Our Power Our Planet is the theme of Earth Day 2026. It is time to celebrate the power of the collectives in Thiruvananthapuram who have been working towards environmental protection through their unrelenting efforts.

Making environmental champions

Dolphods Foundation

Better late than never. The principle that saw Augustine E Joseph launch the Foundation two years ago, when he realised that the future of the environment is at stake.

The recent initiative of Dolphods is Operation TerraGuard, focussing on forest conservation and marine health, which comes under the Foundation’s 12.3 Miles of Life biodiversity framework. “Our first activity has been protecting turtle eggs at breeding sites along the coastline with the support of the Department of Forests,” he says. Ajith Shanghumugham, a fisherman-turned-content creator who has been at the forefront of conservation activities, especially protecting whale sharks, is the operations and field director of TerraGuard Corps.

Another initiative is Operation VIBE (Visit Involve Behave Enable), which focuses on a structured intervention to keep tourist sites clean, involving local stakeholders such as vendors, tourists, politicians, local people, and influencers. “We have started with cleaning up beaches, but there is a long way to go,” Augustine says. The Foundation also facilitates counselling for at-risk children.

A native of ecologically-fragile Valiyathura in Thiruvananthapuram and as someone inclined towards volunteering since childhood, Augustine, 30, who is currently pursuing his Master’s in Social Work, says that the Foundation has three pillars – environment, community and leadership, which evolved from the philosophy that the main stakeholders of environment is community that is driven by leadership.

It currently has over 100 volunteers, primarily comprising college students. It also has the Dolphods Leadership Programme to nurture leaders irrespective of their age.

To know more about the Foundation or take up active roles, contact them @dolphods_foundation on Instagram or call 9497729887

Building climate resilience

Sustera Foundation

When the floods hit Kerala in 2018, Deepa Padmanabhan and Sanju Soman, who were at the District Collector’s relief camp in Thiruvananthapuram, were taken aback by the sheer number of volunteers. “The sea of volunteers coming in daily gave us the idea of leveraging that capacity into something lasting,” says Deepa, CEO of Sustera Foundation, which the two co-founded in 2017. When it repeated during the 2019 floods, they knew it was not a one-off thing. That saw the Foundation eventually becoming one dedicated entirely to climate action. Sustera works across three broad areas: training community leaders, running localised campaigns with local self-government institutions, and building climate literacy through schools and public engagement.

The Foundation’s Climate Leadership Programme has trained close to 350 individuals across Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttarakhand, with the majority from Kerala. The three-month programme, combining online and offline sessions, does not stop at awareness. Each cohort goes on to carry out concrete projects in their own communities, from ecosystem restoration drives to waste management interventions. “After a lull, we have planned the next edition in Thiruvananthapuram, most probably in June,” Deepa says.

Their most visible work in the capital is the beach cleanups — over 250 of them across three beaches. “Every kilogram of plastic taken away is helping marine biodiversity,” Deepa says. “It was heartening to see how a group of children came forward to help clean St Andrew’s beach. We are excited when vendors on the beach also support us. Like this lady at Shanghumugham, who agreed to buy 100 steel glasses when we promised to give her orders for 50 cleanups.”

Sustera has also been working with a women’s collective in Valiyathura to develop adaptable livelihoods focused on upcycling, turning waste into income while addressing a coastal community’s vulnerability to environmental change.

It has also set up climate labs in five schools, three of them in aided schools along the coastal belt in Thiruvananthapuram and two in Munnar. These include butterfly gardens, sessions on waste segregation and composting, and climate nooks stocked with books and games. “We are looking at scaling it up,” Deepa says.

Kerala’s high vulnerability to floods, coastal erosion, heat stress and shifting monsoon patterns makes climate preparedness a matter of everyday life, not just policy, she adds.

To be part of Sustera, contact @sustera_org or 9746288054

Let’s plant a forest

We Grow Forest Foundation

This urban forestry initiative, registered in 2021, was started by a group of like-minded women. “We are a heterogeneous group and have been holding planting drives even before we got officially registered. We plant saplings of fruit-bearing trees, that too native varieties. This includes mango, jackfruit, pomegranate, guava, and jamun, besides medicinal plants herbs and flowering shrubs. We have done this at academic institutions, campuses of various organisations, corporate offices and other spaces, some of which are in other States. We aim to make community forests for people to walk through and be close to Nature,” says Meera Asmi, a biophilic consultant and honorary chairperson of We Grow Forest.

Besides the Social Forestry Department, the saplings are provided by a couple of organisations in Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu and a few nurseries on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram, she adds.

Every year, they plant at least 25,000 saplings. “The challenging part is taking care of these saplings; they require proper care for at least three years. So when corporates or other organisations approach us with a request for saplings, usually as part of their CSR initiative, we include the maintenance cost as well. We form a self-help group where the planting drive is conducted and the maintenance fund is transferred to the group,” says Meera.

She adds that they carry out planting drives based on requests, and this includes premises of airforce stations and naval bases, like the ones at Shanghumugham and Thirunelveli.

The recent planting drive was on the sprawling campus of St Xavier’s College, Thumba, in Thiruvananthapuram. “We have started with 300 saplings and hope to plant 25,000 in all in the coming months.”

They have already completed a drive in Chengal and Irikkoor grama panchayat, where 10,000 saplings were distributed to houses in different wards of the panchayat.

The Foundation has chapters in Jaipur and Pune as well. They have also been conducting nature walks in these cities, especially for corporates, which allow them to unwind and rejuvenate.

Meanwhile, they have been holding a shoreline clean-up, called Sea of Change, especially at Kochuveli, on the second Saturday of every month, involving NCC cadets and members of eco-clubs of various institutions. “The vendors were initially hostile and would deliberately litter in our presence. But, gradually, their attitude changed,” she adds.

Besides sustainability awareness sessions at colleges across the district, the Foundation has been conducting diverse activities, such as books and sports equipment donation, revival of village libraries, sustainability initiatives like upcycling of saris and making seed balls.

“We are here to support or take the lead in any activity that can bring about a change. We have volunteers who step in as and when the need arises,” Meera says.

To be part of We Grow Forest Foundation as volunteer, intern or ambassador, contact 9143500500 or follow @wegrowforest