The damage which humans have done to the environment, for fulfilling their never-ending demands, is catastrophic. On top of it, with the increasing population and limited availability of resources on our planet, it becomes important to think about our upcoming generations. Ensuring that the next generation kids are educated about sustainable ways of living, Teach for Green, a Not-for-Profit organization, is working with the vision to spread awareness about this cause. Stressing on the need for going green amid the environmental crisis faced all over the world, it aims to bring individuals and communities together where they are consciously adopting actions and plans which would be good for our environment.
Started in 2016 by three ambitious youngsters – Ajay Kumar, Abhishek Chanchal and Pratibha Baveja, the organization has been continuously working towards its vision of creating awareness about the environment. Till date, they have conducted multiple training sessions and workshops about the importance of green energy for a sustainable environment, both in rural and urban communities. Also, they have tied up with many schools where they teach young kids about the ways in which they could contribute towards a greener environment and urge them to think about the challenges concerning climate change which might be faced by them in near future.
Speaking about his journey with The Logical Indian, the co-founder of Teach for Green, Ajay Kumar says, “Ever since I attended SBI Youth for India fellowship, I had the urge of pumping the young minds with sustainable energy options which will help them reap the benefits of energy from their daily home chores. So, we started with conducting workshops on relatable domains- agriculture, solar or waste. Convincing people to follow in their daily lives is the most difficult thing. But we have been able to bring a change with our efforts.”
With more than 45 workshops conducted in such a short span, and hopping in 1560 youths from all over country, they have already established themselves as change makers, or like they call themselves – India’s Green Force. Diving deep into their journey so far, one can easily see the ground level impact they are making – reduction of 60% daily plastic waste in 1200 households, developed 400 kitchen gardens in backyards of community households, recognition of their students in 50+ local and national level competitions, to share a few. Teaching young children about the same has also led their parents to be engaged with this cause and helped them reach a larger audience.
Talking about their initiative for the school kids with The Logical Indian, Ajay says, “Our Green School Green Community Program is a 35-40 week program, where environmental modules based on the NCERT curriculum, are taught to students of government schools through Do It Yourself (DIY) approach. The aim is to sensitize students about environmental issues in their community and encourage them to think of unique solutions, thus providing an educational setting for developing a congenial relation of an individual with the surrounding.”
To streamline the process of teaching kids, they have categorized their activities under five simple themes – solar, water, agriculture, waste and health. Based on the discussion in the school and audience workshop which focuses on one theme at a time and involves an interactive session starting from storytelling to video graphics, they are even taught how to build workable models from their everyday plastic waste. So far, they have managed to cover diverse areas like solar lamp design, kitchen garden, waste management, solar dryer, etc. And in the process, there is a lot of learning about the surroundings, effect of your daily chores and much more. This gives them a complete understanding of their daily choices and how are that is affecting their surrounding.
“The present-day environmental crisis faced by many cities in India requires immediate attention. Together, as a community, we need to work on solutions which would be viable for the coming generations as well. Teaching young kids on making sustainable choices is one of the first steps in this process. Also, we are working on other important areas as such green energy, waste management through which we would be able to minimize the damage done to our immediate surroundings,” shares Ajay with The Logical Indian
In keeping up with its philosophy, it has reached to rural as well urban communities to create awareness about environmental sustainability. They have even partnered with several other NGO’s namely Pravah, Goonj and Teach For India to conduct workshops and events about creating environmental awareness. With their efforts, they envision an environmentally responsible community committed to protect, preserve and nurture mother earth and share the value of co-existence of human race with nature while ensuring a sustainable living space for all.
The Logical Indian salutes these young changemakers for working towards creating a cleaner and greener planet and sensitizing young students about this pressing cause.
Also Read: With Books, Art & Dance, This NGO Is Empowering & Educating Underprivileged Children
