In this episode of The Sanskaari Girls Podcast, ⁠Arati Kumar-Rao⁠—National Geographic Explorer, environmental photographer, and author—joins ⁠Vandita Morarka⁠ to explore the disappearing world of South Asia’s landscapes.

They discuss Arati’s journey from physics and marketing to environmental storytelling, her award-winning book Marginlands: Indian Landscapes on the Brink, and how photography and longform narrative can illuminate the “slow violence” of ecological degradation. The conversation also touches on sustainable living, attuning our senses to the environment, and the urgent need for direct engagement with nature to inspire meaningful action.

🎙️ The Sanskaari Girls Podcast is a podcast by the Sanskaari Girls Book Club (SGBC), a South Asian feminist reading community fostering critical engagement with literature, amplifying marginal voices, and building reflective, politically conscious conversations.

Follow SGBC on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sign up⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for the SGBC Membership!

00:00 Introducing Arati

01:05 Discovering the world of environmental storytelling

09:09 Passion vs. viability

13:32 The act of witnessing

18:42 Getting people to care

23:30 Unequal burdens and climate refugees

31:32 Listening to traditional ecological knowledge

41:29 Rethinking short-sighted development initiatives

50:01 Community, and on being inconvenienced

55:23 Women's voices in environmental narratives

01:02:13 Holding on to hope

01:07:50 Arati's reccs

01:13:03 Outro