Small Steps, Big Impact: My Journey into Sustainability with Gully Classes Foundation

Hello everyone! My name is Julian and over the upcoming six weeks, I will be doing a short series of different topics that I came across while volunteering for Gully Classes. First, a couple of things about me, so you can get a better understanding of me and my perspective on things. I am a 22-year-old student from Germany and I am now in my third year of my Bachelor of International Business Administration at the Rotterdam School of Management.

My journey began with my bag and thoughts on my mind

Sustainability is a matter that is very close to my heart and I am a firm believer in the business case for sustainability, as well as a general need for more sustainable behavior in global society. I also love traveling and am intrigued by different cultures. I was able to combine these two strong interests of mine by starting the “Green Leaders” volunteering project with AIESEC at Gully Classes in Mumbai, India - a city and country I have never been to before, but that has fascinated me for a long time. AIESEC is a global student organization, connecting students via volunteering or internship opportunities with both for-profit and non-profit organizations. The volunteering projects are always connected to one of the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), which appealed to me. My project, “Green Leaders,” specifically is meant to impact SDG 13, “Climate Action,” by educating communities about climate change and building action plans to reduce critical factors affecting the environment. The upcoming short articles I will be writing here are just one part of my work with Gully Classes in the coming weeks. I will also be creating a workshop about the topic of sustainability in urban spaces like Mumbai that I will then be conducting together with Gully Classes’ founder, Abdul Munaf, at multiple high schools in the city. In addition to that, I will also take part in the many collaborative events that Gully Classes is participating in with other NGO’s in and around Mumbai. For example, over the weekend, I had the opportunity to take part in a reforestation project in Aarey Forest. There, I also had the pleasure of meeting a true “Green Leader” from Mumbai, the charismatic Anand Pendharkar, founder of the NGO SPROUTS. Small Steps, Big Impact: My Journey into Sustainability with Gully Classes Foundation.

I am excited for my upcoming sustainability journey with Gully Classes and looking forward to meeting many more interesting figures from the field. I am deeply thankful to Abdul and AIESEC for this opportunity!