WE GROW FOREST FOUNDATION
YEARLY NOTE 2021
We Grow Forest Foundation assembles a diverse team of ‘planeteers’ who combine their synergic effect to restore and revive the losing greenery of the Planet. We are the Green Bees who engage with fellow humans for green initiatives and sustainable practices.
In this December edition, we would like to review our activities throughout the year to remind ourselves where we reached and what we have achieved.
Our journey started in January 2021, when the We Grow Forest Foundation was officially registered. We are a group of women who want to bring sustainable solutions to the betterment of Nature. Even though we all had the same vision, there were many doubts and uncertainties on proceeding further. But it was just a phase. Soon we were able to create a road map for our goals, setting concrete objectives. The motto was always to protect natural habitat, reduce carbon footprint and start a series of sustainability and reforestation initiatives.
In January and February, we devoted ourselves to developing Urban Forests, Fruit Forests, and Forest Rejuvenation plans and approaches to better implement in the future. We spent these months making the processes foolproof to ensure effective implementation.
The first one day trek of the company also happened in February at Ponmudi, marking it the first event of We Grow Forest Foundation. Our first official event was on March 8, 2021, i.e.,
International Women’s Day. All We Grow Forest Foundation members reached the office with much enthusiasm and diligence. Everyone was in white attire, and the entire office was decorated with flowers and balloons. We had organised speeches on empowering women and the significance of female participation in nature conservation.
On this day, the first eMagazine from We Grow Forest Foundation was officially released by our youngest intern in the Forestry department. The eMagazine, The Sound of Forest, is the editorial voice of We Grow
Forest Foundation, for green writing, without killing trees and protecting our Nature through women’s leadership. Through this initiative, we focus on creating a global movement of empowered women to create Green Consciousness and ensure sustainability across the globe.
On the very same day, a photography contest,’ Click a tree’, was conducted for all nature enthusiasts to come forward and share their wonderful nature experiences. Multiple screening was required to select the winners of the several entries received. This month served as a sense of motivation and inspiration for the team. We got featured in International magazines like Corporate Social Focus and in National newspapers like The Hindu. This was one of the very first acknowledgements we received as an organisation.
We have always tried to include sustainability in every celebration. Be it Holi, Christmas or Onam; we celebrate sustainably. We made and distributed coloured seed balls for the Holi celebrations to schools, colleges, and companies as part of our social responsibility towards Nature. We hope to create an awareness of nature conservation and urban forestry through this activity.
This year’s Earth Day theme was ‘Restore our Earth’, which has become more and more relevant with increasing emission and pollution. In April, we conducted activities within the social restriction parameters of Covid-19 to create awareness among communities and organisations and to be a part of the greening efforts of We Grow Forest Foundation. Children and Youth are the future stewards of our Planet. We encourage younger generations to take part in our Green School Movement activities. The participants were awarded ‘Green Warrior’ certificates for their active participation.
The Annual Photography Contest was organised to celebrate World Photography Day in August. We received a total of 167 pictures from 26 participants. The winners of the contest were awarded the We Grow Forest Photographer of the Year Award. Also, all the applicants were given a Participation Certificate for contesting in the competition. A few other selected photographs made it to the eMagazine of the Foundation as a token of appreciation to recognize their efforts. Also, a special edition e-magazine was published exclusively for the photography contest to include all the participants’ memorable moments captured on camera. The September month was cheerful and motivating for the We Grow Forest family.
The month started with our second trek to Braemore Estate, Trivandrum. In the same month, the Honourable Councillor of Sasthamangalam Ward, Sri. Madhusoodhanan Nair, associated with us as one of the patrons and De Facto member of We Grow Forest Advisory Council. Dr Yahya P.A., BHMS, IFBH Joint Secretary, IHMA President Trivandrum Chapter, also joined as an Honourable Member of the We Grow Forest Advisory Council. This month also marked the beginning of the second year for We Grow Forest Foundation’s activities, which started before the registration, making this month extra special.
Lately this month we had a great conversation with Sri. Suresh Gopi, Hon: Member of parliament, regarding future events and upcoming projects. His views and valuable suggestions will definitely be a leading light for our green restoration and other nature conservation activities.
We had our biggest afforestation drive the following month, Seeds of Change. Seeds of Change is a pioneer project under Mission 2030 to plant 2,00,000 fruit tree saplings all over India by the end of 2023, which will work along with the Green India Mission. The We Grow Forest Foundation, along with Chenkal Gramapanchayat, as part of the Gandhi Jayanti celebrations, successfully planted 10,000 fruit-shade trees from October 4 — October 18 2021.
