Experiential Environment Education
“We engage youth, communities, and educators through immersive learning experiences rooted in zero waste values and ecological restoration.”
Climate Action Leadership Programme
Empowering youth from the Eastern Himalayas to co-create zero waste communities through training, action, and enterprise.
Pilot Cohort
Climate Action Leaders Empowered
Homes Onboarded
Tons of Waste Managed
About the Project
CALP is a 3-month experiential programme that empowers youth from the Eastern Himalayas to design and implement decentralised waste systems. Fellows learn by doing: engaging in waste audits, composting, behavioural design, storytelling, and community organising. Every CALP fellow implements a tangible zero waste intervention in their home village, college, or neighbourhood, guided by mentors and supported with contextual toolkits.
Why This Matters
In a world where climate conversations often remain abstract, CALP grounds the response in place, practice, and people. Waste is one of the most visible and immediate climate issues in the Eastern Himalayas — yet youth often lack the support and tools to address it. CALP bridges this gap by combining ecological education, community organizing, and zero waste innovation — all while fostering cultural pride and intergenerational connection.
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Climate Action Leadership Program 2.0
Where young changemakers learn by doing, reconnect with nature, and design climate solutions rooted in the Eastern Himalayas.
What is CALP 2.0?
CALP 2.0 evolves from the journey of the earlier cohort, offering deeper ecological immersion, stronger community engagement, and a more refined approach to design thinking. Students walk away with clarity, confidence, and real projects that create impact across the Eastern Himalayas.
Rooted in Nature
Daily immersions in forests, water trails, compost yards, and living systems.
Community-first
Projects co-created with local people and grounded in real needs.
Design-led
Students learn to observe, prototype, test, and refine climate solutions.
Program Highlights
Rooted in Nature
Daily immersions in forests, water trails, compost yards, and living systems.
Forest Immersions
Explore biodiversity, watershed systems, forest ecology and Himalayan landscapes.
Community Projects
Students co-design real projects: waste audits, water mapping, plastic reduction, gardens and more.
Voices from CALP 1.0
“The Climate Action Leadership Program showed me that even small steps can create big change. Helping 50 households go zero waste, presenting on national TV, and meeting the Prime Minister felt surreal – but what moved me most was seeing how deeply this project respected the lives and needs of our people. TIEEDI didn’t just guide us; they helped us guide others.”
– Manav Rai
“Juggling this programme and supporting my family wasn’t easy, but it made me tougher. I learned so much – from zero waste to speaking up with confidence. It really changed how I see myself and what I can do.”
– Mahima Rai
“I’ve learned so many practical skills through this programme, and now I feel confident to apply them in the real world. As an entrepreneur, I’ve started using what I learned – especially around zero waste and communication in my own small business.”
– Jeeya Tamang
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Ready to join CALP 2.0?
Step into a program that transforms how you think, feel and act for the Earth.
Zero Waste Schools
Empowering youth from the Eastern Himalayas to co-create zero waste communities through training, action, and enterprise.
About the Project
Our Zero Waste Schools programme is about building a new culture where waste is not something to throw away, but something to understand. Through composting systems, creative reuse, and our Everyday Environmentalism Curriculum, students engage with the deeper “why” of waste, linking it to food, soil, water, and community wellbeing.
Examples:
- At St. Joseph’s Convent, Kalimpong : The “Everyday Environmentalism” program at St. Joseph’s Convent, Kalimpong was launched with the aim of fostering a culture of environmental responsibility among students, staff, and parents. The program aimed to reduce waste generation, promote holistic practices, and raise awareness about environmental challenges.
- At Darjeeling Montessori House of Children (DMHC), Darjeeling : Children bring clean, segregated waste from home and educate their parents and visitors on composting. The school functions as a live model of decentralised waste care.
- In Children’s Montessori Casa, Siliguri : Children are composing songs about composting and finding joy in the process of soil-making. It is a learning journey built on practice and play.
Why This Matters
In a region where formal waste systems are weak or absent, schools become microcosms of change. Children take the message home, influence their families, and build a sense of responsibility that is lived, not taught. These are not awareness campaigns; they are transformation from the ground up.
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Experiential Tours
Empowering youth from the Eastern Himalayas to co-create zero waste communities through training, action, and enterprise.
About the Project
At our forest campus in 8 Mile, Sonada, once a degraded dumpyard, we now host immersive learning journeys through compost pits, natural buildings, forest gardens, and the silent labour of leeches, bamboo, and time. Our tours are rooted in place. They take people through the hidden stories of waste: what we discard, who cleans it, where it ends up, and how nature carries our mistakes.
Visitors witness:
- The recovery of a forest from decades of dumping
- The integration of waste systems into daily living
- The lives and labour of waste workers
- The potential of regenerative systems at scale
Why This Matters
The forest doesn’t shout. But it shows. Our experiential tours allow people to slow down, see deeply, and leave changed. These are not exhibits. They are encounters with waste, with nature, and with possibility.
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