Hello everyone, it's Tania.

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Today I am exploring interactivity in transcripts. What I mean by this is I’ve added live links to the different things my guest and I spoke about. You’ll find a link to this type of transcript in the show notes. If you follow along today using this transcript, I’d appreciate learning what the experience was like for you. Did you follow along while listening? Did you listen first and check on the transcript afterward? Thanks for letting me know.

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Ep112 Arjit Jere Transcript

Today it’s my pleasure to introduce you to Arjit Jere, a biologist, science communicator, and popular science writer based in India. Arjit has written about the lifecycle of antlions, competitor behavior in hummingbirds, climate change, and the critically endangered Amboli toad that's found only in the mountains of Western India.

I met Arjit during the Science Journalism Forum, a global gathering of science journalists, communicators, and students. 

The forum is a virtual event, and as you know, virtual events make it possible to learn from people you would never meet otherwise. Like Arjit!  Let's join the conversation.

Tania Marien:

You are not only a science writer, you have a background in teaching, writing about curriculum and you also have a research background. Can you tell us a little bit more about the work that you've done?

Arjit Jere:

Yeah, so research has given me many exciting memories and also some up and down moments. But I would say my interactions, my first memories of animals and nature was more through like all the dinosaur programs and books I read about dinosaurs. So I was absolutely crazy about dinosaurs as a kid. I used to play with toys, collect every piece of news, which came on dinosaurs. So that's how my interest in animals started ironically with animals, which are not living. So then, I used to watch all these nature documentaries on Nat Geo and Animal Planet, which was huge influence. And that was in school. And then, of course, I became interested more in biology.

After high school, I decided to do a biotechnology-based bachelors. But I found that lab work was pretty boring for me and anyway, used to go out and observe animals or catch animals. I remember I had a brought a frog in school by catching it and well, didn't end well. The teachers didn't take it too well. But the students, fellow students were interested. Like I always, yeah, was interested in animals from then. And that's why after I did bachelors in biotechnology, I thought I was interested more in field ecology and biology. And that's how I then shifted to Master’s in biodiversity. Around the same time, I also went on various nature trails, and I also visited various national parks in India. There was one national park in Dehradun, which is like north side of India, which is known for its tigers, which I visited. That was fascinating. Then, I visited like other national parks in the south of India, which are known for the endemic mammals, which are close to the goat family, which is known as Nilgiri Tahr. It is found only in the Western Ghats.

So like visiting national parks and also visiting nearby natural places in my own city got me very close to nature. That's how I got interested in research. Then, during my research journey, I worked on a very common animal, which we saw in nearby hills, which is antlion. They dig [inaudible]. I am sure you will be seeing them even in California because they like sandy areas. So that was my first proper project as such, complete project in biodiversity and animal behavior research. Then, I worked on dragonflies and insects basically interested me because like there is so much variation in the behavior. And there are still [inaudible 00:28:27] widespread. And I also worked in like Western Ghats on birds and what kind of vegetation they're found in. That involved very exciting adventures in mountains and hike. Traveling on a bike in very narrow roads is kind of bit risky, but it's also adventurous because you get to visit the most wonderful locales, wonderful sceneries out there with all the evergreen forest and those kind of things.

 So yeah, my research experience, my love of nature got me interested more in biodiversity research. And then, I was very interested in communicating about interesting aspects about wildlife and nature to general public, general population, which are not exactly like academic audience, but getting people more interested in nature and telling them environmental issues in simple words is how I got interested in science communication. And that's how I started writing for my blog during my bachelor days. I also wrote for my college magazines. Writing has always been an integral part from my early bachelor days. And that's how I got into writing, as I said, writing for blogs and college magazines too. And then, I move more to writing some articles for environment magazines. Always, my friends and family always liked my article and they always were very supportive with respect to even giving tips about general writing because if your audience is non-academic, then actually asking your friends to go through the articles is a very good way of getting feedback. So that's how this journey has been pretty long journey, but it's only not even mid-way there in the journey. But yeah, it's been exciting journey.

Tania Marien:

What made you choose the path of freelance journalism? Was it a conscious decision or a reaction to an event?

