@sarahyltonphoto

Oops! I missed posting on the ‘right’ day, so I’m making today World Environment Day. And actually how about tomorrow too, and the day after? And maybe every single day? The more I pursue stories related to climate change, global warming, environmental degradation, call it what you will, this at times difficult and intangible thing to grasp, I have found the images that most resonate with me are of people. It is often those that are most vulnerable, who already have sustainable practices inherent in their everyday lives out of tradition and necessity, that are the most impacted by climate change. These are a few images of Chidambaran Chithan, a 65-year-old fisherman whom I met while working on a story for @natgeo in Alleppey, Kerala. Chidambaran was a fisherman on Vembanad Lake for over 40 years. Just before the pandemic, he started selling saltwater fish to locals, a less laborious and steady job, he said. “The fish were very abundant in the lake…right now the availability is very low…we’re not getting anything from this lake” he said. He equates a dwindling fish population to pollution. But it is not only a decrease in fish population, which has seen a 40 percent drop in the last decade, drastic weather events, including floods and cyclones, are hitting the region at increasing rates. Chidambaran’s family’s ancestral home (pictured in image one, along with two of his grandchildren) was destroyed from a flood in 2018. When I asked Chidambaran what he hoped for, he began to tear up: “these torrential rains, corona and the flood, these things have destroyed entire people’s lives along with me…this must change…what I suggest is that we must be more careful in conserving nature, this lake, we need to conserve it otherwise this next generation is going to suffer…people must get out of this bad situation that’s what my wish is.” #worldenvironmentday #climatechange #fishing #kodakportra400