Episode #21 is about the Thano forest in in the Doon valley Uttarakhand- the state where I live. Thano has been in the news lately because the Uttarakhand government has sought the National Wildlife Board's approval to transfer 243 acres of forest land to the Airports Authority of India. They want to expand the local existing Jolly Grant airport into an international airport. Listen to the facts from my 3 guests who are all prominent Doon citizens. Lokesh Ohri: Anthropologist, historian, writer and a cultural activist & founder of Been There Doon That. Abhijay Negi, is a young activist-lawyer, founder of MAD which stand for Making a difference. Both are active drivers of the #savethano movement. I am also speaking with Sanjay Sondhi, a well known naturalist, founder of Titli Trust and a community development and livelihoods expert. Photos courtesy: (Woodpecker included:Sanjay Sondhi), Lokesh Ohri and Abhijay Negi

Heart of Conservation

Let's Talk About Thano. Lokesh Ohri. Abhijay Negi. Sanjay Sondhi. Ep#21

In this last episode of Season Two of Heart of Conservation, I've put together the collective wisdom of 20+ people who were my guests so far. At the end of every episode, I ask my guests to share something that's significant to them - a word, an idea or their hopes. It's all here. Listen! The show notes will be available for you to read on earthymatters.blog soon. Season Three coming soon. Stay Safe. Keep Listening.

Collective Wisdom: The Best From My Guests. Ep# 20

Truth be told, this is one of those interviews where I got more answers than I expected. As usual I learned a lot and am even more in awe of my guest William McKay Aitken (better known as Bill Aitken). He is a dear friend and hillside neighbour who I have long admired for his sense of adventure, his travel writing, his wit, and take on life.. Bill was born in Scotland, hitchhiked to India across Europe in the 1950s and stayed onto become a naturalized Indian citizen. Drawn by his love for Himalayan mountains and rivers and plateaus of India bill written extensively about them. He has authored over a dozen books including The Nanda Devi Affair and Seven Sacred Rivers Show notes for this podcast will be available soon on earthymatters.blog

Bill Aitken: Nature as the Footprint of the Divine. Ep#19

Nina Gupta is an ecologist who lives in Auroville (India)and works around the globe as an independent consultant integrating biodiversity conservation and sustainable development options. . She has published a colouring book for adults, the first in India, on Edible Weeds. She takes us through the where, how, which and why of urban foraging and shares her experience of foraging, the weed walks she conducts and also tells us where you draw the line with foraging as well. You can also find her 'Edible weed walk' on YouTube channel. Show notes coming soon on https://earthymatters.blog/ You can check my other podcast stories there in the meanwhile. Cover Art work: Lalitha Krishnan. Photo and illustrations courtesy Nina Sengupta.

Nina Sengupta: Your Guide to Urban Foraging Ep#18

Rita is one of India's leading wildlife and environment filmmakers. In an in-depth interview, she speaks about her experience of filming wildlife over a career spanning over 20 years. She also highlights for us conservation issues regarding wildlife trade for example and speaks of her interactions with indigenous communities of the northeast, wildlife education programmes she initiated, including Green Hub - empowering youth with video-fellowships and more. She has recently been selected as an Ashoka Fellow (a lifelong fellowship for the world's leading social entrepreneurs. and was awarded the National Geographic – CMS Prithvi Ratna Award, and in 2018 the RBS Earth Hero Award for her contribution to the environment through films.

