The more I travel, the more passionate I feel about certain causes. Among these are sustainable travel, veganism, wildlife conservation, environment protection and women empowerment.
By partnering with local organisations whose work I admire and leveraging my travel blogging and social media expertise, I’ve been able to drive “passion projects” in these areas:
I LOVE SPITI
An initiative to create awareness and alternatives for plastic bottled water in the Spiti Valley of India, in order to reduce non-biodegradable single-use plastic.
“I Love Spiti” – How Travellers Must Help Save India’s Surreal Himalayan Desert.
About the project: In 2017, I partnered with Spiti Ecosphere and fellow travellers/volunteers to fight the plastic bottled water (packaged drinking water) menace in India’s Trans-Himalayan region.
- Built a lifesize “I Love Spiti” art installation using discarded plastic bottles to encourage travellers to pledge to say no plastic bottles.
- Held the world’s highest Instagram Meet to highlight the issue and discuss solutions.
- Began the conversation with local businesses to provide alternatives to bottled water.
- Currently sourcing sponsors to install public filters across Spiti.
- Project featured on Hindustan Times, The Better India and Scoopwhoop.
VOICES OF MUNSIARI
A project to enable rural Himalayan storytellers to connect directly with the world through Instagram – resulting in India’s first Instagram channel run entirely by a village community.
About the project: In 2016, I collaborated with Himalayan Ark and Maati Sangathan to create @voicesofmunsiari – India’s first Instagram channel to be run independently by a rural village community.
- Trained potential photographers from rural Uttarakhand villages to use Instagram constructively.
- Held a Photography and Instagram Workshop in Munsiyari to encourage more budding photographers.
- Crowd-sourced smartphones to enable more creative minds to share their stories using Instagram.
- Currently planning a photography exhibition to showcase the work of rural Himalayan photographers.
- Project featured on Times of India, Conde Nast Traveller, Homegrown, The Better India and Business Insider.
VEGAN TRAVEL
An attempt to shed light on animal cruelty, and share the joys and challenges of travelling as a vegan – not consuming any animal products as far as possible.
Why I Turned Vegan – And What It Means for My Travel Lifestyle.
About the project: Since I decided to embrace veganism in my diet and lifestyle, I feel passionate about spreading awareness about the plight of animlas that regularly make it to our dinner tables, wardrobes and travel attractions.
- Created an Instagram channel dedicated to my vegan food (mis)adventures around the world: @nomadicvegan.
- Initiated “Vegan Saturdays” on my primary Instagram to talk about veganism in the context of travel, life, the environment and our health.
- Spoke at the Ahimsa Fest – Mumbai’s annual vegan festival – and other reader events to raise awareness.
- Currently approaching widely-read publications for stories around vegan travel and the vegan lifestyle.
SOLO TRAVELLER (ASIA) SERIES
A blogging series to share the journeys of intrepid solo travellers from across Asia – typically under-represented in the online solo travel space.
Meet the Courageous Indian Woman Travelling the World Solo – On a Wheelchair!
PARTNER WITH ME
If you’d like to collaborate with me to further one of the above causes, especially in a way that I can leverage my blogging and social media work, I would love to hear from you at shivyanath@gmail.com.