This drive was our first stepping stone under the 10 Million Trees by 2030 Mission to collaborate with urban and rural organisations, governing bodies and communities. We started the planting drive with the blessings of veteran Gandhiyan P Gopinathan Nair. We Grow Forest Foundation’s flagship mission aims to bring back lost biodiversity by reimagining, recreating and restoring an ecosystem to support life on earth. The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet and its people.
The project intends to unite nature enthusiasts from around the Nation and help create new forests, habitats for biodiversity, protect from natural calamities, and make a positive impact for generations to come. This month we also organised various Green promotional activities like gifting plant saplings for launch events and conducted Green Consciousness classes for the audience present at the event. In the same month, we were blessed to begin our new office in Mumbai to better cater for greening the Nation. This helped bring together like-minded people under the same roof and discuss and implement various dimensions of growing forests. We also received The Innovation Excellence Award, Business Summit 2021 for Virtual Name Connect, digital chapter of We Grow Forest Foundation, for its innovation in its digital products. The Foundation was conceptualised to make the planet greener. Our projects were just mere ideas at the initial stage, which required tremendous efforts to make them a reality.
December 9th till 11th we conducted a workshop on Digital Technology to support Social Innovation and Chanakya Business Simulation. The workshop The most important day of the year was the launch day of InfiCard in December.
We Grow Forest Foundation’s digital chapter, Virtual Name Connect, has officially launched a revolutionary digital business card on 11.12.2021, Saturday, along with the Christmas celebrations at We Grow Forest Foundation headquarters in Trivandrum. InfiCard is our first eco-friendly digital product in the array of digital products. It is the digital solution to printed business cards.
InfiCard helps you connect with friends, co-workers, potential clients, partners, and businesses. In this immersing digital world, your phone is the new business card. You need not have to print, store or carry your business cards. All You need is your phone and a click. Switching to Digital Business Cards will save our planet from global warming and reduce carbon emissions.
The benefit of the card far outweighs its cost. It is highly interactive with simple and elegant designs. Inficard acts as a mini-website and can be shared with just a click. It offers more benefits than any digital card for the price and acts as a sustainable digital platform for networking. This product is just the beginning of a long journey on this path.
2022
We Grow Forest Foundation has some exciting series of activities planned for the coming year. One of our immediate projects is the Green Voyage, planned for February 2022. The trip’s objective is to inculcate a green consciousness in people’s minds. During the journey, the participants will work on innovative ideas, identify environmentally vulnerable areas, present inspiring projects and talk to green change-makers in mobility, food production, infrastructure development, education, and manufacturing. We make this Green Voyage from Kanyakumari to Jammu to show the possibilities of sustainable travel. This trip is exclusively for women to promote a sustainable lifestyle and switch to low-emission travel alternatives. For this purpose, we have selected an electric vehicle for the mode of transport for this journey. This journey also helps address the fears associated with E.V. in long-distance travel.
Another major project is the International Conference on Environment and Sustainability, 2022.
We Grow Forest Foundation is organising its first-ever International Conference on Environment and Sustainability as a step towards motivating and empowering policymakers and stakeholders of the environment to join and actively take part in the revolution for a better environment and a sustainable future.
We are assembling researchers and individuals who proactively address the challenges of climate change and environmental sustainability to share their ideas, studies and successful sustainability models on the platform. We amplify our voice and actions for a more resilient and worthy future and find ways to balance urban development and environmental restoration initiatives worldwide.
The symposium plays an essential role by providing critical insight and support to drive our kind acts of ecosystem restoration and protection activities forward and set an even more ambitious plan of action for future projects.
We Grow Forest International Conference on Environment and Sustainability will provide valuable means and ways by which decision-makers and policymakers can gather comprehensive knowledge regarding environmental sustainability and how to tackle the menace of climate change.
The National Green Awards, to recognise and felicitate individuals’ and organisations’ extraordinary contributions to impart a sustainable, conscious building effort in our society, will be distributed during our prestigious International Conference on Environment and Sustainability in February 2022 at the Constitution Club of India, New Delhi. Though this year started out with many difficulties, it was a year of becoming. Even with the challenges, we believe in our mission and try to do something new and different every day to make the world a better place through collective effort.
WE GROW FOREST — AWARDS 2021
To know more about We Grow Forest Foundation please visit our website https://wegrowforest.org/ or contact us at on 9778411911 or email at us plant@wegrowforest.org
