India, Dec. 2 -- Worsening pollution levels in metropolitan cities such as Delhi and Mumbai have increasingly become a major talking point in recent times. Punjab-born Richa Chadha, who was brought up in Delhi and is currently a resident of Mumbai, is deeply affected by the worsening air quality index in the capital. The actor shares, "There is no development on a dead planet, and there is no economy without ecology." Richa, who often travels to Delhi for personal and professional commitments, says, "I am from Delhi, and I have seen my beloved city go from being a place where winters were the best season just about 12 years ago - when we would sit on the terrace, eat gajak and moongphali, and really have a good time - to what it is today." Calling the state of the environment "shocking and sad", the 38-year-old adds, "I am afraid that a lot of India is going through the same thing, and Mumbai too had an AQI between 200 and 300 recently, which is not safe. Anything above 50 or 100 is considered unsafe. So what is the price we are paying for this development? Who are we building these mega complexes for when ordinary people can't breathe? What is the point of such development?" The actor, who has been appointed Goodwill Champion for the All Living Things Environmental Film Festival (ALT EFF), believes cinema also has an important role to play in raising awareness. "A lot of the issues we are currently facing, be it displacement, villages being submerged because a dam is being built, or crops failing due to rising temperatures caused by global warming, are aspects we see reflected in cinema. Sometimes we fail to recognise that these are connected to the climate catastrophe, the climate emergency we are living in. When we tell a story through cinema, it shines a light on the real issues," says Richa....