World Environment Day: Why some Indians are giving up jobs, businesses to focus on sustainability

Her interest was piqued and she started reading up on the subject.

The first book she picked up was on the London smog — during an infamous five-day period in December 1952, the British capital city was covered in a lethal fog that led to thousands of deaths. The premonitions of that disaster, referred to as the ‘Great London Smog’, had already been there in the early 20th century poetry of TS Eliot, when he wrote of “burnt out ends of smoky days” (Preludes) or the “yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window panes” (The Love Song of J Alfred Profrock).

But Kandhari was left shocked. Back in the ’90s, when the West symbolised the land of opportunities for Indians, people choking to their deaths under a blanket of pollution was hardly the image one had of a major European city.

Also, the very idea of pollution killing people would probably have been something that many would have scoffed at at the time.

But later that same decade, in 1999, while attending an automobile show at Delhi’s Pragati Maidan (now Bharat Mandapam), she came across a lung-testing booth set up by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

A few years later, when her twin daughters were born prematurely in 2003 (they also suffered from respiratory issues growing up), Kandhari knew enough to immediately worry about the effect of air pollution.

“I had read about the impact of air pollution on pregnancies, of the risk of preterm births. It got me thinking. We were still in a position of privilege; my daughters had good medical care and access to incubators. But not every child is that lucky,” she says.

Kandhari gave up her copywriting career, choosing to dedicate herself fully to the cause of people’s right to clean air.

Two of her most successful and well-known initiatives include ‘Right to Breathe’, which happened in 2016, when Delhi was enveloped in a smog cover, and the formation of ‘Warrior Moms’ in 2020, a citizens’ group which continues to fight for clean air.

For the past few years, stories of urban Indian professionals giving up jobs and lives in the city to turn farmers or choose slow living amidst nature have increasingly made their way to media reports. Often these stories have a sustainable angle, like that of a couple in Kerala who reportedly gave up their jobs and turned their home into a zero-cost living space — they grow their own food, keep poultry and dairy animals and a biogas plant for energy requirements. Others opting for a similar urban detox might choose to go green on a lesser degree — solar panels, organic fertilisers, composting… But alongside such examples are Indians like Kandhari, maybe still only a handful, who are giving up jobs and businesses to turn environment or climate crusaders, or shifting to ventures which help others, too, to adopt a more sustainable approach towards life.

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The efforts, no matter how limited, matter.

The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Global Climate 2025 report “confirms 2015-2025 [to be the] hottest 11 years on record”. “Earth’s energy imbalance is the highest in a sixty-five-year record. The ocean has been absorbing about eighteen times the annual human energy use each year for the past two decades,” the report added. Across the world, extreme climate events have been reported. “Annual sea ice extent in the Arctic was at or near a record low, Antarctic sea ice extent was the third lowest on record, and glacier melt continued unabated,” the report further stated. There have also been reports of forest fires and rising sea levels.

In 1972, when the United Nations (UN), designated June 5 as World Environment Day, to be observed annually, it did so with the aim to “highlight that the protection and health of the environment is a major issue, which affects the well-being of peoples and economic development throughout the world”.

For 2026, the UN has picked climate change as the theme for World Environment Day, “on the urgent signals the Earth is sending and the signals we choose to send in response”. On its website, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), “calls on everyone to step in, go further, and help steer a world already in motion. The question is no longer whether change is coming, but how humanity guides it and how fast”.

Days before the June 5 marker, Kolkata-based Somini Sen Dua observed the occasion by leading an afforestation drive on June 2, under the banner of Mrittika Earthy Talks, an NGO she registered in 2021. “We are building a Miyawaki forest, because simply planting trees is not enough anymore,” says Sen Dua, who till the Covid pandemic of 2020 used to run a public relations firm in Kolkata. Named after Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki, a Miyawaki forest focuses on the reconstruction of native forests in a small area. It is characterised by its biodiversity and density; the density being a factor in the faster growth of the saplings. “I aim to plant 10,000 trees in my lifetime. On June 2, we touched 3,200,” says Sen Dua.

