AVENGERS ASSEMBLE! Climate change: I am inevitable. And we are We Mean To Clean. When Thanos snapped his fingers, half of the universe was destroyed. But what’s coming now is even more dangerous which can destroy this complete world of ours. It's even more dangerous because it's not fiction. It's real! The inevitable climate change. This Sunday morning, a bunch of real life avengers assembled like every other Sunday to fight against that real threat on our world. Our infinity stones are the native tree saplings of amaltas which we planted last monsoon. And to use them as one of the unrivalled weapons against climate change and pollution, it is the responsibility of every avenger to nurture these saplings properly and regularly. For the very purpose, this fervent group of people gathered at Sainik Vihar District park to water over 150 amaltas saplings to ensure their proper growth and survival. And this time a lot of new volunteers joined us in this ...

We Mean To Clean (WMTC) has its own alphabetical concoction for ABC - Amaltas Badhne Chahiye, literally for Amaltas must grow... Unka vikas zaruri hai... Their development is important! The ongoing elections season may strike to some minds as names of political parties contesting in the gala event. But why are we talking in all these different contexts on our volunteering page? It is because we are duty-bound citizens of our country and debt-ridden for our Mother Earth. Entailing the polling fervour, amidst all the newbie excitement of 18 turned adults and some us who have witnessed multiple elections, we must ingrain that caring for other beings should be implicit for us. We, the volunteers of WMTC, have spent yet another Saturday in watering of plants at Sainik Vihar, Delhi. Did you know that amaltas is known as ‘Golden Shower’ in English and has botanical name ‘Cassia Fistula’? Did you also know that it is Delhi’s state tree? Did you know in full bloom it offers a...

One of our volunteers attended the IPL match held between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals at the Ferozshah Kotla stadium in New Delhi last Saturday. After the match was over and Delhi fans were elated with their team’s win, this volunteer looked around was left slightly disappointed. He observed that while the fans had gone most of them had left behind the banners and flags that they had brought for cheering the teams. Lots of people had thrown empty chips packets and cold drinks glasses around the stands rather than in the dustbins. Being a good samaritan, our volunteer picked up all the flags and banners and piled them up on the stadium chairs. He also collected all the garbage and put it in a bag. This was a very humble but a very significant effort on his part. Ideally, all the fans who went for this IPL spectacle should have made a little effort to throw used and empty packets etc. in the dustbin. At the FIFA World Cup held last year in Russia, fans from Ja...

GoT SEASON! It’s the season of GoT - Guardian of Trees for We Mean To Clean (WMTC) and the episodes are generally lengthier. All trees must survive is the most significant parlay amongst the volunteers. The plot revolves around Amaltas, Sheesham, Alstonia and Marodfali, the indigenous saplings we planted at the road median in Rani Bagh. This median has witnessed one of the most successful plantations by WMTC. Being guardian of trees, either we let the saplings live or help them survive. But, we chose the latter. All our volunteers have many faces to their personalities. Some are either working professionals and others are students. But on weekends all show their environmentally-conscious sides. This time as well, there were 10 volunteers for the watering of saplings and now-turned trees and we were able to wrap up within an hour. They carve out time to derive soul satisfaction with these drives and activities. Our group of volunteers always keep waste management in mind. ...

KUDOS TO THE VOLUNTEERS! Our volunteers gathered today to water the new saplings we planted last week at Sainik Vihar District Park along with the already existing ones. These saplings are battling Delhi’s scorching heat and need our support for their survival and hence our survival. Join us in watering of these plants on Sundays and become a part in their survival journey.

A spotfix after a long time! This was a spot near Max Super Specialty Hospital in Saket. The spot was a victim of open garbage dumping from nearby residential areas. Max sought our support to organize this spotfix cum cleanliness drive in this area involving their own staff - KUDOS! We were glad to see a lot of enthusiastic volunteers not only from Max itself but also from our social media followers apart from some regular WMTC volunteers. Best part - we also had support from South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and the Public Works Department (PWD). The volunteers began on a high energy note to clear the garbage along with SDMC and PWD staff. Some of our volunteers also engaged with locals to create awareness on littering and garbage dumping. Finally, we all then gave the place an aesthetic look by painting the wall with some abstract artwork. Even with a sultry weather the whole exercise was full of lots of fun and frolics. Additionally, we also got to meet some new volun...

EARTH DAY SPECIAL! We have an obligation to take care of this world we all share. Let’s get inspired from the bunch of committed people who are working to restore our planet out of love and passion and not just obligation. Thanks to our volunteers that we have been regularly watering our saplings at Sainik Vihar and Earth Day is a great opportunity to celebrate the progress we’ve made. Thus, in the honour of Earth Day, we along with WanderOn planted 30 Amaltas saplings with the promise to ensure the growth of these new saplings battling Delhi’s scorching heat. We also did our weekly ritual of watering the already existing saplings and also removed the weeds surrounding them. At last, we collected some dry leaves and used them for mulching of the saplings. Mulching provides essential nutrients to the plants and also retains moisture, thus helping them to survive heat. A sapling becomes a tree not just by planting; it needs regular watering and maintenanc...

