The power of one

These individuals have single-handedly mobilised task forces and sparked movements to work towards the United Nation's sustainable development goals (SDGs), in ways that are both innovative and intuit

Jun 12, 2019, 13:44 IST1 min

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Kriti Tula, 30Alarmed at the scale of wastage in the fashion industry, Kriti Tula, creative director and co-founder of fashion label Doodlage realised the urgent need for making fashion circular: Starting from the raw material to how the garment will be disposed of at the end of its life. She works with eco-friendly fabrics, such as organic cotton, corn fabric, banana fabric, and leftover or discarded textile from large manufacturers, thus minimising wastage. Her work has been recognised by various global and national publications and this has helped her reach a larger market. This year she aims to find ways to introduce products made of post-consumer waste by reselling, upcycling and recycling. Her motto: ‘Buy less. Choose well. Make it last.’

Image by Madhu Kapparath

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Shubhendu Sharma, 34An industrial engineer by qualification, the founder and director of Afforestt was inspired by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki’s method of afforestation. Miyawaki’s technique makes trees grow 10 times faster than usual, creating a self-sustaining forest within two to three years. Started in January 2011, Afforestt is a for-profit social enterprise that aims to bring back lost forests by creating native forests. While a forest typically takes 100 years to mature, the one he creates grows 10 times faster, is 30 times more dense and 100 times more biodiverse. Afforestt has created 145 forests in nine countries. Sharma hopes to plant one forest in each country, then each city, village and home.

Image by Forbes

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Pradeep Sangwan, 33Pradeep Sangwan, founder of Healing Himalayas, aims to keep the Himalayas plastic-free. He treks for an average of 2,000 km every year and has helped collect over 5 lakh kg of non-biodegradable waste in the last three years. Every cleaning campaign involves the local community and forest departments, and 30 to 35 volunteers. Ask him what he believes in, and he says: “Don’t ask me what I do for a living, ask me what I do for other living beings.”

Image by Mecha Ende