Body armor for journalists in Ukraine; a heroic rural doctor; a see-through frog
|  | Saturday, March 19, 2022 | | | | |
| In today’s newsletter, we remember slain journalists in Ukraine, profile a heroic rural doctor; examine a see-through frog; document Cuba’s songbirds; visit Brazil’s ‘freedom’ communities … and present the latest Nat Geo News Quiz. | |
 | PHOTOGRAPHS BY SARA HYLTON
| | By Whitney Johnson, Director of Visual and Immersive Experiences
From May to December, a female-led Nat Geo expedition team traveled the length of India’s holiest river, from sea to source, to get an unprecedented view of plastic pollution in a watershed–and ultimately, how to solve it.
As visual storytellers, immersive producer Veda Shastri and photographer and Nat Geo Explorer Sara Hylton depicted a complex and nuanced portrait of the Ganges—the dependence on both the river and plastic for people who live alongside it; their utmost respect and love for it; and their relative powerlessness at changing the structures that lead to plastic pollution.
“It was eye-opening seeing how dependent and integrated with the river the communities were—the spiritual component has a sanctity regardless of the levels of pollution,” Veda tells me. “It is truly a life source—for everyday sustenance.”
For Veda, the end of the 2019 journey, published in the April issue of National Geographic, is what stays with her. As they traveled upstream, the team witnessed a marked reduction in the level of pollution, and by the time they reached the city of Rishikesh, they were able to get a more unadulterated view of the Ganges.
“Incredible to witness that magic,” she says.
Watch video and read the full story here—and see a few of the photos below. (At top, the western Himalaya spot where the Ganges begins, at the confluence of the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers.) | | | |
| | Fishing amid the trash: Fisherman Babu Sahni, 30, and his eight-year-old son, Himanshu Kumar Sahni, approach a bank on a Ganges tributary. Trash collection is rare in rural India, and ad hoc dump sites like this one are common. Most plastic waste in the ocean gets there by washing off the land. | | | |
| | Before the goddess is submerged: Celebrants transport a likeness of the goddess Durga through the streets of Howrah, near Kolkata, during the Durga Puja festival. It ends with the immersion of the idols in a tributary of the Ganges. | | | |
| A personal interest in a cleaner river: Swami Shivanand Saraswati, 75, bathes in the Ganges at his Matri Sadan ashram in Haridwar. He leads a long-running and ambitious campaign to protect the river from mining, new dams, and pollution.
Do you get this newsletter daily? If not, sign up here or forward this to a friend. And please, consider supporting our storytelling by subscribing to our magazine and unlimited digital offerings for just $2.99 a month. | | | |
| You looking at me? A juvenile sea otter pauses in waters off Monterey, California. Sea otters lack fat storage and must rely on their fur (the densest in the animal kingdom) and a fast metabolism. To feed their metabolism sea otters must eat up to 30 percent of their body weight a day. Photographer Ralph Pace made this image for an upcoming Nat Geo story. Note: Image taken under U.S. FWS permit #37946D.
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 | PHOTOGRAPH BY KARINE AIGNER
| | A songbird close-up: Trapping or trading wild songbirds in Cuba is illegal but it's also a long tradition. Many Cubans keep colorful birds in their homes, for their beauty and their songs. Public pressure is mounting to stop the trade as the birding population dwindles. Photographer Karine Aigner made the image above of a songbird taking seeds from a handler’s tongue as a crowd of onlookers gathers in Havana.
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 | PHOTOGRAPH BY MARIA DANIEL BALCAZAR
| | Freedom: After slavery was abolished in Brazil, formerly enslaved people created a series of communities in remote areas called quilombos. To this day, quilombos remain a symbol of resistance and identity in a country where racism, inequality, and historical remembrance are sources of debate, Nat Geo reports. (Pictured above, followers of Candomblé, one of the most popular African-derived religions, take to the sea in Salvador, carrying white roses, perfume, and music to honor the goddess of the sea and the protector of fishermen.) Read the story and see more photos.
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| This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Jen Tse, and Monica Williams. Amanda Williams-Bryant, Rita Spinks, Alec Egamov, and Jeremy Brandt-Vorel also contributed this week. Have an idea or a link? We’d love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. Thanks for reading! | | | |
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