It’s World Environment Day soon, and for 2022 the theme is 'Only one Earth'. If you’re not already in the conservation space, or have the time, resources, and background to do it, don’t worry! There are many ways to directly and indirectly get involved with various organisations to do your part to help support ecosystem restoration, build sustainable practices, or just contribute to keep our only planet survive well past World Environment Day. Here are organisations and causes you can help in their mission to restore and protect the environment.
World Environment Day: Help Save Our One Earth With These 8 Organisations
Junglescapes
Understanding that the loss of biodiversity doesn’t just threaten the animals within the forests, but also the communities that live around it is something all of us city folks need to do. Junglescapes is an NGO that does grassroots level conservation, which basically involves communities that live in and around the forests in the Western Ghats, as well as biodiversity and wildlife conservation. You can choose to volunteer with them for outreach, awareness-raising, and research, or donate to many of their projects that include the likes of reforestation, beekeeping, environmental education, and community-managed ecotourism.
Goonj
Goonj works with the belief that anyone can be a changemaker. While they have many initiatives that work to empower and uplift communities, they have been proactive in empowering people. A few of their efforts that are geared towards the environment include (but not limited to) Green by Goonj (upcycles fabric/fashion waste into handmade products, and provides financial support to the women making them), Not Just A Piece Of Cloth (cloth pads for women for safe and sustainable menstrual practices), and disaster response and management. You can either donate material for any of their initiatives, books, money, or your time to do awareness drives and outreach programs.
Terra Conscious
Based out of Goa, Terra Conscious works with local fishing communities to preserve and protect the fragile ecosystems that the coasts are. How? By taking you on an immersive travel experience with them! You could go boating in the mornings (catch a dolphin swim by maybe), kayaking through mangrove forests or the estuary, cycle through the forest or go for a light hike. Curated by conservationists, all proceeds from the experience go directly to wetland conservation efforts and the local community there.
Bombay Natural History Society
An organisation that has existed since the 1800s, the BNHS comprises all types of nature enthusiasts, from students to scientists. One of the best ways to get involved is to become a member. Whether you love birds, coastal biodiversity, or are interested in awareness and education, the BNHS has something you can do. Apart from donations, you can be a member to take part in research activities, cleanup projects, and tagging activities. They also have merch, and species adoption programmes
Reefwatch
Those of you who love our oceans, and all the wonderful things within them, check out Reefwatch. Working along the coast of Karnataka and the Andaman Islands, they work with reefs, as the name suggests. Their volunteering activities are mostly on-site, and if you have a useful skill (designing, photography, law, coding, etc), and time to spare, you can go ahead and be a part of their activities onsite. These include island conservation, reef restoration, and community education, and outreach programs too. If you can’t, you can always donate too.
Kalpavriksh
Kalpavriksh has worked on projects across the country, across various environmental concerns from policy to urban greening. Apart from working on grassroots projects on a local level, they do a lot of environmental education at schools, colleges, and stakeholder communities. Around forest regions, they work on finding holistic solutions to reduce or work through human-wildlife conflicts. They also work on creating locale-specific programmes. Some of these include conservation projects related to snow leopards in Leh and Kargil, biodiversity conservation in Kutch, and the Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary of Pune. They also sell books for all ages for education purposes.
Sankalptaru
Reforestation can offset many effects of climate change and if that's what you want to help support, then Sankalptaru is your best bet. They have project sites in all Indian states and work with local communities, volunteers, students, and everyone in between. Primarily, they plant fruit-bearing and indigenous species of trees that help conserve species and restore biodiverse ecosystems of that specific area while also benefitting communities near the area through employment, education, and supplementary income. This is of course in addition to improving the water table and soil health, bringing down pollution levels and heat levels in the region. In cities, they have similar sapling planting projects near schools and residential areas. You can get in touch with them to volunteer on-site or finance a sapling to be planted at any of their sites.
Greenpeace
The best way to move the needle of environmental efforts is to put pressure on top-level decision-makers, which is what Greenpeace excels at. Though polarising, their efforts have directly or indirectly influenced plenty of policies that benefit the environment. They are usually tied up with various other local NGOs and run campaigns (online and offline) that involve signing petitions, being a part of rallies (and protests, though that risk is yours to take), and volunteering as part of their team(s) in some way. Some of their larger focuses include pollution, health & living, sustainability, clean energy and more. You can get involved in as small or large capacity as you are able with them. Explore their website to see how you can help. And of course, there's always donations.