Arjit Jere:

It was organic, I would say. I have always been interested in science communication and popular science writing. I did it for blogs and college magazines since Bachelor days. Then, I thought, there are so many magazines out there nowadays, which accept articles, then why not publish? And also, in order to get a bigger reach for my articles and all, so to make people more aware about the wonderful wildlife around us and about the environmental issues. That's how I got into it. And also with freelance, as I said, I think I talked about this when we were talking in the Science Journalism Forum that with freelance, you get more say with respect to what kind of topics you want to write about, little bit more freedom. So that's why I'm doing that. Now, I'm still thinking about whether I will go into research again or go into completely science communication. But I know whatever I do, writing will be a big part of my life going forward.

Tania Marien:

What type of science journalism and science writing do you enjoy?

Arjit Jere:

Yeah, so I enjoy books and magazines and articles, which talk a lot about wildlife and natural history and paint a very engaging picture about nature. So Richard Dawkins has been involved in some controversy due to his atheism. I think sometimes that has got some [inaudible 00:49:51] unnecessarily. But his writing on evolution and Selfish Gene, in which he brings an entirely different perspective of evolution and wildlife and nature, how different [inaudible] interact basically was very interesting for me. It was one of the first popular science book I read and it is still one of the best books which I've read.

Then, Jim Corbett was a hunter turned conservationist, which is a very interesting story from North India. And the book he wrote on Man-Eaters of Kumaon, so Kumaon is a small town in a hilly north Indian region. So it was about a tiger, which was basically a man-eater and it was causing a menace. But this whole human-wildlife conflict if is a very complicated issue because it's humans which have encroached on the wildlife and the wildlife is just reacting to that. So he talked about that in his very engaging book, which told so much stories about wildlife and how he also ... Yes, he had killed that animal, but then he became more of a conservationist of tigers. And today, as I said, the Jim Corbett Park is in his name. It's a national park. So it's a very interesting story. It got me interested into wildlife and popular science. And yeah, magazines like [inaudible] which focus a lot of natural history and interesting behaviors of different endemic animals to India.

There is a bird recognized as Nilgiri pipit, for example, which is found only in the Western Ghats of India. So interesting articles and facts about distribution, behavior about that animal. Those kind of articles already interested me. And for environment topic, Mongabay is a publication which I've enjoyed because they present very balanced takes on environmental issues. They don't only talk about environmental side, but also about (urban) development side and how these two interact because they do interact. And the development is also important, but so is keeping in mind the environmental stability. So yeah, Mongabay is also a good website, which I enjoy reading. And of course, Nat Geo because they have such a visual outlook. And also, the way they write interesting stories about the animals.

Tania Marien:

Wonderful. So what types of stories do you look for when you want to write a topic?

Arjit Jere:

As I said, basically I do look for stories which involve some aspect of biodiversity and wildlife and also interesting facets of the animals' behavior, who make the audience go, "Wow, it's interesting," that kind of stories and little bit ... So most of my stories, I have dealt with natural and now I'm looking more environment because it is kind the big issue nowadays, environmental regulation. And stories, which give an idea of the scale of the issues faced by so society nowadays within the environment sector. So I would say natural history mostly and a little bit in the environment domain.

Tania Marien:

In your experience, what have you found that people know little about, which topics in natural history and in the environment, what types of stories would you like to write next?

Arjit Jere:

Insects, I would say the short word. People don't know a lot about insects. And for example, there are more ant species ... There are more [inaudible] ants, six times more [inaudible] of ants than there are humans. And the number of insects is so huge that even taxonomists don't know sometimes what is the exact species because there are so many insects. And sometimes, their roles are kind of underrated. The roles they play in the ecosystem are underrated. Even pollination, yes, it is well known bees do it, but ants do it, even beetles do it. And mostly, I've seen the viewpoint people have about insects are mostly negative because yes some of them sting like bees and wasps, but there are so many insects which are so useful for people. Even antlions, for example, they eat pests (see video). Even spiders, they eat pests. So there are lot of useful insects also.

And there are so many interesting insect behaviors like insects will basically eat, the female eats the male after mating. That is so crazy, but it is saving spiders and some other insects. So I think insects are something ... Of course, nowadays, it's increasing, but in general, people know more about the big showy mammals and birds more so than insects, especially in India, especially with non-academic audience, I would say. So yeah, I would be thinking of writing more about injects and especially environmental issues, non-carbon emission related because nowadays with the climate change conferences, carbon has been a big topic. And it is very important that humanity deals with the carbon emissions to reduce global warming. But other gasses like methane, for example, methane is way more stronger than carbon in absorbing heat and contributing to global warming as you may know. So my next article will be on that topic, the role methane plays in global warming. And it will also talk about some data, which I found online, which will be helpful in telling about what are the methane emissions from different, different sectors in different states of India. Yeah. But I would say insect and in general, invertebrates like mollusks, for example or I would say, "Non-flashy animals," they need a bit more cover, I would say.

