From waste to wonders: My sustainability journey with Cisco’s Green Team

I have a confession to make about something I’ve been doing over the past 10 years: I have diligently separated my wet and dry waste. What does that mean? Everything that is biodegradable, like food scraps, goes in one bin; everything like paper or plastic goes to another; and medical waste to the third bin.  I have also been composting my wet waste, an average of two pounds per day. This amounts to nearly 2,800 pounds diverted from the landfill over four years.

So why is this relevant to my journey at Cisco? Small actions like this can have a bigger impact over time, and that has been reinforced during my time as a core team member of Cisco’s Green Team Network (GTN), an Inclusive Community at Cisco with 26 local chapters around the world. At GTN, we envision a more environmentally sustainable business and world, empowering our employees to drive social and environmental change at work and in their homes.

How did I get here? My own sustainability journey started as a child.

My Personal Sustainability Journey

My earliest connection with nature started at my ancestral home in India, where I grew up in a small town called Vasai. Our home had a backyard with many trees, and my dad loved gardening. Most of my summers were spent playing surrounded by nature.

But my true calling towards nature began when I moved to Bengaluru. Social media introduced me to pages like Indian Birds and Sanctuary Asia, where people posted their photographs of birds and wildlife. That’s when I decided to take up bird photography as a hobby. Visiting various lakes in Bengaluru and birding hotspots in my hometown and other locales in India, I have now documented roughly 300-350 species of birds.

The turning point came during the COVID pandemic. Due to lockdown restrictions, my visits to the lakes stopped, and so did my bird photography, but the itch to connect with nature had not gone away. I closely documented nature around my apartment, and when the restrictions eased a bit, I went to a nearby lake to document insects on the trail. Over time, I continued documenting the insect biodiversity and even published photos in a wildlife magazine and wildlife photography competitions, including winning a competition on World Wildlife Day that showcased the pervasive impact of plastic and waste in our environment.

I discovered that I wanted to use my photographs and experiences in the wild to tell stories that create awe about nature among people. I started collaborating with a non-governmental organization (NGO), Thicket Tales, which was organizing webinars for citizens on various topics related to wildlife and sustainability. I also started giving talks on biodiversity to schools and communities and, for the first time, to a corporation – Dell Technologies. I gave a series of 11 sessions to Dell Technologies on diverse topics related to biodiversity and sustainability.

Involvement with Cisco’s Green Team Network in India

Working as a Consulting Engineer in CX-Professional Services, I have been part of the Service Provider (SP) Mobility team working on deployment of mobility networks for customers like T-Mobile, Reliance Jio, TIM Brazil, and more. In mid-2023, when I was searching for a stretch assignment related to program management, I stumbled upon an opening for the Global Green Team Network (GTN) Education Lead. At the time, I did not get that role, but the GTN leadership team asked me to restart the chapter in Bengaluru, which had become dormant since COVID. Today, I am honored to join the Green Team Global Leadership as the Education Lead.

“Being part of the Green Team has deepened my commitment to driving impactful change, turning awareness into action, and inspiring a culture of responsibility in all spheres of my life.” –  Shiju Joseph, Executive Sponsor, Green Team – Bengaluru Chapter

In the first year of the Bengaluru chapter’s reinception, we engaged with 16 wildlife conservation and sustainability NGOs, raising ~$29K USD with 3,200 Cisconians participating in various events like webinars, documentary screenings, nature walks, biodiversity censuses, tree plantings, cleanup drives, and more. I’m proud that people have reconnected with nature through our various engagements. In addition, when we started the chapter, we onboarded many wildlife and sustainability NGOs to Cisco’s Benevity platform, which allows employees to easily donate or volunteer with a community organization.

Today, I am organizing sessions on diverse topics focusing on environmental issues and stories from various geographies, and I am proud to work with fellow Cisconians who share a similar passion for nature.

“Being part of the Green Team has surrounded me with a supportive community that constantly inspires and motivates me to adopt new, sustainable practices, making nature and sustainability a core value in my life.” – Manjari Vishnoi, co-lead, GTN Bengaluru Chapter

Vision and Goals

Looking toward the future, I want to introduce hackathons to help NGOs address their tech goals using expertise from Cisco. I also hope to introduce Cisco’s products and services portfolio from a sustainability perspective, with talks from Cisco experts working on such initiatives.

It would be great to see fellow Cisconians take up at least one activity in their daily lives that contributes to a more sustainable cause. Only when we incorporate sustainability into our daily lives will there be a positive change in the natural world we live in.

Involvement with GTN has meaningfully impacted my career journey and personal life. Working in a role that supports nature may become something I want to do for the rest of my life.  I believe nature is one cause worth fighting for because it is one thing humans cannot thrive without.