Environment: Preserve & Cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we have ever known. Tread light, tread right!
Every living being on this planet depends on nature for sustenance, human wants are unlimited but resources are scarce, thus environmental protection has become more important than ever before. It is not limited to food, clothes or shelter anymore – it is much beyond that. We are depleting natural resources faster than nature can replenish them. We have caused a disruption that will require years of incessant efforts to remedy the devastation.
Today we are in the middle of an environmental crisis like never before resulting from numerous reckless human activities like deforestation, pollution, overconsumption and climate change. Deteriorating environmental conditions have resulted in many other problems such as scarcity of resources, poor sanitation and hygiene, as well as calamities such as floods and droughts.
Just Open Yourself Society is committed to organising holistic activities that strengthen the conservation and protection of natural resources, advance ecological sustainability, and foster harmony between communities and the environment. We empower communities to analyse their impact, ecological footprint and devise plans to mitigate the damage, embrace local solutions, and spur innovation in an effort to address the causes and reduce the effects of climate change and environmental degradation.
Milestones of Just Open Yourself Society
Lighting up Lives Campaign
A single night of darkness jolts us and makes us realise the importance of light, here we are not talking of a power cut for few hours but a lifetime of electricity inaccessibility. To change this and bring a revolution by lighting stars in that parallel universe that is beyond our imagination, SPECS and JOY came together and collaborated with Hero. In a unique, first of its kind campaign, an innovative idea was brought a life as LED Bulbs were manufactured at very low price and distributed for free, saturating several villages in the state. Bulbs were manufactured by different sections of society including students in Dehradun, villagers in different villages of Uttarakhand, inmates of Haridwar Jail along with the support of even the differently-abled people.
The effort not only brought light in the life of these villagers but also helped in saving 93% energy, minimizing E-Waste and curbing migration from the hills by generating employment opportunities at the doorsteps of villagers.
The teams at SPECS and Hero were spellbound with the dedication and passion with which the youngsters in team JOY worked during the campaign. As Jai Sharma, founder of JOY says, “Members and volunteer at JOY have always been determined to do something good for the society. We have made more than 70 thousand bulbs for villages in Haridwar, Dehradun, Assi Ganga Valley and Kedarnath. There were several tough moments but the strength of youngsters at every step of the project helped us to get through it. From the production phase of the bulb at my house to the distribution phase in the difficult terrain, youngsters like me helped us a lot and astonished us with their dedication towards the cause.”
More than 70 thousand LED bulbs have been distributed so far under the campaign, JOY, SPECS and Hero MotoCorps Ltd. have proudly saturated 12727 Families of 28 Gram Sabhas of Dehradun, Uttarkashi and Hardwar District. It was under the campaign only that normal 100 watt bulb were replaced by 7 watt LED bulbs, saving 28406 units of electricity per day and 10368432 units of electricity in a year. SPECS also imparted training of Making and Repairing LED Bulbs to 152 people in this campaign. For the first time across the globe, Repairing centres have been created under the campaign at multiple places in the state to minimize E-waste and save the money of villagers.
Waste Generation and Disposal Management
What does one do when confronted with a dumping area festering in ankle-deep filth from paper, plastic, and decomposing waste among others? Make a face, hold your nose, and walk on? Not if you’re Jai Sharma!
Jai Sharma, Just Open Yourself Society along with the youth of Uttarakhand initiated a project for state wide garbage dumping data collection, segregation and management.
The biggest pay-off for the campaign came when the areas could be monitored on Google Maps and work could be carried out efficiently in keeping the city clean.
Plantation Drives ~ The inspiration catches on..
Just Open Yourself collaborated with several organizations to plant trees in different parts of the city to increase the green area and improve the environment of the city. Planting Trees is the most effective and economical method to improve physical environment. Trees play tremendous role in conditioning our environment, they cut off sun’s heat from the ground, reduce dust pollution, noise pollution, wind velocity, and more important produce oxygen and consume carbon dioxide free of cost. As well as contributing to all of the health benefits associated with living in a greener neighborhood.
Plant-a-Thon 2016
On July 10, 2016, Plant-a-Thon was organized and JOY along with five other organizations planted 700 saplings to beautify Doon.
Plant-a-Thon 2017
Marking the 2nd anniversary, Plant-a-thon was hosted on July 9, 2017 in collaboration with eleven organizations. JOY planted over 3000 saplings. An open invitation was published to invite all the residents of Doon Valley. An attempt to work in uniformity turned into a transforming step. Just Open Yourself (JOY) in collaboration with many groups of the city including SPECS, Wanderers, Grassroot Awareness and Technical Institute for Society, Rotary club and the Forest Department of Dehradun.
Amid traditional Gharwali dhol, damau beats being played in the background and beautiful trees all around, several Doonites came together for a tree plantation event. Over 3,000 saplings were planted by around 300 youngsters at Plant-A-Thon-2017 held at Rajawala. Different varieties of trees including bamboo, jamun, sheesham, babool and amla, among others were planted on almost two hectares of land to strengthen the forest ecosystem in the area.
Plant-a-Thon 2018
On July 8, 2018, Just Open Yourself Society along with the forest department carried out a plantation drive. As part of the initiative, they planted around 3,500 saplings at Rajwal forest and Vigyan Dham. Around 640 workers from NGOs such as Just Open Yourself (JOY) and SPECS as well as bullet riders group of Dehradun called Wanderers took part in the drive and planted variety of trees such as Babool, Jamun, Bahila, Sheesham and Guava.
Plant-a-Thon 2019
In 2019, Just Open Yourself mobilized the youth to plant record breaking saplings. Over 2.1 lakh trees were planted by 35,000 families in a day in Dehradun district, a feat that enabled them to enter the record books. The exercise was conducted on July 21 in 36 gram panchayats and 15 wards of the district covering areas such as Thano, Ranipokhri, Doiwala and other locations near forests in collaboration with 39 organizations.
Officials of Hero MotoCorp, the organization which had sponsored the drive under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, stated that the record has been verified by ‘Asia Book of Records’ and ‘India Book of Records’ and has been officially registered as a new record under the category ‘Maximum families participating in a tree plantation drive’. The volunteers at Just Open Yourself Society and Mr. Jai Sharma were felicitated by Uttarakhand government for their efforts.
Plant-a-Thon 2020
With the pandemic looming large over our heads, we devised plans to carry on with the fifth edition of Plant-a- Thon by using the outreach of social media and delivering the saplings at the footsteps of various institutions and homes of Dehradun’s residents so that each one plants one tree. On July 12, 2020, Plant-a-Thon was organized and JOY along with seven other organizations planted 4500 saplings.
Plant-a-Thon 2021
The turbulence caused by COVID-19 had disrupted the life in Doon Valley, Just Open Yourself Society shifted its focus primarily on saving human life, losing our beloveds was a setback and to honour the memories of the departed souls we conducted a closed plantation drive with our team members and foster kids.