Tania Marien:

Yes, yes. Yeah. Animals that aren't as flashy as you say. Yeah. Oh that's fantastic. I feel the same way about plants, stories about plants.

Arjit Jere:

Yes, plants, oh yeah.

Tania Marien:

About plants, yeah.

Arjit Jere:

Yes. Plants also need more coverage. That's true. Yeah, because they are, I mean showy, but even basic plants like algae have been around for so many millions of years, maybe they are something ... There are even some plant groups, which haven't talked about that much.

Tania Marien:

Yeah. And that's why there's that entire topic in the field of botany and science education, which is referred to in the literature as "plant blindness." The fact that people don't see plants as ... But now, there's a new term being used, plant awareness disparity is also just-

Arjit Jere:

I see.

Tania Marien:

... a term that's used to describe that same subject, that same topic.

So when you begin a story ... when you look for your next story, do you find a topic to write about or do you reach out to people, who are working in a particular way or on a particular project that you want to write about or do you look for work or requests from publications?

Arjit Jere:

No, because I'm just starting out, I mostly look ... I don't reach out to people too much, but I mean I do reach out for experts on their opinion, but the most important thing I do is search for specific keywords, and then search the stories, which is for that topic. And then, I try to see, which ... As I said, then I try to look at which topics are covered less extensively, and then I narrow down on the topics. So of course, it won't be possible to ... It'll very difficult to find a topic, which has not been covered at all. At least, those which have not been covered as well that's how I decided a topic. And then, I try to find information about it, especially data about it, latest happenings about it. Then, I try to approach, like I ask experts about their views. This is for news and those kind of things. For research, again, for research based story, which I've written, I just try to look on Google Scholar for the latest paper, see if they've been covered. If they're not, then that's how I research a topic. And sometimes, I do reach out to scientists if I need something clarified or if I need second opinions.

Tania Marien:

And what's it like working with scientists for an article? Are they welcoming of about being approached by a science writer or a journalist? What has your experience been with scientists?

Arjit Jere:

Till now, I haven't like interacted too much with scientists, but I've interacted with conservationist, like environmentalist, who is working at a waste management organization. She was pretty open with giving suggestions and sharing. So that was good. Sometimes, in one or two instances, I have like mailed scientists about a specific research paper, which I want to write about, but I haven't seen any replies. So sometimes, like communication is bit slow, but I understand they are busy, so it'll take time. Actually in my experience, American scientists, not in the context of science writing doubts, but it is just for an academic inquiries and those things, they are a bit more quick in communicating back than Indian scientists. Not that I want to put down the Indian scientists, but yeah, I mean I guess Americans for them having stayed in America for some months, like email for them is drinking coffee and taking bites, like a daily thing. Maybe they do it more regularly, checking emails and responding to emails. But yeah, I mean at least with some environmentalists, which I have talked with, they have been very open in sharing their opinions. With respect to talking with hardcore academics, like I haven't received reply from one or two of them, but hopefully I will. And then, I will be able to tell about like scientists as such.

Tania Marien:

So we met at the Science Journalism Forum that happened this past fall. It was my second time attending, and I'm just impressed by, one, that an event this is organized and that so many people attend. And it's just always so interesting to me, what did you take away from this year's event? Was there anything that resonated with you that stood out?

Arjit Jere:

Yes. So actually, I didn't attend all of the sessions and because actually, I myself were traveling with a family trip. I was on a family trip during the same time, but I still got caught in some sessions. And the most important thing for me was Meet the Editors because you don't get too many chances to talk directly with editors, unless you are actually working in some publication or some magazine. That was very good for me to get their perspective. And it was so interesting to know that every magazine had a different requirements they had from writers. Some of them maybe, I think the scientist or [inaudible] one of them, they took more molecular biology based articles. Others, they were more into data journalism and citizen science. There was one particular magazine, which dealt more with data journalism articles. It was new magazine. Yeah. Anyways, but a different kinds of requirements, the journals had and the way they shared the perspective in writing. And again, they stressed on the [inaudible 00:14:59] the story and angle. That was important. And then, I also ended misinformation session, which was good, how to recognize misinformation. That was pretty good. So yeah, got to learn a lot of new things.

