Just a few weeks into the COVID lockdowns within the Spring of 2020, Anya Fenn and her twin sister, Anvi, like many people, started to be in contact with family just about.

During one explicit chat, Anya remembers talking along with her grandfather, Dr. Ram Lal Gupta, over 7,000 miles away in India about an commentary he had not too long ago made.

“I vividly remember as it was on a Zoom call and he lives in New Delhi, which is a very polluted place,” Anya stated of the nation’s capital the place almost 19% of the air air pollution comes from the commercial sector according to tech company, IQAir.

“This was one or two weeks into the lockdown so no one was going anywhere … nothing was happening and so he was shocked that he could see and hear birds and see all kinds of things. The air was clear,” Anya added. “Jersey as a whole is a relatively green state. Especially for us, we live in Hunterdon County, and so it can be hard to really see the effects of the climate change crisis.”

The 17-year-old sisters from Lebanon, a small township in New Jersey, had been motivated by their grandfather’s revelation to take motion.

The dialog with Gupta — who they referred to as “Nanu” which interprets to grandfather in Hindi — impressed Anya and Anvi to shortly after launch Evergreen Story, a non-profit and free storytelling platform that focuses on sustainability change-makers in India and past.

“Our parents are first-generation immigrants from India and memorable childhood stories were narrated to us firsthand by our grandparents so around maybe March or April 2020 when the world stopped, we began to appreciate the oral stories narrated by people in their voices,” Anya stated.

One side of Evergreen Story is to share oral tales via interviews they conduct with their topics surrounding local weather activism, environmental justice efforts and the histories of various households in India in an effort to encourage others. Anvi stated the group additionally makes use of “the storytelling to help support the environment. We make every story count by planting a fruit tree with a needy farmer in a plantation in South India.”

So far, the group has sponsored the planting of fifty,000 bushes — with 12,000 put within the floor abroad.

“I think the whole planting of trees sort of also kind of started with him as well,” stated Anvi, whereas discussing her 83-year-old grandfather who died in early November. “He loved to say he planted two trees for my sister and I in a nearby park to his house in Noida, India, and they have grown up with us.”

Evergreen Story has additionally grown in quite a lot of methods since launching within the spring of 2020.

The sisters have labored on a wide range of local weather and social justice initiatives and launched their very own podcasts. Anya’s present, “Sounds of Sustainability” and different audio tales she’s labored on as a part of Evergreen Story have put a highlight on sustainable meals, music and activism. Her sister, Anvi, who launched “The Ecofeminist Podcast” has homed in on gender fairness and sustainable menstrual hygiene as a part of an effort that started at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, the place the sisters go to highschool.

Evergreen Story has labored with New Jersey non-profit, Desi Rainbow Parents & Allies, which has constructed a community of South Asian LGBTQ+ households and supporters. It has additionally partnered with the Sahodari Foundation, PARZOR basis and the Oral History Association of India on numerous initiatives. It additionally not too long ago linked up with TERI, The Energy and Resources Institute, to roll out a local weather initiative for Indian highschool college students referred to as the Future Climate Leaders Program, which the sister’s father is affiliated with.

Anya and Anvi additionally joined three different activists of the African Climate Reality Project throughout an hour-long panel at COP27, a premiere local weather convention held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, final month, to debate the youth program.

Anvi stated a spotlight of COP27 was assembly individuals of varied ages from all through the world who all had comparable objectives in combating the detrimental impacts of world warming. For New Jerseyans, Anya stated, it may be tough to understand the cataclysms attributable to local weather change when the impacts are usually not as evident as in nations that face extreme drought and constant points with air air pollution.

“It was crazy to think that all these people were just in one area together being able to discuss what they’re very passionate about,” Anvi stated.

Joe Fenn, the sisters’ father, stated along with supporting the launch of Evergreen Story from the beginning, his firm’s IT crew helped to create the web platform.

“My wife and I are grateful that our twin daughters are growing up to be responsible young women who appreciate and value their opportunities and use these for more significant purposes beyond themselves,” Joe Fenn stated. “Climate change is one such connected force that will shape their world. As parents, we want them to be prepared, contribute meaningfully to the world, and find great satisfaction in doing so.”

After graduating highschool, Anya says she’s going to give attention to dietary science with a aim to broaden the supply of sustainable meals in New Jersey, India and past. She may even proceed pursuing her ardour for music. Her sister, Anvi, remains to be deciding her future objectives however is aware of they may embody how gender equality and South Asian research interconnect with local weather change.

What does the longer term maintain for Evergreen Story?

Besides pushing extra younger local weather activists to take motion of their residence state, the pair stated they plan to broaden their audio storytelling.

“We want to focus more on the diminishing groups in India that need their stories to be heard on some type of platform, because that’s crucial,” stated Anvi. “So I think we want to focus on the Indian Jewish community, because a lot of people don’t know about that…as well as Anglo Indians.”

To study extra about Evergreen Story go to evergreenstory.org/.

Our journalism wants your help. Please subscribe right now to NJ.com.

Steven Rodas could also be reached at srodas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @stevenrodasnj.