Videos

Delhi needs more trees, and More Native Trees!


Through this fundraiser, we seek your support in expanding our initial work on the native nursery. Our immediate target is to build a native nursery, with at least 10,000-15,000 saplings and over 40-50 species of native trees, sub-trees, shrubs, medicinal plants and butterfly-attracting species. So far, with our own resources, we have managed to collect and plant close to 4000 seedlings and cuttings, through individual and collective mobilization, as well as by purchasing from local vendors. The native nursery is designed to serve a three-fold purpose:

1. As an educational resource for visitors, including students, government authorities, organizations and civil society

2. For restoration of plant species that belong to the Aravalli region i.e., that are native to Delhi NCR and Rajasthan

3. To build a seed bank and strong infrastructure to cater to not just Swechha’s urban afforestation programs, through which we plant over 5000 trees a year, but also to provide infrastructural support and resources to other organizations working in similar spaces.

Your contributions will be used to:



- Procure and purchase seeds from local vendors and other environmental organisations


- Organise and mobilize seed collection drives across the Delhi NCR and Alwar regions


-Procure and purchase nursery grow bags (bag that nurtures the seed into a sapling), in varying quantities and sizes, as per need


-Procure and purchase soil, compost, cow dung, and coco peat in required quantities

-Procure and purchase small glass/steel containers/tins for seed storage in the seed bank


-Pay workers to fill nursery grow bags and maintain the nursery, including weeding, mulching, transplanting etc.


-Pay for electricity and water used in all nursery-related activities

These are all recurring charges, and although we were able to kickstart the nursery work with our own resources, in order to make this native nursery model sustainable and successful in the long-term, we require your support. Support us!

11 Common Birds of Delhi:

1. Rose ringed Parakeet
* Female lacks the black pink ring around the neck.
* They have incredible ability to mimic human speech and home noises.  
* Rose-ringed parakeets can get very old, reaching an age of up to 30 years

2. Oriental Magpie Robin
* National bird of Bangladesh
* Can mimic songs of other birds
3. Red Vented Bulbul
* short crest giving the head a squarish appearance
* feed on fruits, petals of flowers, nectar, insects

4. Asian Koel
* State bird of Haryana
* a brood parasite as it lays its eggs in the nest of a crow or other host

5. House Sparrow
* State Bird of delhi
* have lived alongside humans since the stone age, is under decline now
6. Brown Headed Barbet
* HAS A HARSH SORT OF LAUGH, FOLLOWED BY TUR-R-R-R KUTUR-KOTUR-KOTUR
* BUILDS ITS NEST BY EXCAVATING A TREE HOLLOW

7. Green Bee Eater
* Can be seen roosting on a tree branch or an electric pole wire in a number of 30 to 300
* It’s nest is a tunnel dug in sloping sandy ground
8. Coppersmith Barbet
* It can eat upto 3 times of its body weight 
* Its continuous tuk-tuk-tuk call sounds like a coppersmith hitting a piece of metal with a hammer.
* It build its nest by excavating a tree hollow
9. Rufous Treepie
* it is very adaptable, omnivorous and opportunistic in feeding
* is long tailed and has loud musical calls
* participate in mixed hunting parties of other birds in the forest

10. Common Tailor Bird
* They are distinctive in having a long upright tail, greenish upper body plumage and rust coloured forehead and crown.
* its nest made of leaves "sewn" together

11. Purple Sunbird
* male is a metallic blue and purple overall, female is olive above and yellow below
* they feed mainly on nectar, although they will also take insects, especially when feeding young

#birdsofdelhi #biodiversity #nature #birdsofinstagram #wildlife #birdphotography #naturephotography #birding #birdwatching #environment #education #swechha #shortfilm

Music Credit: Fragile by Keys of Moon | https://soundcloud.com/keysofmoon
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In these unprecedented times, while we continue to fight an ongoing uphill battle against Covid-19, it's extremely important for us to also address the growing biomedical waste crisis looming across our country, and in the world at large. Our HOMES, our streets, our hospitals, our landfill sites, our rivers and our oceans, are piling up with all kinds of medical related waste (PPE Kits, Gloves, Masks etc) and plastics, already resulting in potentially irreversible damage to our environment, our marine life, and health of oceans. While several experts have issued alarming concerns and have warned that this current waste footprint is expected to triple in next 20 years, it becomes our moral duty as responsible citizens to clean up our act.

This short film highlights some of the major challenges we are set to face, while dealing with the growing biomedical waste crisis and its ineffective and inefficient treatment in times of Covid and beyond. It also addresses some of the basic practices that citizens need to undertake in order to play a more central role in facilitating change - From basic waste segregation and proper disposal, to holding our own governments more accountable and advocating for systematic change. Give it a watch! Remember - We might have money to wear a fresh cask every few hours, does our planet earth have the capacity to deal with All this Trash? No!
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#covid19 #pandemic #biomedicalwaste #crisis #marinelife #oceans #environment #plastics #ppe #gloves #masks #segregation #disposal #treatment #shortfilm #swechha #greenthemap #activecitizenship #Delhi #waste #wastemanagement #mask #health

As part of the United Nations Sustainable Lifestyle and Education Programme, Swechha in collaboration with the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), Japan, and implementing organisations Akatu Institute, Brazil; Chulalongkorn University, Thailand; ICLEI, South Africa; has been conducting a year long low carbon lifestyles project in India.
The project aims to collate country specific comprehensive list of behaviour changes for a low carbon lifestyles options in terms of food, housing, mobility, manufacturing goods and leisure. This project undertakes this through participatory research through citizen workshops, surveys and household experiments. It also collects data to estimate the average carbon footprint of individuals.

