Green Cover Project

The Covid 19 pandemic that led to a lockdown has made unprecedented changes in the lives of people, including restricting them within the four walls of their room or the premises of their houses. This creates physical and psychological imbalances amongst people as no one would want to remain restricted for such long periods. This is what led Rise Up Forum to think out of the box and come up with solutions to engage people in various activities and not feel vegetated. The Lockdown challenge was introduced where participants could showcase their talents in various fields which was further put into a contest and judged. Prizes were announced to boost the participants’ spirits.

Along with this, RUF wanted to implant and instil care and love for nature and so started another challenge titled, ‘Ready Set Grow’ (RSG). In RSG, participants could grow plants belonging to 9 categories viz Fruit plants, Grains, Medicinal plants, Microgreens, Tubers, Ornamental plants, Spices, Trees and Vegetable plants. Hundreds of participants registered throughout Kerala. Participants were asked to provide timely updates of their plants and these updates were systemically sorted. The winners were selected for each category and given prizes even though everyone was equally competent. The success of this challenge was appreciated by the participants and the judges who also suggested continuing these kinds of contests frequently.

The Ready Set Grow challenge was a pilot project for a much bigger initiative namely, ‘The Green Cover Project’, which aims at increasing the green cover of our planet by planting trees collectively in a selected area or a locality, school/college campus, beside the roads or other public places. This project is a call for all to reconnect to nature and experience the joy that comes with planting a tree and seeing it turn into a habitat for other organisms.

This project commenced on the day of Global Climate Action, where a climate protest was organised by planting trees rather than a procession. On the first day, a few hundred trees were planted, a portion of which was planted in Maranalloor, Trivandrum, by obeying the necessary Covid protocols as directed by the healthcare authorities. The project is ever going with the first target being 10,000 trees and is open for participation to all.