Talking about her transition from a public relations professional to a “social entrepreneur”, which is how she identifies herself now, she says, “Covid changed things. In the initial stage, I closed the office when everything shut down, but then I didn’t want to go back to it. I lost some people close to me during the pandemic, either from Covid or comorbidities. I lost my dog. I saw people gasping for oxygen and it got me thinking.”

The first thing she changed was how and what she ate, setting up a small terrace farm at home to grow kitchen vegetables. Mrittika followed, the name borrowing from a ceramics making workshop that she had joined. The two major areas in which Mrittika works are waste management and plantation. But there are other initiatives, such as collecting old, worn sarees and turning them into eco-friendly bags, or runners. She also collaborates with farmers and rural collectives to source farm produce from them and sell it at exhibitions. As far as staff goes, “I have a small tailoring team”, she says; others are like-minded members of WhatsApp groups who join her for clean-up and plantation drives. She also works with CSR (corporate social responsibility) teams of companies.

“I think my marketing skills help, but whereas earlier, in my other profession, I feel I was really contributing in any way, here I can make a difference,” she says.

Having traded fashion and glamour icons for new heroes like Sonam Wangchuk (the Ladakhi activist and environmentalist), the mantra she lives by now is a quote by writer-chef Paul Avellino, “Many of us became accidental activists. Not out of rage, but out of heartbreak. Because somewhere along the way, we realised silence helps no one. Not the earth, not our children, not each other.”

Not everyone who chooses to step off the beaten path, however, feels comfortable with the tag of an environment or climate activist/crusader.

“An activist is considered somebody who's against the establishment or against something. For me, that's not what I see as climate solutioning. We're all trying to work towards meaningful change in general,” says Ajay Raghavan, a Bengaluru resident, who gave up his job in labour law to start Bangalore Creative Circus, an urban living lab and the non-profit Initiative for Climate Change.

While Bangalore Creative Circus is now rented out to those experimenting in sustainability and regenerative systems, in addition to hosting events, the initial funds for it came from Raghavan’s pockets, as he calls it a “passion project”.

It all started in 2016, when watching the documentary Before the Flood sparked his interest in climate science. He spent four years reading, researching and meeting people working in climate-related fields before leaving law in 2020 to devote himself to working in climate action. "My work is largely around bringing actors together, whether it's for-profit, nonprofit, or government. How do you bring this community across diverse things... and allow people to speak to each other and find solutions? That’s what I aim at,” he says.

Interestingly, Raghavan’s one-time colleague, Delhi-based Nishant Beniwal, too, gave up his job as a corporate lawyer to study climate change. Beniwal, who also worked in the energy sector as a lawyer, says at some point he realised he “did not want to consciously work on getting rich people richer”.

He started with a part-time master’s programme in 2017 in climate change, then, after 12 years as a lawyer, quit in 2019 to pursue a research programme on the same. His work includes collaborating on a module for climate change study.

While working with NGOs Waste Warriors and the Auroville Consultancy (which works with academic, private and public sector partners both in India and internationally, to help develop sustainable urban and industrial development policies and ecologically friendly technologies), he hopes to engage in the field of climate education in the future.

But rather than an activist, he calls himself a “climate cynic”, who believes the time for advocacy and activism is long past and concrete action for change is the only thing that can save the planet now (if at all!).

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Of course, the transition was not as abrupt for everyone, coming more as a gradual progression towards something which seemed almost fated to happen.

After working for just a year at a publishing company in 2007, Shikha Tripathi realised that “cubicle life was not for me”. So she quit her full-time job and spent a year backpacking across India, Nepal and Bhutan and launched a freelance travel-writing career.

Over the years, her writing gradually shifted from travel and lifestyle pieces to stories about mountains, ecology and remote communities. Her growing-up years in Nainital (Uttarakhand), and being the daughter of a forest officer, had given her a deep connection with nature. “I found myself constantly returning to the mountains and seeking stories from those landscapes.” A mountaineering assignment at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering sparked a passion that eventually led her to pursue advanced mountaineering and outdoor leadership training.

Then, during the Covid pandemic, as travel writing assignments dried up, she got the idea for Snowfox Escapes, “intimate travel encounters curated via first-hand experiences of travel experts who live and breathe the Himalaya”, started with her savings. On its website, Snowfox Escapes says, there is “something for everyone who can meet us at the intersection of a love for nature and respect for our planet”.

