Global warming, Carbon footprints, the Greenhouse Effect, and Climate Crisis are all abstract ideas.

But Global warming will affect (and is involving) plants and animals, but overall, the planet will keep going long after people are gone. We are no longer talking about climate change but a climate crisis here and now. So if we want life here to be comfortable, we must do something serious about the climate crisis.

Some of the actions are easy, some a little harder, but think of it as a collective challenge like the “Tug of war” we used to play during childhood. In this game, we, the polluters, need to play against our collective behaviours and win the game.

Reducing our global carbon footprint will take a concerted effort from governments, companies, colleges/schools and individuals across the planet. And the best way to get started is in our backyard, New Delhi - plus in and around our homes.

The message around an abstract idea like carbon footprint and climate crisis can be communicated to common folks is simple:

Delhi has an air pollution problem all year round. It becomes most visible during winters when climactic conditions fuse with cultural imperatives like Diwali fireworks and agricultural traditions like crop stubble burning. Other round-the-year contributing factors include increased vehicular pollution and growing public works such as construction.

There is already so much news and noise around air pollution. People are generally aware of the issue. But “how to” mobilise ourselves and the community in the fight to improve air quality seems missing and deficient. A path needs to be carved out.

Wingify Foundation launched the project “Wingify Earth” with the sole objective of taking the people (polluters) from “I’m aware & I think we should do something” to “I will”, positive action towards solving this burning issue.

Picking the low-hanging fruits...

There are two ways to handle a crisis of this proportion. First is a capital-intensive way with a long gestation period. Like moving away from fossil fuels and replacing them with alternative energies like solar, wind and geothermal. More energy conservation and efficiency measures. Eco-friendly transportation like shifting to electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles. Green buildings are just a few well-known steps that cost massive amounts of public and private effort, money and time to implement.

However, research across the World over the years has abundantly made it clear that it is small, ordinary adjustments to our daily behaviour can cumulatively go a long way in minimising the impact of catastrophes like air pollution in your neighbourhood. Let’s call this a long way, to use the title of Led Zeppelin’s famous song “Stairway to heaven”.

Different routes can lead to this heaven on earth, or shall we call it mythical “Shangri La”? Wingify Earth has presently chosen four ways to help people reach this collective heaven on earth by making small changes in their behaviour in day-to-day life.

Stairway to heaven – Route 1 – Educate the Child, future polluter.

We all know that air pollution in India is a severe issue, especially in Delhi. Wingify proposes to teach young children and their family members how small actions/activities that don’t cost much, if undertaken daily, could help clean Delhi air, protect human health, reduce medical costs, and save the environment.

Early age is crucial in developing a person's behaviour, social awareness, and selflessness. At this stage, children learn values and behaviours from their parents, society and surroundings that will stay with them throughout adulthood and define who they are. That makes it essential to spark an interest in caring for and protecting the environment while children are still at an early age.

Wingify Earth shall develop content on general environmental sustainability and air pollution. It will mobilise children through different modes and channels and pass relevant content through child and family/school-friendly mediums to generate awareness about small behavioural changes that individuals and families can make without much cost and effort to help reduce their carbon footprints and thereby save their immediate environment.

Content would be in any form - products, designs, ideas, processes, posters, messages, games, jingles and videos etc. – which is creative and innovative and fits into the focused theme and is relatable to children to prevent them from becoming future polluters.

Stairway to heaven – Route 2 – Leverage, the innovative spirit of youth, to find solutions

Academic competitions are a critical part of enhancing your college and career opportunities. Using these competitions as a medium, Wingify wishes to incentivise young innovators and future entrepreneurs who can demonstrate their capacity and passion for making technology-based products or services more environmentally friendly.

Wingify Earth aims to spark a new level of community engagement in environmental sustainability through these competitions.

Incentives can be in the form of grants, awards, scholarships, fellowships, internships etc. Individual themes can be further sliced to bring a sharper focus on problems that require cheap, simple and quickly implementable solutions in the form of nudges.

Stairway to heaven – Route 3 – Create a board game to explain how the climate crisis will shape our cities.

Scientists, educators and policymakers continue to face challenges when finding effective strategies to engage the public on climate change. Researchers across the World have concluded that games on the subject of climate change are well-suited to address these challenges because they can serve as practical tools for education and engagement, particularly for school children and young adults.