Solutions Festival | Community Action Project Presentation on Sustainable Living
At the Solutions Festival, participants of School for Social Transformation (SST) 8.0 continued to present community-driven ideas rooted in lived realities and ecological concern. The next presentation was by Rasha Khadar, who introduced her Community Action Project titled “Euphoria – A Sustainable Way of Living.”
About the Project
Rasha’s project emerges from the Malabar region of the Western Ghats, a globally significant ecological zone stretching across six Indian states. This region, rich in biodiversity and natural resources, is now facing severe environmental stress due to deforestation, quarrying, monoculture plantations, pollution, climate change, and increasing natural disasters.
Residential areas close to the Western Ghats are witnessing forest loss, soil erosion, landslides, water pollution, and the gradual disappearance of wildlife habitats. These changes are not abstract environmental concerns; they directly affect livelihoods, safety, and quality of life. The project identifies the core problem as the exploitation of nature combined with unsustainable lifestyles, calling for simple, community-driven solutions that protect and conserve the environment.
The Proposed Solution
Euphoria proposes a grassroots awareness and action model focused on building a sustainable way of living. Rasha outlined a plan to conduct awareness sessions in Grama Panchayats and schools, educating community members about the Western Ghats ecosystem, biodiversity loss, deforestation, and everyday sustainable practices.
The initiative aims to reach at least 100 participants through three to five interactive sessions, measuring impact through pre- and post-session learning assessments. A practical manual will be created and distributed, offering simple, actionable steps such as rainwater harvesting, afforestation and tree protection, water body conservation, use of eco-friendly products, and reducing everyday environmental harm, while a community WhatsApp group will provide ongoing support and guidance within the project’s facilitation capacity.
Why It Matters
This presentation highlighted that environmental protection is not only the responsibility of governments or experts, it begins with everyday choices made by ordinary citizens. Rasha’s project reframes sustainability as a lived practice rather than an abstract idea.
By translating ecological concerns into simple, practical actions, the initiative empowers communities to become guardians of their own landscapes.
A Step Forward
As part of the Solutions Festival, this presentation stood as a commitment to protecting fragile ecosystems through informed citizenship. By nurturing awareness, responsibility, and everyday action, the project lays the foundation for communities that live in harmony with nature, ensuring that development does not come at the cost of the Western Ghats and the lives they sustain.