Rohan Chakravarty on chasing his dual passions—cartoons and environmental conservation

Remember 2014? It was a time before Trump deemed climate change a hoax, when Greta Thunberg was still in school on Fridays and the ice bucket challenge was sending shivers the world over. It was also the year that former dentist Rohan Chakravarty quit his day job in animation to focus on his dual passion—cartoons and conservation.

A decade on, his award-winning illustrated series Green Humour, which applies humour to grave subjects like climate change while breaking down the uncomfortable truth that surrounds humanity’s ecological impact, has become the first Indian comic to be syndicated globally by Universal Press’ GoComics. Educative and entertaining, Green Humour’s popularity comes from translating dreary scientific findings on wildlife and conservation into easy-to-digest illustrated panels in the hope to stir meaningful discussions and subsequent action. “I’m drawn to verified environmental issues that should be making front-page news but sadly don’t,” says the Nagpur-born and Hyderabad-based environmental cartoonist.

Last year, when controversial amendments were proposed by the draft Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), Chakravarty decided to illustrate how it would undercut India’s biodiversity and climate goals. “When the draft was released, a lot of people used my comics as a visual face of the protest, so it gave a platform to use the art for a greater action,” says the 33-year-old self-taught artist whose work was widely shared among his 132k followers on Instagram.

Scroll through his feed and Chakravarty’s motley crew of animals and birds takes the reader through a gamut of subjects—from increasing greenhouse gases and shrinking reservoirs to rising sea levels, loss of habitat and diminishing biodiversity. But it’s not all doomscrolling. Among his illustrated gems is also news about new species found alongside heartwarming trivia about earth’s lesser-known inhabitants.

These wondrous creatures have inspired Chakravarty to illustrate not just a series of columns in newspapers and magazines, but even award-winning books such as his debut, The Great Indian Nature Trail that was commissioned by WWF India and his second book, Bird Business, which he created for BNHS, that recently won awards by UNDP, Sanctuary Asia, WWF International, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Publishing Next.