A 23-year-old youth on Monday allegedly committed suicide by jumping into a canal in Trichy. The youth had recorded a video, in which he is seen saying that he is taking his life to send out a message about the harm plastics can cause to the planet.

K Jawahar, the deceased, was very passionate about the environment from his childhood. He was a Class 10 dropout and used to be mindful of how plastic and other pollutants were harming the ecosystem and kept coming up with solutions to save the environment, reports The Times of India.

Jawahar’s father Kumaran told The Times of India, “He was always thinking and talking about nature and expressing concern over unplanned urbanisation and conversion of fertile lands. He used to campaign for eradication of karuvelam trees (Prosopis Juliflora). He was very concerned about the hazards of using plastics.”

He had also carried out many protests for the same cause. He used to be part of various campaigns, and the officials used to ask him to look after his family.

On Monday morning, Jawahar went missing and his father kept searching for him. When his father was passing by Puthaaru area in the evening, some people told him that a youth had jumped into the canal. The body was taken out by the Fire and Rescue service, and it was later sent for post mortem.

Jawahar said in the video that he ended his life to demand implementation of a ban on plastics for safeguarding nature. He felt that there is nothing wrong in sacrificing his life for the benefit of 127 crore people of India. He said that humans are plundering nature and he cannot be a mute spectator, according to The Times of India.