We recently conducted our first 'Low Carbon Futures' participatory workshop with a group of 39 individuals, centred around a thorough reading into the current climate crisis, in both a global and local context, as well as an understanding of impact of individual carbon footprint.

This participatory workshop used various tools and online games including a pre designed questionnaire to asses and analysis participants current individual footprint, as well as an engaging virtual puzzle game in order to achieve a certain pre-set target of carbon mitigation potential by adopting various low carbon lifestyle options in the domains of housing, food, leisure, goods and mobility!

In stage 2, we will now be working closely with a select group of participants who have expressed an interest in participating in a two week long household experiment. They will be selecting few potential low carbon lifestyle options from an existing options catalogue and database designed by our team, that they can adopt and implement in their daily routine for the next two weeks. The idea through this short experiment, is to understand the exact mitigation potential (using pre established data), through adoption of these simple low carbon lifestyles in ones daily life (e.g. using a bicycle to work on few days, practising recycling of household goods, and/or usage of second hand goods or repairing damaged/broken goods etc). Each of the participants will be working on detailed day-day documentation of their respective experiences while carrying out the experiment, as well as expressing their challenges, if any during implementation.

We are extremely excited to work with our participants on the upcoming household experiment, and can't wait to share the results with you all very soon!

#lowcarbonlifestyles #futurelifestylesproject #IGES #Swechha #participatory #citizensworkshop

Ever wondered how you could curate your very own plastic free house party? Ever wondered what to do with all that piling up waste in your homes? Did you know that almost everything in your home, from old cassettes to old clothes, from old toys to old books, could actually be repurposed and re-used in the most beautiful and aesthetically pleasing way?

If you're trying to figure out how to make the most of all that piling up waste at home, or if repurposing and upcycling is your latest hobby, then this DIY masterclass is a must watch for you! Join us in conversation with Meenakshi Sharma, Founder at Use Me Works, as she takes us through her journey of setting up a social enterprise. 'Use Me Works' was set up in 2017 by Meenakshi, with a belief in sustainability that goes beyond just products. Its a social enterprise, run by a group of women who support each other in every possible manner and aim to make a change for a better life and healthy planet.

Meenakshi also takes us through a step by step DIY tutorial on how you can design your very own in-house party banners, and dream catchers using waste fabrics and old clothes! We also get a glimpse into her beautiful, eye catching upcycling studio space in Chattarpur. A must visit for anyone interested in sustainable design!

Timestamps -
0:00 Glimpse into the studio space
00:25 Meenakshi's personal journey in the space of upcycling
04:38 Upcycling as a concept has been with us for generations
07:10 DIY Tutorial - Upcycled Dream Catcher
12:46 DIY Tutorial - Upcycled replacement for balloons
16:08 DIY Tutorial Buntings/Banners
18:20 Other interesting DIY upcycled decor ideas

Visit Use Me Works at - https://www.usemeworks.com/
Visit Swechha at - https://swechha.in/

Follow Use Me Works on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/upcycling.artist/
Follow Swechha on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/swechhaindia/

We post DIY masterclasses and podcasts on a fortnightly basis. Follow us to stay updated on more content related to environment and sustainability.

These DIY Masterclasses and Podcasts are supported through a grant from the US. Dept of State, US Embassy New Delhi

Vermi-composting simply put, is the process of converting kitchen scraps, leftover greens, dried leaves, paper, or any other form of organic waste, into extremely beneficial fertiliser for the soil, using earthworms. Earth-worms are central to a healthy soil network, and can help create the most beneficial compost in the form of worm castings and vermi-compost. Last month, we showcased our step by step DIY Masterclass tutorial on how you can bring in worms to work their magic in your very own backyard, simply by designing your very own worm bin/ tower.

In just the span of 40-60 days, we have been able to generate over 15 bins and towers worth of fresh worm castings and vermi-compost at our farm school in Alwar. It's easy, its cheap and inexpensive, its all "DIY'', and there are several benefits!

If you're interested in taking your first steps towards leading a more sustainable life, start with these bins! They're a great addition to any garden. Have a look at our one month update from the farm school!

Swechha Farm School/Stay is designed as a Learning Centre – hub for ecological design innovation and incubation, sustainable agriculture, environmental practices, life-skills and personality enhancement programs.The purpose of the Farm is to unleash human creativity and develop solidarity in our world, for planet and its people to thrive peacefully and equitably. We aim at inspiring action and catalyzing communities for a regenerative and sustainable world, one with low impact and high quality lifestyles.