Tania Marien:

Yeah. So you attended one of the Meet the Editors events then, sessions?

Arjit Jere:

Yeah, yeah. That was good.

Tania Marien:

Yeah, yeah.

Arjit Jere:

Although for some editors, I thought I couldn't get too much time with them because many people were hogging a room. But yeah, I mean it was still overall a good experience.

Tania Marien:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just really something. And goodness, I did not ... Well, of course, there's several languages. There are sessions in several languages and it's literally an event that happens around the clock in all time zones.

Arjit Jere:

Yeah, yeah. It can get hectic, yeah.

Tania Marien:

Yeah. It can be a little busy, though there was a really nice reorganization this year of several sessions happening in blocks for the different continents for the attendees. But yeah, there's so much going on. You cannot attend every session here in that event. Yeah, well that's very nice. Yeah, yeah.

Arjit Jere:

It's good they had recordings.

Tania Marien:

Yes there are.

Arjit Jere:

But it's good that they kept recordings, so like anyone can check up on session, which they miss, later.

Tania Marien:

When you began your career in science communication and science writing, what did you believe science writing was going to be like?

Arjit Jere:

Yeah, so I thought because there's so much information and so much news available and so much, of course, wildlife information available, like choosing topics won't be that difficult. But when I actually went into the field and when I came to know that, of course when I read the importance of writing a novel story, then I realized that actually it's not that easy. And it is just deciding a research topic because even when you're doing research, you have to research a topic. You have to take a lot into the available information and literature and decide a topic and think about that which is novel. It's kind of the same actually for science writing. You have to think about a topic and search for topic, which is not as well covered. So yeah, coming up with new topics was maybe bit more difficult than I thought. Some specific nuances about, of course I have known from various course I did that you have to change the tone of your article according to the audience. But the specific nuances I only came to know once I started, as I said, if anybody is writing an article for kids that the language should be extremely simple, there should be lots more imagery, lots of visual illustrations, more so than writing for adults, where you can at least use some basic terms.

For example, you can write words like endemic and explain what it means or like endangered or you can write about specific terms like open dumping or things like that. But with kids, you have to use a very simple language and no jargon at all. And even ideally for adults, it is better if you use no jargon, but at least you can use some basic term. But the writing for kids and adults is very different. Even in my Amboli toad article, which is for kids, it is like a very basic language. So these two things, yeah, I would say are something, which I learned when actually started doing it.

Tania Marien:

Do you have plans to write a children's book?

Arjit Jere:

Book maybe, but yeah, I do ... Yeah, book will be something of a long-term dream of writing a book, but not sure what it'll be about. But let's see, let's see.

Tania Marien:

Do you write articles for children? I know you have experience with curriculum writing.

Arjit Jere:

Yeah, I had written that Amboli toad article for children only. And as I said, I have little bit of experience in environmental education for kids. So I used to conduct a science camp, science club for kids at a school in Pune. And there, we used to teach kids about biodiversity, environment, but in a very hands-on, in a way like not just keep them restricted to textbooks, but making it more experiential and taking them to field trip, showing them different animals specimen and asking them to differentiate and like that. So that was fun, environmental education with kids.

Tania Marien:

Have you ever considered incorporating audio into your work? Because your article with the Amboli toad made me think, oh if as you were looking for the toad sound would be a wonderful addition to a story like that. Have you ever considered a podcast, writing for a podcast?

Arjit Jere:

Maybe, yeah, maybe it might be interesting. Podcast actually in India is not too common. Maybe, yeah, but maybe sometime in future. But yeah, it might be some something which I ... But yeah, right now, focusing more into writing, but in future, it might be interesting.

Tania Marien:

I can see you doing that. I don't know if you can see yourself doing that yet, but I can definitely see that. You just turn on the recorder on your phone and make that part of your story. I think that would be wonderful because in that particular article about the toad, you described the scene well. So that's what made me think to ask if you were to incorporate audio.

Tania Marien:

So in your experience, what type of science topics are covered in publications in India?

