environment and puts trust on schoolchildren to make a difference, was started by Ramesh Chandran to get children to act.

“In Vinisha, we believe that we need to catch the children young, motivate them young and make them perform while they are young... I feel it is time for serious action,” Chandran said.

“Get out of the theoretical mode and get into working mode. When a child writes an essay that he or she will plant hundreds of trees, make the child plant at least one tree... Students properly guided by parents and teachers have a great role to play and that is needed in all fairness and sincerity,” he said.