Collaboration Launching: ProjectPolaris x GiC!
Updated: Sep 15
In Kyrgyz, Altyn-Kazyk (Алтын-Казык) means “Golden Stake”—a term for the North Star, or Polaris. It is the guiding point for nomadic people to navigate each night. Here, they were not passive victims, but practiced navigators who knew how to move forward even in the dark. ProjectPolaris was founded to become that guiding light for Altyn-Kazyk's youths to learn, to become community focal points in climate science, and eventually, even teachers to the younger cohorts.
This summer, we are excited to celebrate our official partnership launch with ProjectPolaris, a youth-led initiative co-founded by the Greener is Cleaner Deputy Executive Director, Jina, who has been connecting South Korea and Kyrgyzstan through environmental justice, community science, and education. But what exactly is ProjectPolaris and what has it come to become?
Our collaboration began through the EcoEnglish camps in Ivanovka and Altyn-Kazyk, where Greener is Cleaner members worked alongside KEIIN University students to deliver climate and English education to local youth. What began as a summer program gradually grew into something larger: a shared commitment to supporting communities living alongside environmental challenges. For some context, ProjectPolaris builds on years of relationship-building, documentary storytelling, household surveys, and environmental research in Altyn-Kazyk, a community on the edge of Bishkek's waste mountain. Its goal is simple but powerful: equip local residents with the tools to document environmental conditions, develop leadership skills, and create solutions rooted in their own experiences.
As an official NGO partner alongside KFHI, Women's NGO Forum Kyrgyzstan, ECOIS Bishkek, and UNICEF, Greener is Cleaner is also excited to support ProjectPolaris through environmental education and ongoing environmental health report initiatives. We believe meaningful climate action begins by listening to communities, making invisible challenges visible, and ensuring young people have the opportunity to lead.
Our members from writing and media teams from all across the world will be pitching in, connecting with the leaders from Bishkek and Ivanovka's ProjectPolaris teams. We're looking forward to seeing ProjectPolaris continue to grow as a platform for youth leadership, community science, and environmental justice across Central Asia, and perhaps even beyond! If you're interested in joining the effort, whether locally from Kyrgyzstan or remotely from elsewhere, feel free to reach out through Greener is Cleaner, or contact ProjectPolaris directly by emailing projectpolaris.kg@gmail.com!
*A special thank you to our guest project member & ProjectPolaris lead, Mahabit, for crafting this blog content & leading Kyrgyz-to-English translations!
