Mysteries of Mumbai’s Magic - Why are flamingos pink?
Youth-driven climate action is at the core of all our work and we believe in the timeless philosophy of “Show, don’t tell”. With this in mind, we came up with Mysteries of Mumbai’s Magic - a series of small experiential activities to unlock Mumbai’s best-kept secrets in an attempt to connect MMM community members to their city’s legacy and encourage their leadership for climate action.
As Mumbai undergoes rapid urbanisation, its legacy- both natural and historical is obliviating especially to the younger population. We saw this opportunity for the MMM community to use their collective powers to make the invisible visible and turn the spotlight on these treasure troves through the Mysteries of Mumbai’s Magic series.
Chapter 1: Mysteries of Mumbai’s Magic - Why are flamingos pink?
The first installment of this series, created in partnership with Wildnest Tours & Photography, was Mysteries of Magical Mumbai - Why are flamingos pink? This boatride at the flamingo observatory in CBD Belapur was an immersive experience and became a way to get young people to connect with Mumbai's biodiversity and wetlands..
To embark on this quest and find answers to our questions, we met at the Belapur Jetty and got on our ride for the day - a capacious boat which treaded through the serene waters of the wetland. Our guest list had a great mix of audiences, representing the diverse voices and views that make the city magical. Once onboard, our young expert Surbhi Agarwal told us about the wetlands and the importance of their conservation.
We reached a vantage spot where we spotted our feathery friends - the flamingos and learnt about their annual migration along with those of other birds like egrets, herons, gulls and ducks. We also found the answer to the question we started with and learnt about Miss Fuchsia our mascot for the campaign. Her story was beautifully laid out through a zine created specifically for this activity and brought out the need for wetlands protection in a fun and interesting way.
The impact from this boatride was visible through the content the participants created and shared. Our intention at the outset was to spark inspiration in a way that is meaningful to the participants. This manifested in the form of creative posts, reels, re shares and ideas to take action by more than 50% of the boatride participants with a collective reach of 30,000, ensuring that the conversation around biodiversity preservation continues even after the event.