When Colours Fade

I took this photo in Bhaktapur near a brick kiln.

I later edited it in black and white because that's exactly how it made me feel. We often hear that the lungs of a smoker gradually turn black.

Standing there, I wondered if our environment was going through the same thing.

The smoke rising from the chimneys seemed to steal the colours from everything around it.

The sky looked tired, the land looked lifeless, and even the air felt heavy. Nature is meant to be colourful.

The blue sky, green fields, and warm sunlight are signs of a healthy environment.

But pollution slowly takes those colours away, replacing them with smoke and haze. This photograph is black and white, but I hope our future never has to be.

Protecting clean air means protecting the colours that make our world feel alive.