Follow our Farm School work : https://swechha.in/swechha-farm-school/​
Follow us on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/SwechhaIndia​
Follow us on Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/swechhaindia/

Green The Map podcasts are a series on Sustainability and Environment, organised by Swechha India, in association with U.S. Department of State. Vimlendu Jha, one of the leading environmentalists of India and Founder Director of Swechha moderates these podcasts.

Santosh Harish is one of the leading Air Pollution and Policy Expert in India, works with Centre For Policy Research.

Swechha in association with the US Dept of State, presents it's second in a series of DIY Masterclasses on 'Vermi-composting & Managing Household and Kitchen Waste.'Vermi-composting simply put, is the process of converting kitchen scraps, leftover greens, dried leaves, paper, or any other form of organic waste, into extremely beneficial fertiliser for the soil, using earthworms. Earth-worms are central to a healthy soil network, and can help create the most beneficial compost in the form of worm castings and vermi-compost.

Here's our step by step DIY Masterclass tutorial on how you can bring in worms to work their magic in your very own backyard, simply by designing your very own worm bin/ tower. Enrich your soil further with these additions to your garden, and promote healthy growth of your greens. It's easy to do, extremely inexpensive, and also makes the most of your kitchen scraps, & leftover greens! Yes, by practising these methods you can also take your first few steps towards leading that 'zero-waste' lifestyle', you've always dreamt of, but didn't know how to achieve!

In this short video we have demonstrated the making of 3 different kinds of vermi-composting units, that you too can develop in your backyards and/or terrace gardens. We have developed these over time, at our farm school in Alwar, an hour away from Gurgaon.

Timestamps :

00:00 Glimpse into Swechha Farm School
00:18 Introduction
00:46 What you need to get started?
01:53 Worm Bin installation
04:22 Adding the kitchen scraps
07:13 Adding the worms
08:30 How long does the process take?
09:39 Basic Do's and Dont's
10:09 Watering & maintenance
12:07 Previous Bin Updates
14:57 Installing DIY Worm Towers
16:21 Vermi-Composting unit/bed
18:11 Conclusion

Swechha Farm School/Stay is designed as a Learning Centre – hub for ecological design innovation and incubation, sustainable agriculture, environmental practices, life-skills and personality enhancement programs.The purpose of the Farm is to unleash human creativity and develop solidarity in our world, for planet and its people to thrive peacefully and equitably. We aim at inspiring action and catalyzing communities for a regenerative and sustainable world, one with low impact and high quality lifestyles.

Follow our Farm School work : https://swechha.in/swechha-farm-school/
Follow us on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/SwechhaIndia
Follow us on Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/swechhaindia/

Grow Your Own Food - for beginners is a first in a series of online DIY masterclasses organised by Swechha, in partnership with the US Department of State.

The primary objective of this first masterclass is to encourage and empower every urban dweller to grow their own food, be it on their kitchen window, their small balcony in their apartment, a modest terrace or even their front lawn. The idea is to learn the basics of food growing, and also to understand what it takes to grow food. Each one of us can grow!

The masterclass is a mix of DIY and practical learning, context in agriculture and agrarian situation and understanding sustainability hands-on! The masterclass has been facilitated by Pragati Chaswal, founder at SowGood, and a dear friend of ours. She is an ex advertising professional turned urban farmer, an avid gardener with a ton of experience growing food. Her team runs two beautiful educational farms in Delhi that are both for chidren, and run by children. Team SowGood believes it’s important for us to stay in touch with nature despite our urban lifestyle. Along with the learning farms, she and her team also run Natural Urban Farming programs with schools and RWAs across Delhi.

Green The Map podcasts are a series on Sustainability and Environment, organised by Swechha India, in association with U.S. Department of State. Vimlendu Jha, one of the leading environmentalists of India and Founder Director of Swechha moderates these podcasts.

Kanchi Kohli works on environment, forest and biodiversity governance in India. Her work explores the links between law, industrialization and environment justice. Her research interests also include the implementation of biodiversity regulations in India. She is presently a Senior Researcher at Centre for Policy Research. Kanchi regularly teaches at universities and law schools in India on subjects related to biodiversity, environment and community development.

Burning Questions:
A broad landscape understanding of laws around environment and sustainability in India, a brief historical and philosophical perspective.
Whats interesting or exciting about Indian environmental laws?
How do you see India’s environment in last few decades, is it getting better or worse and why?
Where do laws stand in ensuring we have upgraded or degraded vs-a-vis environment in last several decades. Is it law, the execution on the ground, role of judiciary and executive, or all. Is there something missing in our basic understanding of law and governance for envy , in India.
Law and Governance, both, seem or sound very non-common, as in heavy for commoners to understand or indulge in. How do we simplify it.
You have done some phenomenal work in explaining law on the ground and engaging citizens around certain violations of the environmental laws, by the State as well as other stake holders. How has been your experience and if you have certain learnings to share.
Should our bureaucrats and politicians be forced to take mandatory courses on law and governance vis-a-vis environment, as most often we have seen them as biggest violators on the ground.
Whats the future of environmental laws in India, especially in the light of EIA draft 2020.