Arjit Jere:

Yeah, so in magazines and in newspapers, I think like conservation is one of the biggest topics, and it has always been a relatively big topic with respect to environmental science communication, since the conservation movement started in the middle parts of the 1900s in India. Yeah, like how forests are being cut and for different type of activities, like issues faced by various wildlife. And nowadays, even want the social aspect of conservation because environmental issues affect not only the animals, but also locals and especially lower income section societies are affected more by environmental issues, though that part is nowadays getting lots of traction. So conservation, social aspects of environmental issues and pollution especially is nowadays big issue because lots cities in India actually are facing big problems in air pollution, especially Delhi, which is like you won't be able to look at the road properly. There's so much pollution in the northern cities of India, Delhi. So pollution is a big issue.

Then, recently like the Indian Government has transported cheetahs back into India, which were extinct for a long time. It's like a very ambitious project. It might go wrong also. So it can go either way. It's actually a bit risky move, but let's see how it goes. So yeah, that is one big topic nowadays. Natural history is I think little bit, natural history is not covered as extensively as environmental issues, but nowadays there are some good magazines around like Sustain, which work on natural history. So, yeah, conservation, wildlife and then development projects, which are affecting environment. And nowadays, also renewable energy is a big topic because India has made a commitment to reduce carbon emissions. Let's see how it goes. Commitment is one thing, doing it probably another thing. But yeah, there is a push for renewable energy and there are a bit some more articles on renewable energy nowadays. So yeah, these topics are covered I think from what I've seen.

Tania Marien:

Do you cover a lot of science policy in your writing?

Arjit Jere:

Not policy, but I try to cover like data journalism in ... I'm trying to utilize data journalism in my articles nowadays because there's so more data available, and there's so much that can be learned through the data while ... There's so much people can learn from data if the data is presented to them in a story from in a popular science form. And that's what I'm trying to do in my next article actually. So yeah, data journalism is something, which I am trying to do, not policy as such, but using open data on pollution, gas emissions, biodiversity loss and those kind of things. So that is also very [inaudible] interesting type of journalism, which is growing nowadays.

Tania Marien:

What type of insight can you share with new science writers or listeners, who are considering doing more science writing or exploring this career?

Arjit Jere:

Yeah, even I am just starting out technically, to be honest. But I would say go with topics you're really passionate about. And it's what even seniors have told me, like seniors writer. Only if you really care about a topic and if you really want to go to the complete depth of the topic, then you can do [inaudible] a topic. That is important. And also, regularly writing is important. And at least, keeping in touch with the topic and keeping in touch with the writing is important. I would say starting with that is important. And I would say especially for Indian writers, there are now many more outlets to write in than maybe 10, 15 years ago. So it is, as I said, [inaudible] infancy, but it is growing. So yeah, there are some options with respect to writing.

Tania Marien:

What does your writing practice look like? Do you write a little something every day, a couple times a week, and what does that look like for you?

Arjit Jere:

Yeah, so for me, it can vary actually. It can ebb and flow. So when I'm working on an article, I try to write some part every day. And for me, I'm more about, I know people who work the other way, they go more over quantity than quality. For me, I would rather write a great article by taking some more days, like six, seven days, than I think seven basic articles or seven very average articles daily. So I would say I go more with the quality over quantity approach.

Tania Marien:

What's next for you?

Arjit Jere:

Yes. Currently, I am working part-time as a workshop outreach person and workshop coordinator for a university here. And I'm working under a professor Dr.Pankaj Koparde, who I'm familiar before, who I've worked with before for research on odonates. So right now, my work is more about designing syllabus for workshops, which cover the topics like statistics, sustainability, environment awareness. So I'll be designing syllabus and also helping with the outreach or writing outreach materials for the workshop to reach out to the participants. So I really want some sort of science communication, but I will be always incorporating some science communication in my life and in my career, so to say. In the near future, at least I am going to write on my blog more often, and also pitching articles for magazines, which allow freelance writing, especially environment and natural history. Hopefully, the articles will get accepted and published. Let's see.

OUTRO

Thank you for joining us today. 

To learn more about Arjit and the resources mentioned in this episode, visit the show notes. Arjit has shared a lot of good things with us.

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Thank you for your time today. See you next time.

LINKS

Arjit Jere on LinkedIn

Arjit’s blog, Nature and Football

Saevus Magazine

RoundGlass Sustain

Dr.Pankaj Koparde, Chatur Ullu Evolutionary Ecology Lab, MIT World Peace University, Pune

Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT) World Peace University

Centre for Environmental Education, Pune

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