We are a group of citizens from diverse fields, brought together by The Integrated Penguin (TIP). Under the design agency's management, we are working to create constructive and relatable conversations around climate change and climate action among the local communities of Karnataka. We believe that the power of climate action at an individual level can spark community revolutions that ultimately lead to meaningful social change. Accordingly, we work with local individuals to enable communities to understand climate action and adopt a more climate-positive lifestyle.
TIP's experience in design places us at a unique advantage to understand local problems and offer bespoke solutions, making climate action achievable rather than presenting climate change as an insurmountable challenge. We focus on second- and third-tier cities because we believe in weaving sustainability into the fabric of development before achieving full-scale urban status is the key to build a sustainable future.
As a part of our initiative to boost proactive and positive climate action, we target four of the 17 internationally-accepted Sustainable Development Goals:
Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.
Goal 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
Goal 8: Foster sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.
Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
The way we do this is by beginning with waste management. We believe that the key to building sustainability lies in the waste we generate at a community level. So, we train teams of women to collect segregated waste, observe the segregated waste, draw insights from the nature of waste collected, recycle or upcycle all waste that can be reused, and then advise and educate their communities on ways to reduce unsustainable waste while increasing the proportion of reusable waste.
Our work involves women because in effect, they are the primary decision-makers as far as lifestyle choices of the family unit are concerned. Influencing women’s thought processes and decisions helps in two fundamental ways: the movement gains more ground and credibility due to greater conversions, and women’s position as decision-makers is bolstered in the community, thereby empowering them. It also helps generate gainful and meaningful employment for women, helping them secure themselves financially as well.
Divya Hegde, the creative mind behind TIP Sessions, is a native of Udupi, Karnataka. Our work in the field began and gained the greatest traction in Udupi due to her attachment to and connections within the local communities in Udupi.
We decided to start this initiative for two main reasons. One is that we believe that climate action is concentrated in densely populated, developed urban areas and it needs to diversify into developing cities where there is still scope to incorporate sustainability into the developmental fabric. The other is that we find the language of climate change to be highly westernised, patronizing or chastising, and highly negative. Thanks to this, access to information in this regard is limited to the educated and elite urban minority of India, and even there, it instills fear rather than inspiring action.
This is what we wanted to target, so that the focus can be on positive conversations regarding what we can do about climate change. At the same time, we wanted to do something beyond simply talking about climate change — we wanted to turn the conversations into actual, measurable climate action.
In the process, we discovered that the nature of our work is uniquely suited for women. We found that it can be a mutually beneficial relationship in which we can empower women while they help further the cause of climate action. Women in the local communities we work with are highly capable but their skills are highly underutilized. This encouraged us to give them an opportunity to use their skills in an impactful manner to help uplift their communities and lead the way into a more sustainable future for all.