We are living in a time when forests are depleting, species are going extinct, rivers are being dammed and oceans are choking with plastic. With the climate crisis becoming more and more severe every day, it is obvious that we are hurtling towards a very dystopian future. But why do such few people care?
According to Global Forest Watch data, from 2001 to 2021, India lost 34.8kha of tree cover due to fires and 2.03Mha due to all other causes of loss. During this time span, the year with the largest tree cover loss due to fires was 2008, with 3.00kha lost to flames — 3.5% of all tree cover loss for that year.
According to the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021, 9,117 square kilometres of forests were converted into scrubs and barren lands in two years, from 2019 to 2021. Further examination of the records reveals that the quality of existing forests declined over a total of 74,457 square kilometres between 2015 and 2021.
Why do most of us think that what’s happening to the natural world around us is not necessarily happening to us? “Our ancestors knew how deeply our days, the seasons, and even our lives were deeply intertwined with nature. But the recognition of this interdependence and this age-old relationship is now fading rapidly,” said Megha Moorthy, editor-in-chief, RoundGlass Sustain, a wildlife conservation and biodiversity website.
Rebuilding Lost Connections:
Natural history storytelling can not only rebuild these lost connections, but it can transform, inform and educate people about how central the natural world is to our own existence. It can also draw your attention to the little things you’d normally ignore – the sunbird by your window, the caterpillar on your curry leaf plant, the spider in your bathroom.
“It can reiterate the fact that wildlife or the natural world is all around us and is a part of everything we do. It makes us more conscious, and more observant of the world around us. We slowly recognise that a fragile-looking dragonfly travels from Africa to India in the monsoon to breed in our shallow rain puddles,” Megha explained.
“At the same time, a network of mushrooms grows around some of Delhi’s most popular historical sites. And when the monsoon ends, migratory birds in thousands show up from Central Asia and Siberia to spend their winters in the lakes here. We are mesmerised by what was around us all along, but we were clueless about it. And suddenly, one day, we realise that we are in love with this beautiful natural world,” she added.
Converting The Unconverted:
“This was our goal when we set up RoundGlass Sustain — to be able to tell these stories through writing, photography, and films, convert the unconverted and create advocates for the natural world. I really believe that as natural history communicators, our time is now. We need many diverse voices to help the world realise the importance of what we are destroying and losing. To make inroads into people’s hearts and minds, we need to be innovative, we need to be engaging, and often even entertaining,” Megha added.
“As natural history communicators, we need to be a bridge between the scientific community and the rest of the world, we need to break down the jargon, and find innovative storytelling styles to make an impact. We need to find intersections between wildlife and art, music, history, Bollywood, and whatever else we can to reach more people. We need to be accessible in local languages and not just speak to the urban English-speaking population of the country,” she explained.
“As natural history communicators, we have a clear mandate. We have achieved our goal if we can convert one person to be more conscious or mindful of the world around us, encourage one person to protect a small wetland nearby, or prevent authorities from cutting down trees in a neighbourhood through our stories,” she said.
