June 2024 update - events, features, talks
Upcoming online & offline events + Public Speaking + Internships, Volunteering & more!
Introduction
The month of May in 2024 saw EXTREME climate impacts across India - heatwaves in North, West & Central India, and a cyclone hitting East and North East India.
And while the environment or climate are not political discussions yet, this year even the Environment Day celebrations were overshadowed by the results for the General Elections in India. But maybe this is appropriate. It clearly is time for us to think about and take action on environment related challenges everyday, and 1 day out of 365 is no longer enough.
We’re going through a busy phase at Veditum, working with a bunch of wonderful interns in the months of May - July, expanding the programming at India Sand Watch, writing grant proposals, delivering talks & lectures, tallying accounts, organising events and preparing for an upcoming fundraiser.
Dive in for a bit more detail, and join us for the upcoming programs!
Moving Upstream
On the occasion of World Environment Day, we are screening the Moving Upstream: Ganga documentary, followed by a discussion with Siddharth and lightning presentations & showcases by different environmental groups.
🗓️ When: 9th June, Sunday, 4pm to 9pm
📍 Where: The Red Bari, Kalighat, Kolkata (google maps link)
🔗 RSVP: https://veditum.org/wed24/
Come, participate, learn about and interact with the environmental groups?
Moving Upstream: Luni fellowship
As a reader of this newsletter you would already know that we conducted the Moving Upstream: Luni Fellowship earlier this year with our partners at School of Public Policy, IIT Delhi, Out of Eden Walk & A4Store.
This video artefact was produced as part of a larger profile (linked later in the newsletter) by Agami of Veditum’s work, created through a collaborative process.
Videos, photos, audio notes by our fellows (Avisha, Hassan, Kuhoo, Madhuri, satish, Saurav, Suraj, Vandita), mixed with animations, music etc (ft. Ayera & Sreejith from the Agami team), addresses the question around our work - "How are justice and walking related? And why does India need more river walkers?"
Please watch this lovely video and share your thoughts with us!
India Sand Watch
Data Sprint
We are soon going to host a virtual Data Sprint, in partnership with Alliance for Conserving Freshwater Ecosystems, focusing on sand mining in the rivers of Western India, ie. the states of Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat. Stay tuned to this newsletter and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram for more details.
If you’re interested in partnering on this upcoming sprint or for a data sprint in your region, then write to us at sandwatch@veditum.org.
Sediment Stories
🌊 We're talking to herpetologist & freshwater ecologist Anuja Mital for the 3rd conversation of ‘Sediment Stories’. She will be sharing on the topic "Shifting sands and turtles in the Brahmaputra river".
📖 ‘Sediment Stories’ is a series of conversation on sediments - from creation to extraction, hosted by India Sand Watch and Veditum India Foundation
📅 Join us on Saturday, 8th June at 5pm IST
🔗 Register on this link - https://veditum.org/sedimentstories/
In the upcoming conversations will be inviting geologists, biologists, hydrologists, journalists, activists, administrators, and more. Share suggestions for possible speakers?
In the last Sediment Stories conversation, we spoke with Shishir Rao, a researcher, about the role of sediments and water flow in estuaries.
Listen to this conversation at the link above!
Support our work
If you like the work we do at Veditum, do consider making a tax deductible donation to support out work. No amount is small! Click the button below to make a donation.
You can also volunteer with Veditum, read more at this link.
Internship
At present we are working with 7 interns this summer with varied educational backgrounds, for the India Sand Watch project. The internship brings with it a new energy, set of thoughts and questions, and we are excited to see their work develop!
In the coming months we will be publishing reports focussing on specific geographies that are being created by our interns. They’re doing an incredible job at it and we can’t wait to share these with you!
Interviews, features, comments
A bank of Possibilities - Agami
The wonderful folks at Agami (Aditi and Sachin) did a deep dive into the evolution, thinking, working, vision and more, of the work we do at Veditum India Foundation, and created a long form profile.
Weaving things together in this profile are the video from the Moving Upstream: Luni Fellowship mentioned earlier in this post, and gorgeous illustrations related to our work at India Sand Watch by designer & illustrator Kabini Amin (also a fellow from an earlier iteration of Veditum’s Moving Upstream fellowship program).
Another artefact from this effort in the form of a long form scroll is also taking shape, and will be shared by the time we publish the next newsletter.
Understanding the sand mining crisis in India’s rivers - Thred
This piece about the issue of sand mining in India's rivers, highlights our work at India Sand Watch in addressing this challenge, and also features the work of our partners - Wildlife Conservation Trust as technological and grassroots attempts crating awareness and accountability around sand mining. Read the article here.
Public Speaking
Veditum’s founder Siddharth presented as a panelist at the ‘Species in Spotlight, Gharial’ session organised as part of IUCN World Species Congress 2024.
The panel, which included our friend Tarun Nair from Wildlife Conservation Trust as the lead panelist, discussed: ‘Can Citizen Sentinels help curb Environmental Crimes? A Case Study on Illegal Sand Mining in India’.
Watch the recording here
Siddharth was also invited for an interaction with NGOs / activists / river lovers from all across West Bengal to share about the work we’re doing at India Sand Watch, and what can be done collectively to address the environmental challenge of sand mining in West Bengal.
This discussion was hosted by the Balurghat based group - Dishari Sankalp, helmed by Tuhin Subhra Mandal.
Interesting / recommended / related reading for this edition
https://sandrp.in/2024/05/20/let-yamuna-flow-a-rivers-appeals-to-political-parties/
Photo essay | Strange Natures: Volatile ecologies and shifting islands
Research paper | Impacts of Hydrologic Change on Sandbar Nesting Availability for Riverine Turtles in Eastern Minnesota, USA
Research paper | Beyond (Un)Stable: Chars as Dynamic Destabilisers of Problematic Binaries
Book | Dancing with the River: People and Life on the Chars of South Asia
Recommended people / groups to follow
Anuja is the co-founder of Freshwater Turtles and Tortoises of India (FTTI) and is currently a Ph.D. student in Integrative Conservation at the Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia. She is also our guest at the next Sediment Stories. Follow her on Instagram - @aninja_turtle and LinkedIn
Volunteers
We are grateful to the time and work contribution our volunteers have made for Veditum and India Sand Watch project.
If our work interests you and you would like to volunteer with us, please get in touch with us by filling a form on this link - https://veditum.org/work-with-veditum/
Support our work
If you like the work we do at Veditum, do consider making a tax deductible donation to support out work. No amount is small! Click the button below to make a donation.
You can also volunteer with Veditum, read more at this link.
Thank you for reading through!
We’ll be back in a fortnight with more updates, including stories, updates from our data sprint, and news about events & opportunities.
Until then, take care and follow us on social media if you’re active on these platforms:
VEDITUM: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Linkedin | YouTube
MOVING UPSTREAM: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
INDIA SAND WATCH: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
Warmly,
Team Veditum