06 Sep iCubed 2014 Idea 3: Around Us
Sriram D S, NMIMS Mumbai & Upasana Samaddar, XIM Bhubaneshwar
Objective: There is a growing need to increase awareness on issues relating to sustainability of our ecosystem and generate commitment in contributing to a sustainable ecosystem. This is the problem which AroundUS tries to solve. The idea is built based on the belief that small steps in the form of pro environmental activities taken by everyone around us can help in saving the environment and people will be willing to contribute if they know how and also get incentivized for their contribution. The idea involves partnering with schools, colleges, corporate business houses and societies which would result in sensitizing the people towards the environment.
Need: On an average, about 13 trees are cut every day in India. Burning fuels such as oil, gasoline etc., increases carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leading to global warming. Every year about 1 lakh people die in India owing to water-borne diseases. Air pollution kills around 6 lakh people in India every year. It is reported that there are less than 1706 tigers (as of March 2011) in the land of tigers. Many species of butterflies are becoming extinct resulting in reduced pollination. 36.5 Million MT of solid waste and 100,000 MT of e-waste is generated in India annually. Most people live their lives oblivious to the fact that if this trend continues, there would be no future for our future generations. Even though some of us recognize and accept the need to take pro environmental initiatives, we don’t know how to go about it. There is a growing need to increase awareness on issues relating to sustainability of our ecosystem and generate commitment in contributing to a sustainable ecosystem. This is the problem which our firm, AroundUS tries to solve.
Implementation: The implementation of the idea is planned in three phases.
Phase 1 – Creating buzz: This phase would involve creation of the website and creating buzz in the community through social media and word of mouth. It also includes talking to a few schools / colleges / environmental organizations and pitching the plan to them. The major objective of this phase is to use it as a branding exercise.
Phase 2 – Establishing partners: Once there are enough people to endorse the idea, partnering with schools / colleges / corporate / communities will help in driving the initiatives. This partnership would include regular pro-environment sessions/activities etc. in their locations and also generating revenue in the form of ads to make the model sustainable. Partnerships will also be entered into with organisations to provide the incentives.
Phase 3 – Scaling up: Initial plan is to restrict the idea to one city (Mumbai or Chennai) and manage partners and the people who visit the website. The major aim would be to make partners and everyone who visits the website believes that their contribution is making an impact on the environment and also incentivizing them. This would help in getting more people to believe in the idea which in turn would improve the environment around us. Subsequently the idea will be scaled up to other cities and try to create a movement which is pro-environment.
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