SAY NO TO MIXED WASTE! We dump waste out of our home and get rid of it. But what happens once we throw our wastes in a public bin or give it to waste collector? Where is the waste taken to? Is it destroyed or recycled? The answer to these questions were major highlights of the workshop that was conducted in Noida Sector 17A on Sunday. We created awareness on what happens to the waste we generate - we are contributing to the three garbage mountains in Delhi. Further, when the waste decomposes there, it releases large amounts of methane, which is not only highly combustible (a reason of frequent fires at such places) but also 22 times more harmful than carbon dioxide! We apprised citizens of the fact that segregation of waste at source can help in reducing our daily carbon footprint. It can have positive impact on our air and water both. We were so glad that people not only heard us patiently but also participated eagerly in the whole session. It was good to know that some of the people ...

  It was about 7-8°C, windy and quite foggy. Yet the weather conditions didn’t deter our volunteers from meeting our green friends at Sainik Vihar. Along with our volunteers, there were the local slum kids who rejoiced watering and nurturing of the saplings in their surroundings. Their enthusiasm on a chilly winter morning acted as powerhouse for all of us. Hope the passion for environmental matters keeps waking us ahead for the good work!

OUR FOURTH ANNIVERSARY! We turned FOUR this October 2! Quite an extraordinary feat for us - a group of ordinary citizens trying to do their bit for the betterment of Delhi's environment. We celebrated the day in our usual style - by conducting a cleanliness drive. We have been working quite actively in Rani Bagh for the past two years. We have planted various native trees on a median (road divider) here. Government agencies clean public places such as parks, roads etc. but medians are ignored for some reason. Further, this median is a victim of brutal levels of local garbage dumping. So we decided to clean this place to ensure a healthy environment for our saplings, so that they ensure a healthy environment for us. We also engaged locals around, who were very cooperative in assisting us during the drive not only with actual work but also with kindness to treat all of us with refreshments. We began by tying some banners pin the median grill. These banners have ...

15 MORE SAPLINGS PLANTED! You just can't stop our volunteers! They planted 15 uprooted tall peepal saplings in Sandesh Vihar park yesterday! Such humble efforts can lead to tremendous results! Kudos to these people!

HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY! Our team decided to celebrate it with our BEST FRIENDS FOREVER - literally - our native trees! TOTAL SAPLINGS PLANTED THUS FAR THIS MONSOON: 800+ We assembled at Sandesh Vihar district park early morning with a very pleasant weather! Our team watered our saplings we planted recently: https://www.facebook.com/pg/WeMeanToCleanMeetup/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1278769088922320 We couldn't resist ourselves from planting a few more saplings. We planted some semal and alstonia, taking our total plantation to cross 800 saplings this monsoon! We planted semal in the vacant tree guards in this park. Once again, we utilized home-made compost as nutrition for these saplings.

80 SAPLINGS PLANTED IN LOK VIHAR TOTAL SAPLINGS PLANTED THUS FAR THIS MONSOON: 790+ The morning was pleasant, perfect for yet another plantation day. We had a good number of volunteers present. We planted amaltas, neem, baheda, papdi and imli saplings. We also utilized home-made compost as nutrition for these saplings. A few locals also joined us and assured to take care of the saplings by watering them. Thanks to such noble souls! We also watered some of our saplings we planted in Rani Bagh recently: https://www.facebook.com/pg/WeMeanToCleanMeetup/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1301160613349834 Do view these pics - there's an amaltas we planted last year. It has grown taller than us!

108 SAPLINGS PLANTED IN RANI BAGH TOTAL SAPLINGS PLANTED THUS FAR THIS MONSOON: 700+ We have successfully crossed our last year's count of 600 saplings and targeting to plant 1,000 saplings this year! We planted native saplings such as amaltas and semal here to support our ecology! Kudos to these people... so much care for our environment!

25+ SAPLINGS PLANTED IN RANI BAGH TOTAL SAPLINGS PLANTED THUS FAR THIS MONSOON: 600+ We have successfully crossed our last year's count and targeting to hit 1,000 saplings this year! Although we had a small plantation drive in Noida this morning: http://wemeantoclean.blogspot.com/2018/07/2018-monsoon-plantation-week-05-noida.html some of our volunteers couldn't resist to plant a few more at Rani Bagh. So much enthu! We planted native saplings such as amaltas, baheda, pilkhan and marodphali to support our ecology! Kudos to these people... so much care for our environment!