Rita Banerji: India's Leading Wildlife/Environment Filmmaker & Catalyst for Change Ep#17

Hi, I'm Lalitha Krishnan. I ‘m speaking to Lisa Mills, program director at the Wildlife Conservation Enterprise Program at the University of Montana- Broader Impact Group. The University of Montana in partnership with The Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network (WFEN), has released a science-based guide or standards for the certification of tea producers under the Certified Elephant Friendly™ Tea label. Lisa has been working to save the “globally endangered” Asian elephant for the past 10 years and is now facilitating ‘The Elephant Friendly Tea Certificate Program in northeast India. Listen to Lisa to understand some crucial issues: What is the connection between tea and elephants? How are the choices you make in the market making a difference? What are the reasons for elephant mortality in tea estates? How are man-animal conflicts resolved? Is there a future market for other wildlife-friendly products in India? Show notes coming soon on https://earthymatters.blog/

Lisa MIlls. How Every Single Cup of 'Elephant-Friendly Tea' Counts. Ep#16

Hi, I'm Lalitha Krishnan. My guest is Aditi Mukherji: Principal Researcher at the International Water Management Institute. She is the coordinating lead author of the water chapter of the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is to be published in 2021. In her previous job as the Theme Leader of the Water and Air theme at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal, she co-edited a report on the effects of climate change on the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region. This report that has woken the world to the possible reality that the Hindu Kush Himalayas could lose as much as 90% of its snow and ice by 2100 due to retreating glaciers, glacier-fed rivers, and carbon emissions. She has over 20years of experience working on policies and institutions of water resources management with a special focus on water-energy-food nexus. Photo courtest Aditi Mukerji. Cover Artwork: LalithaKrishnan

Aditi Mukherji:What the Drying of Himalayan Springs Means for India Ep#15

Bhavna Menon is the Programme Manager at the Last Wilderness Foundation, an NGO that has been working in three prominent tiger reserves of Madhya Pradesh in India. She has been working with LWF for the past nine years and is clearly passionate and convincingly articulate about why engaging with local communities, children and the forest department is a win-win to mitigate human-wildlife conflict and save the wilderness. Show notes coming soon on https://earthymatters.blog/

Bhavna Menon: Saving the Wilderness Through Community Participation Ep#14

Almitra Patel is an environmental policy advocate and anti-pollution activist. Her Public Interest Litigation in the Supreme Court against the open dumping of municipal solid waste was instrumental in the drafting of the Municipal Solid Waste Management Rule in India. Her clean up Indian campaign started 20+ long years long before it hit our billboards. Listen to her fascinating story. Show notes coming soon on earthymatters.blog. You can listen and read to other episodes on my blog.

Almitra Patel:The Garbologist who Gave India Solid Waste Management Rules Ep#13

SEASON TWO. For the first time, I'm interviewing an interesting young researcher-couple who are both experts in their fields. Pritha did her Ph.D. on the diversity patterns of the Geometridae family. Her doctoral work included the study of insect biodiversity loss due to anthropogenic disturbances in the western Indian Himalaya. My second guest is Pritha’s husband Rohit Chakravarty. He is a bat biologist currently pursuing a Ph.D. at the Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin. Listen to some amazing facts and stories. Truly inspiring. For more info on bats write to rohit.chakravarty77@gmail.com. For more on moths, write to dey.pritha126@gmail.com Show notes coming soon on earthymatters.blog. #listennow

Ep#12 Rohit Chakravarty & Pritha Dey: BatMan and MothLady

For a person who would normally rather communicate through his photographs, in his first podcast-recording, Dhritiman Mukherjee, one of India’s most sought after wildlife photographers, opens up and speaks at length about his own perspectives and the process of his photography. Always lobbying for wildlife, he helps us understand several issues based on his experiences and personal knowledge of over 20 years. Talking of tourism, he explains how it helps wildlife rather than harms. He tells us about some of his conservation efforts including the Narcondam hornbill, which is exclusive to the Narcondam island and other projects documenting the Bengal florican, the Himalayan snow-leopard, brown bears, western tragopan, etc. and why he is never 100% satisfied with his efforts. He speaks about his travels on the iconic 2018 Abhor expedition (last conducted 160 years ago) with five WII (Wildlife Institute of India) scientists into parts unknown in Arunachal Pradesh, where they discovered recorded and discovered several species. Briefly, we discuss equipment; he tells us why he isn’t fussy about equipment and what ‘ethics and responsibility’ means for him. He tells us why he has a problem with words like “favourite-species”, ‘proud”, “good” and “bad”, “success and failure” Dhritiman also share a word that he thinks is important to conservation. Listen now. Let me know what you think. Write to me at earthymatters013@gmail.com You can read the Show notes soon on my blog. Check out other episode show notes there in the meanwhile.

