Move for Earth is a bicycle ride across the rural belts of West Bengal and Odisha, to address community specific issues related to water, soil and energy, and to encourage urgent climate action through:
Focus Group Discussions
Stakeholder Meets & Site Visits
Exhibitions
Fairs
Competitions
Training & Workshops
Move for Earth will unite and amplify the collective voice of Climate Champions, equip communities with key tools, resources, new age skills, and create a networked ecosystem for them to be the ambassadors of change.
This cycle yatra will engage:
Farmers
Youth
Government
Financiers
Technologists
CSOs
At the heart of the Move for Earth movement is a pursuit to offer solutions to community-specific issues related to water, soil, energy and clean air that are directly impacting the livelihood and health of citizens. This initiative will encourage urgent climate action, and facilitate purposeful events and activities that will range from skill development training, stakeholder meetings, seed festivals and buyer-seller meets, to handicraft fairs, millet and tech expos, street art and puppet shows. In each state, the ride will conclude with a Citizens Jury for Earth in which small groups of farmers and urban youth will interact with experts and get involved in the process of making recommendations on our collective future, leveraging the values of democratic decision making.
February 27 - March 4, 2023
BACKGROUND – To mark its 15th year, SwitchON Foundation is launching Move for Earth – an initiative to help build a smarter and brighter future for ourselves, our children, farmers and life on earth. In the year 2008, Vinay Jaju – Co-founder of SwitchON Foundation, accompanied by the founding team, set out on a ride from Kolkata to New Delhi on their bicycles. The ride inspired and sparked the impetus to a fifteen-year journey of serving and strengthening communities through clean energy and other sustainable ways of living. Today, in the face of a devastating climate crisis we have decided to take on a similar ride to celebrate and inspire climate action.
6 days in the magnificent coastal state of Odisha is never enough. But Vinay Jaju, Managing Director at SwitchON Foundation, took on an unforgettable cycle journey through the state, meeting with farmers, youth, and many others, all of whom are tackling the climate crisis and implementing solutions ...
Read more5 days of cycling through West Bengal shows us the state's diversity of people, cultures, and opportunities. It also brings to light the vast network of individuals, organisations, and climate activists who are taking action daily and embodying the ethos of the #MoveforEarth movement. Read below for...
Read moreToday was my last day in Odisha. We started the morning with a cycle rally, in partnership with Dream India, ending in Balangir’s Town Hall. We had quite a few people join us on their cycles, but it was even more heartwarming to see people stop and ask about what we were advocating for. For the re...
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