🌱 Inspiration
While exploring stories for Hackstory, we were deeply moved by the Chipko Movement — a peaceful protest in 1970s India where rural women physically hugged trees to stop deforestation. Despite its massive impact on environmental policies and grassroots activism, it's rarely taught in schools or highlighted globally. We wanted to give these brave women and their message a platform that’s modern, interactive, and emotionally resonant.
🌳 What it does
The Forgotten Forest is a storytelling website that brings the Chipko Movement to life through design, interaction, and narrative. It features:
A visually immersive landing page
A powerful story section that breaks down the movement
An interactive timeline of key events
A "Women of Chipko" hero wall showcasing unsung leaders
A simple yet engaging “hug the tree” mini-game
A call to action for users to reflect on their role in protecting nature All wrapped in a design that feels earthy, warm, and deeply human.
🛠 How we built it
We used React for dynamic content rendering and Tailwind CSS for styling and responsive design. The timeline and gallery were built using custom components, while animations and visual effects were implemented using basic JavaScript. The game is a simple click-based interaction designed with accessible HTML/CSS/JS, making it lightweight and fast. The site is deployed on Vercel for easy access.
🚧 Challenges we ran into
Balancing accuracy with storytelling: We wanted to stay historically accurate while also creating an emotional connection with users.
Designing for empathy: Making the story feel personal and real without overwhelming the user with text took several design iterations.
Creating interactivity on a tight timeline, especially the tree-hugging mini-game and scroll-triggered animations.
🏆 Accomplishments that we're proud of
Telling a story that matters and isn’t often told
Creating a fully responsive site with a strong user experience
Highlighting marginalized voices through thoughtful design
Making a historical topic engaging for young audiences
📚 What we learned
How to combine design thinking with history and web development
The power of visual storytelling to revive forgotten events
Better use of modular React components and Tailwind classes for scalability
That even simple interactivity can drive deep engagement
🌿 What's next for The Forgotten Forest
We plan to:
Expand the “Women of Chipko” section with more profiles
Add multilingual support to make it more accessible across India
Convert the site into an educational toolkit for schools
Include a section to compare global environmental movements and draw parallels
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