Isaac Bell Spotlights Ramesh Bhushal
By Isaac Bell, Speaker Ambassador at the 2019 Planetary Health Annual Meeting
The morning after arriving in California I found myself having breakfast with Ramesh Bhushal, an environmental journalist from Nepal and a speaker at the 2019 Planetary Health Annual Meeting. I had the good fortune of being paired with Ramesh as part of the conference’s Student Ambassador Program, a platform intended to connect speakers and students that share similar interests.
Seated on a balcony overlooking lush palm trees (a slight change from the Canadian climate to which I’m accustomed), Ramesh and I had a long conversation touching on a range of topics. We connected over our biology-related academic backgrounds, and having both volunteered with community radio stations I was interested to learn how Ramesh applies his master’s degree in environmental sciences to his daily journalism practice. Unsurprisingly, the climate crisis was also top of mind and we discussed the tendency for proposed solutions to revolve around the preservation of contemporary economic systems.
Ramesh currently works for Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and is the Nepal editor for The Third Pole (an online platform focused on the Himalayan watershed), and has previously contributed to BBC Nepali and the Himalayan Times, among other news outlets. As an aside, The Third Pole derives its name from the massive glacial fields located in the Himalaya-Hindu Kush mountain range and the Tibetan Plateau. This region collectively accounts for the largest freshwater reserve in the world outside of the Arctic and Antarctica. With over 15 years of experience covering diverse and complex environmental issues, Ramesh has acquired extensive expertise in the field of environmental communications, particularly of the mass-media variety. His most recent publication, ‘Thirsty Kathmandu waits for water that never arrives,’ applies a critical lens to the ongoing water crisis in Nepal’s capital city, a situation with profound implications for both human health and the environment. Indeed, amplifying the voices of those directly affected by planetary health issues is a key theme throughout much of Ramesh’s work.
At the 2019 Planetary Health Annual Meeting Ramesh participated in a workshop entitled Rock Your Interview, Nail Your Pitch: Communications for Change in Planetary Health led Dr. Courtney Howard. Simply put, this workshop discussed practical ways to springboard data and evidence into real world changes, with a particular focus on the value of effective health-related narratives. After all, who doesn’t like a well-told story?
What exactly constitutes effective storytelling is in part subjective, but this workshop explored different strategies for communicating scientific concepts to a range of audiences, including clinical patients, policy makers, and the general public. Relevant advice was offered by workshop facilitators well-versed in the art of the interview and the pitch, the parallels to which are clear: How can I best convey what I want to say, to whom I need to say it, in a limited amount of time?
For example, highlighting reasons and opportunities for hope (however small) plays a crucially important role when discussing frightening topics; the current climate crisis being a prime example. This relates to the concept of striving to connect to people as, well, people! We all have fears, interests, and ideals, and trying to find common ground can, at times, be more effective than even the most rigorous presentation of evidence. Moreover, it’s important to have a consistent message that can be tailored according to your current audience and setting. This can be achieved via extensive preparation, a topic mentioned by several presenters. Ramesh also noted that scientists frequently fail to mention what most journalists want to know, namely, “what’s new?” (with your research project, in your field, etc.). Lastly, a tough question but one necessarily worth considering, is whether you are the right person to be telling a certain story. If not, can you help the right person obtain the proverbial microphone?
This workshop also included an activity component where participants were encouraged to think of two things that brought them to this line of work (and more specifically, to being in this particular room), as well as three exciting aspects of their current work. Participants then had the opportunity to share their answers via one-on-one conversations with workshop speakers. I had a great conversation with Jonathan Jennings, executive director of Health in Harmony, and he helped refine and simplify the way in which I talk about my academic background and current interests.
The Planetary Health Student Ambassador Program was a fantastic opportunity for students like myself to directly engage with conference speakers. I wish to extend my gratitude to the organizers of this initiative, as well as to Ramesh for taking the time to meet with me. His dedication to exposing the injustices and human impacts of environmental issues (often concerning water) has motivated me to be more aware of these situations on both a global and a local scale. My home country of Canada, despite its vast quantities of freshwater, certainly has its own host of issues, including the crisis of drinking water advisories in Indigenous communities and community-led struggles against corporate groundwater extraction. There is an urgent need to understand and address the interconnections between human rights and the environment, and, as a start, I feel motivated to seek out, listen to, and learn from voices advocating for just and sustainable changes on these topics.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Planetary Health Alliance or its members.
