Even though you may be locked down at home, there is still plenty to do on Earth Day from your safety bubble. As you may know, Jhatkaa.org specializes in mobilizing citizens to take collective democratic action using digital technology tools.
In order of time requirements, here are 3 ways you can contribute to Earth Day from home:
1.Sign and grow petitions that are important to you
Time to sign and share a petition: 2 minutes
When you sign a petition you are helping a campaigner build a body of evidence that there is a large number of citizens concerned with a certain issue. Depending on the nature of the campaign, once the signature count reaches a certain size the campaigner can now take the voices of the signers to the decision maker.
We have listed below a few live campaigns that need immediate attention:
2.Learn how to file an RTI, and file one.
Time to learn how to file and to file an RTI: 2 hours
The Right to Information (RTI) is a powerful tool that is available to all citizens of India. It can be used to tackle personal problems (like taxes, or official documents), community challenges (like roadwork and local government bodies), or large scale social and environmental issues (like large scale government projects or policies).
Equip yourself with this powerful tool by learning how to file an RTI in less than 1 hour, by watching this tutorial video here, led by YouRTI.in
Once you have learnt how, you can go on to file the RTI at www.YouRTI.in.
It is free of charge for most issues, with a nominal fee for more complex personal RTIs. The best part is that if you choose, your identity will remain anonymous and safe as YouRTI will operate on your behalf.
3.Help us map trees, garbage dump sites and garbage burning sites from wherever you are
Time to help us map: 2 hours per week for 6 months
There is plenty of digital work around mapping our green cover and the broken waste management system. You can help us from wherever you are, with simple data entry tasks, reporting about the environment around your house. You will receive all the training that is required to complete this task.
You can sign up as a volunteer here: http://bit.ly/YSVolLink
Be sure to try your hand at least one of these 3 actions.
This mail was adapted from the guest column originally published by YourStory by Jhatkaa.org’s Director of Engagement, Jacob Cherian.
