Noora Zaineb is a young environmentalist who is on a mission on to plant trees across India. Her foundation Plants Our Passion has planted over 40,000 saplings across India and have extended their networks in Germany and Saudi Arabia.
Shalini S, TwoCircles.net
Kozhikode: Fifteen-year-old Noora Zaineb just finished her 9th-grade annual exams but promotion to the next grade is not the only thing she is looking forward to this year. Noora has made planting trees her mission. With the help of her father, Zaineb is on a mission to plant 1 lakh saplings across India through their foundation “Plants Our Passion.”
As soon as this reporter got in a call with Zaineb, she promised to send me seeds of flower-bearing plants. This is what her foundation Plants Our Passion does. The foundation was started in 2017 with Noora as Vice Coordinator and her father Abdul Rasheed as the Chief Coordinator. They have planted over 40,000 saplings across India and have extended their networks in Germany and Saudi Arabia.
Every year they have a mission to plant more and more saplings. In 2017 they planted and distributed 1000 saplings. In 2018, they established 100 herbal gardens with 10 plants in each garden. In 2019, the foundation helped set up 1000 vegetable gardens and in 2020, they achieved the milestone of planting 40,000 saplings and want to raise the number to 1 lakh this year.
Plants Our Passion has conducted several workshops, inaugurated eco clubs and organized meetups for plant lovers in Kozhikode, Kerala.
“Plant a seed even if it is your last deed are the words of Prophet Mohammed and I live by it. He is my biggest inspiration,” says Noora.
Noora also draws inspiration from her father and Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al Nuaimi, better known as Green Sheikh.
Passion for plants in her family was induced by her grandmother who considered herbal plants as an asset from nature to humans. Following her footprints, Noora’s father used to present saplings to his co-workers during their birthdays. This unique habit of his was much appreciated by his coterie and as a result, blossomed into the formation of Plants Our Passion.
“Our mission is unique because we keep track of our plants. People regularly update us about the condition of the plant. If it’s drying up or appears dead, we encourage them by sending new packets of seeds and persuade them to take care of it,” says Noora.
Noora herself wasn’t a big lover of nature as a child, but once she started engaging in the act of sowing saplings and watching them grow, she couldn’t get enough of the miracle. “The supple movement of the plants are magical. I nurture my plants by talking to them and sharing about my day. They do listen to you,” Noora says.
Plants Our Passion doesn’t compel anyone to follow their mission. “People seek us. They come to our house and take a huge interest in what we do. We do not compel people to plant trees because no good will come out of it,” she added.
Noora and her father like to surprise people on their birthdays and special occasion. “We send rose plants to the newlywed and leave saplings at the doorsteps of people who have their birthdays. Later they would call us and share how surprised they were and that plants were a thoughtful present,” she says.
Through friends and acquaintances, they have developed a chain of community and have their seeds sown in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kashmir and in the holiest city of Islam. “We have a Neem tree planted at the 17th gate of Mecca. It is such a blessing for us. We were able to do it with the help of my father’s friend,” says Noora.
Dr Goottfried Thomas, a scholar from Germany who visited Noora’s school took interest in Plants Our Passion and expressed his interest to promote their work in Germany.
In December 2019, Noora gallantly held up the image of Greta Thunberg and extended solidarity to Greta’s climate activism in the Kerala School Parliament, Niyamana Sabha Hall, Thiruvananthapuram. “In the name of devastating mindless development, we are depleting the greenery of our planet Earth. We have an assembly line of leaders with a blinkered vision who do next to nothing compared to young gritty girl Greta Thunberg,” Noora says.
“We know that the depletion of nature is a serious problem. We can fight the government regarding industrialization. Equally, on the other hand, we should also work to enrich our surroundings,” she says.
Noora is also vocal about the Draft EIA 2020. “It will bring huge environmental destruction and directly affect the lives of people living on the fringes.”
Within a very few years of their establishment, Noora’s foundation has won several awards from different organizations in Kerala. “Plants Our Passion is an excellent project of fostering nature sensitivity among students and youth. I am excited to place on record that one of my promising students Noora Zaineb is playing a significant role in this particular project,” Muhammad Abdul Khader, Principal, Alif Global School, Calicut told TwoCircles.net.
With the motto ‘Enrich the Nature with Plants of Happiness’ Noora wants its foundation to reach a larger number of people.