Category: Uncategorized

Planting the seeds for social change; one farmer at a time!

Climate change cannot be solved without addressing ecosystem destruction and biodiversity loss. This was the thought that led Krutika Ravishankar, Jaspreet Kaur and Arti Dhar to start Farmers For Forests – an organisation that empowers the farmer community to combat deforestation.

Farmers For Forests was born of an urgent need to come up with a sustainable & scalable solution that enables reforestation; in a way that is inclusive of the economic interests of the community.

Using the innovative payment for ecosystem services (PES) model, local farmers are treated as stewards of the forests and are financially compensated for implementing actions that nurture young forests or protect the biodiversity of existing ones – like carbon sequestration, groundwater recharge, nurturing biodiversity habitat, afforestation etc.

The model provides a sustainable way to encourage indigenous communities to work towards ecosystem protection by helping them get additional income & livelihood security.

We’re thrilled to have them on board and look forward to the positive impact their work will have on India’s green goals!

If you’re a social entrepreneur working on a revolutionary environmental innovation, get in touch with us here.

Because we believe that everyone can be a co-founder of social change!

When Madhusudhan Anand’s son was an infant, he would wake up choking and gasping for air every morning. Doctors were unable to figure out the reason and while Madhusudhan suspected air pollution to be the cause – he couldn’t find any reliable measures on air quality.

He built a sensor and drove around his neighbourhood in Bengaluru; creating a heat map on air quality. As it turned out, the air was indeed toxic but no one had identified it as an issue because there was no one measuring it.

Ambee was born of one man’s resolve to drive climate action on air pollution using real time data. Using proprietary data science and AI that combines raw data from satellites and thousands of on-ground sensors, it provides hyperlocal intelligence that can help cities identify pollution hotspots and take action in real time.

Having partnered with the likes of NASA, Ambee is now working on enabling India to act against air pollution by partnering with local government bodies on using Ambee’s data sets to manage city-level climate action plans.

We’re proud to have them on board and can’t wait to witness the impact they’ll help create in the time to come!

If you’re a social entrepreneur working on a revolutionary environmental innovation, get in touch with us here.

Because we believe that everyone can be a co-founder of social change!

Even the simplest innovations have the potential to change the world!

Chemical fertilisers have long deprived agricultural soil of its natural ecosystem, thus reducing soil fertility. They’re also a major source of carbon emissions – 1 ton of chemical fertiliser releases almost 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide.

Dr. Kavitha Sairam , an expert in biochemistry and molecular biology, started FIBSOL to provide farmers with a bio alternative to chemical fertilisers. She created a gel-based product which contains a huge amount of good bacteria beneficial for increasing the yield of high-quality and nutritious food.

The gel-based technology also increases the shelf life of bacteria twofold, cuts down on bulk mass and does not need any special storage; thus reducing transportation and warehousing costs for farmers as well.

So far, FIBSOL has helped farmers reduce their use of chemical fertilisers by 50%, reduce their input costs by 22% and yet have a 20% higher, more nutritive yield!

If you’re a social entrepreneur working on a revolutionary environmental innovation, get in touch with us here.

Because we believe that everyone can be a co-founder of social change!

For aeons, farmers have used stubble burning as a way to dispose of the waste that remains once harvesting is done.

A practice that damages the soil and causes massive air pollution. An easy example that comes to mind is that of Delhi, where the air pollution is mainly attributed to stubble burning by farmers in Punjab and Haryana.

Dr. Vanita Prasad, who hails from Delhi, witnessed this suffocating environment for many years and decided to work on a solution to the issue. With over 28 years of experience as an environmental scientist, she founded REVY Environmental Solutions to provide economical waste management solutions.

Agricultural stubble can actually be a big boon for farmers as bio manure; this is the premise on which the REVY team created the REVY Stub Kit – a specialised microbial formulation that could transform stubble into a rich organic manure.

When sprayed on stubble, the microbial cultures carry out a quick process of decomposition and produce beneficial by-products that enrich soil quality. The use of the REVY Stub Kit helps farmers avoid stubble burning; thus lowering their contribution to air pollution and also enables them to reduce their dependence on expensive chemical fertilisers.

REVY Stub Kit was recently tested in Punjab and Haryana during cropping season and the results have been exceptionally positive and we’re proud to have them on board as an ACT For Environment grantee!

If you’re a social entrepreneur working on a revolutionary environmental innovation, get in touch with us here.

Because we believe that everyone can be a co-founder of social change!