There Is No Earth B (TINEB), a collective of citizens across the country, has been working on cleaning up the country, one plastic bottle at a time. In a span of 3 years and 6 months, the group has rid the country of 12.2 tons of non-biodegradable waste by conducting 276 clean-up drives. They weigh all the waste collected post-cleanup and record their clean-ups on their Instagram account for public transparency. But they don’t just clean up waste, they also engage in environmental campaigns across the country and support grassroots environmental organizers. They have gathered public support by engaging with more than seven lakh citizens, especially for campaigns like Save Dumna and Save Sattal and they have been able to create awareness in more than eighty lakh people.
TINEB is a largely anonymous collective that believes in radical inclusivity. Their belief is that the effects of climate change do not exist in a vacuum and, hence, climate action must involve all and sundry.
Their work largely revolves around supporting local communities. They begin by understanding the issues faced by local communities and connect them with experts in order to empower them with the best scientific resources. They also extend support with regards to spreading awareness and public mobilization.
Talking about some of their campaigns, TINEB mentioned that they enjoyed working on some more than the others. “I enjoyed working on the Sanjay Vann Petition because it’s one of my favorite places in Delhi. The Delhi Development Authority is trying to open up the reserved forest to businesses for the purposes of “Ecotourism” and this is going to spoil years of work done here our teammates. We have been conducting cleanup drives here every weekend for over 2 years. It’s a beautiful forest, hidden away amidst the concrete jungle. We can’t give up on saving the place that works as the lungs for the city that is choking with pollution.”
Continuing their idea of radical inclusivity, they actively partner with other organizations to work on social initiatives. Recently they took part in an event in Uttarakhand where they collected 1200kg plastic waste from five different locations. TINEB as a project encompasses anything and everything related to climate action, this they said is a long list that keeps growing.
But they did not just stop at climate action, they pitched into COVID19 relief. They leveraged their online presence to verify, curate, and share resources that went on to reach 4 lakh people and help 2000 lives.
This year has been a year of learning for them and they look forward to doing more clean-up drives and await more people to join them in saving the planet. In the year to come, they want to engage more political leaders in conversations around the environment, they want to stand in solidarity with the Most Affected People and Areas (MAPA) and they want to ensure that make climate action is everyone’s business and make people realize that there is no more time to delay for what needs to be done.