EP#11 Dhritiman Mukherjee: The Philosophy of Photography

Otters are kept as pets. Can you imagine? They are a huge part of the illegal wildlife trade. I found out this and more at Wild Otters an otter-research based organization, tucked away in a corner of Chorao island in Goa. Listen to Ecologist and Director, Dr. Katrina Fernandez and Director and Chief of Communications, Kshitij Garg; Katrine Burford-Bradshaw and Shiri Lev and find out what they're doing to conserve the Smooth-coated otter, in its habitat. Listen on Spotify, apple podcasts, google podcast and android. Show notes for this episode on earthymatters.blog https://earthymatters.blog/2019/06/05/wild-otters-pvt-ltd-a-business-model-for-conservation-ep10/ Photo and otters sounds courtesy: WildOtters.

Ep#10 Wild Otters Pvt. Ltd: A Business Model for Conservation.

In episode # 9 of Heart ofConservation, I'm speaking with the young, talented Cara Tejpal. She describes herself as conservation generalist, who lends her skills to help confront the gamut of conservation challenges in India. She writes, fundraises, works on policy documents and develops campaigns under the umbrella of the Sanctuary Nature Foundation, while also heading their unique Mud on Boots Project. As an independent writer, her articles on wildlife have appeared in several publications. We speak of various conservation issues and concerns including saving the Great Indian Bustard. Show notes coming soon. You can read the transcripts for the other 8 podcast episodes on https://earthymatters.blog/ Cover photo courtesy Cara Tejpal.

Cara Tejpal Eco-Warrior Ep # 9

Sanjay Sondhi is responsible for discovering a new species - the Bompu Litter Frog. This frog discovered by Sanjay was previously unknown to science. Sanjay is as well known for his expertise on moths and butterflies and conducts workshops for the same. His nature column, Doon watch, in Hindustan Times and a column called Urban Nature Watch published in TERI's monthly magazine are both very popular reads. He has researched and authored an impressive number of field guides on butterflies, lizards, and amphibians, and is involved in conservation and livelihood projects in the western and eastern Himalaya.

Sanjay Sondhi: Nature Conservation & Livelihoods Ep#8

Award-winning Ajay Rastogi, (Co-founder & Director of the Vrikshalaya Himalayan Centre, Uttarakhand, India) is an applied ethics practitioner, philosopher, and a yoga instructor. He tells why not just energy saving appliances but an almost 180-degree turnaround in attitude is crucial for saving the planet. He explains the science behind nature contemplation and why you don’t go into the forest with a checklist if you want to contemplate on nature. He tells us why he thinks the three principles of ‘dignity of physical work’, ‘interdependence’ and ‘interconnectivity’ are imperative for a smart, harmonious planet. He shows us by example us how village homestays are bringing out positive change both culturally and monetarily in a small corner of the Himalaya. Also, why the ‘Science of Happiness’ and the merging of the East with the latest neuroscience of the west are so popular. Ajay is a recipient of the South Asia Youth Leaders Award, European Union Erasmus Mundus Fellowship in Applied Ethics, and the Nehru-Fulbright Environmental Leadership Award for Contemplative Education.

Ajay Rastogi: Pursuit of Consumerism & Science of Happiness Ep#7

Stay tuned for exciting interviews and inspiring stories. I'm speaking with people from all walks of life to bring you personal stories that keep you connected with our natural world. Keep listening for news, views and, updates from the world of conservation. Read show notes on earthymatters.blog

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Heart of Conservation

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