THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For the volunteers of city-based The Gulmohar Foundation (TGF), addressing societal issues through social entrepreneurship and volunteering has always been in the forefront. To create awareness regarding the effects of climate change and protect people from its consequences, a ‘Kerala Climate Ride’ was organised by the foundation as part of the Millennium Oceans Prize Project which focuses on climate change and the sustainable use of marine resources.
In the four-day ride, 66 volunteers cycled through nine districts, covering 777 kilometres and creating awareness. The ride started from Kasaragod and ended at the Kanakakkunnu Palace in Thiruvananthapuram. This event was also aimed at addressing the necessity to promote sustainable tourism and ocean life conservation. “Our state is vulnerable to climate change but preventive steps are not taken. Our focus is on reducing carbon footprint, ocean conservation and sustainable tourism. So, we thought of organising an all-Kerala ride and create a community that can prevent the adverse effects of climate change by adopting a sustainable lifestyle,” said Jaseel Muhammed, co-founder of TGF.
“We embarked on this ride on Saturday where we emphasised on the need to use environment-friendly products,” said Gautami C P, a volunteer.
The main objective of the ride was to create a TGF Youth Climate Network with the mission to create an inclusive, multi-disciplinary and trusting network of people to discuss and take action on climate change. “Creating the TGF Youth Climate Network is the long-term goal of the foundation and build a community of social changemakers,” said Jaseel. Through the TGF Youth Climate Network, the organisation aims to create a diverse network with distributed leadership that links people and organisations interested to work on climate change. It will also encourage volunteers to identity cases, share contacts and news concerning the effects of climate change. Students and other organisations also participated in the ride and the awareness programmes held as part of the event.