Sustainability remains at the core of Snowfox Escapes. The company operates on the principles of being “inspiring, inclusive and impactful,” with a strong focus on low-impact tourism. “There is no such thing as zero-impact travel. The best we can do is minimise our footprint through small groups, conscious travellers and responsible practices.”

Adds Tripathi: “While documenting the impact of climate change on Himalayan cultural heritage near the Milam Glacier, I spent months in the region and began envisioning a sustainable travel venture. I didn’t know I was preparing for Snowfox all my life; all my experiences eventually culminated in it.”

But she also continues to write about mountain ecology, climate change, culture and sustainable travel, while being based out of Dehradun.

Part of Spiti-based Ishita Khanna’s work too revolves around responsible travel, but combines it with community initiatives for locals.

With a background in development studies, Ishita started her career working in the rural development department of the government. "Working with the government is a bit slow, mostly in files and paperwork," she says. What she wanted was to create a model where environmental conservation would be directly linked to livelihoods.

Spiti Ecosphere was set up in 2009, with a bunch of like-minded individuals, with the twin purpose of responsible travel and community initiatives. "Unless there's an economic linkage to conservation, people are not really going to be bothered about protecting the environment," she says. Which is why, by creating income opportunities for local women through environmentally beneficial resources, she hoped conservation would become community-driven.

When it came to tourism, for Ishita, it was never just about attracting visitors but about protecting both nature and culture. In fragile regions like Spiti, water scarcity is a major challenge, she says. So, she has focused on developing tourism models that minimise environmental impact.

Sometimes, finding purpose and mission can happen by fluke, or by plans not working out as they were meant to.

Verhaen Khanna trained as a pilot in the US and also gave flying lessons there for a time. But once back in India, the Delhi resident found getting a commercial pilot license to be an inordinately long and allegedly corrupt process. While waiting for it to happen, he witnessed trees being felled illegally in the city, and when he called for help, there was little public support or prompt action from the authorities.

Eventually, he founded the New Delhi Nature Society (NDNS), first as a Facebook page in 2014 and then as a registered NGO in 2017. The organisation holds nature walks and tree census and is involved in animal rescues, composting and saving fallen trees. The NGO also has a legal cell which files and fights cases relating to animal endangerment, illegal tree felling, harm caused to trees (such as damage to roots) during construction work etc. While the walks are ticketed, the NGO also accepts donations to fund its legal battles and other nature welfare work.

Of course, the journey is not easy.

Most of those The Federal spoke to admitted to moments of frustration when “nothing seems to be getting done”.

“There is this case we have been fighting, involving damage to tree roots in Moti Bagh (Delhi) during a Public Works Department (PWD) beautification project. It’s been in court for the past five-six years,” says Verhaen.

Ishita estimates that nearly half of the travellers who come to Ecosphere arrive without much understanding of conservation.

Yet, giving up is never an option.

“Through orientation sessions and immersive experiences, they often leave more conscious of their environmental footprint. We make an effort to sensitise travellers on how they can travel more responsibly," says Ishita.

Adds Verhaen: “What you get at the end of the day is peaceful sleep, knowing you tried to do something good.”

While concerns of income loss do remain at the back of the mind, for most reaction from friends and family vary from shock to disapproval to simple failure to understand the decision, before they finally rally around in support.

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Having chosen activism and advocacy when ‘clean air’ was not even a topic of conversation in India, Kandhari has probably had to struggle the most to justify her choice.

“What would I tell people? What was I doing? There was nothing to show. Not even measuring of air pollution back then,” she says with a laugh, about the years when her work had mostly revolved around “meeting scientists and doctors and translating scientific evidence into public awareness”. There was institutional resistance and public apathy, trolling, harassment and even FIRs against her.

But one of the most personally challenging times came during the Covid pandemic when her husband’s business took a temporary hit and her daughters were on the threshold of starting college; she had to hear comments from some people saying that had she continued with her job, the family would have had more money to spare.

Undeterred, she perhaps speaks for most environmental warriors perhaps, when she terms the work “a passion”, quickly correcting herself to say, “Well, it’s really a mission”.