Taming the Teesta

     This April, I spent a month in the remote Indian state of Sikkim, during which time I produced a short documentary film about the ongoing hydroelectric projects that are being implemented there at an astounding rate. As someone who has always been passionate about the outdoors and rivers in particular, this beautiful region and its peoples' fight to keep their river alive and free flowing was incredibly powerful to me. I share this in the hopes of raising awareness about a threatened river and to tell the story of another group of nature lovers on the other side of the planet.

Since time immemorial, the Lepcha people have called the Himalayan region that makes up the modern state of Sikkim their home and have held sacred the rivers, mountains, and forests that make up the biologically diverse region. Over the past two decades, India’s rapid development has generated a powerful thirst for electricity, and the country has increasingly looked to the cold, powerful rivers thundering from the Himalayas to supply that desired power. Hydroelectric projects have been proposed and implemented throughout the Himalayan region. Nowhere, however, are the dams as numerous or their effects as acutely felt as in India’s northwestern state of Sikkim, where a ‘cascade’ of run-of-the-river hydroelectric projects is springing into existence. There, on the Teesta River, multiple dam projects threaten the rich biodiversity of the region, the livelihoods of those who live along the Teesta’s course, and the very existence of the Lepcha people’s most cherished river.

Produced by Taylor Graham

www.taylorbuzzellgraham.com

Affected Citizens of Teesta

www.actsikkim.com