One Battle After Another — From Geopolitics to the Planet
Dear Reader,
This week, we have a guest column from Saugat Bolakhe, our Ferriss-UC Berkeley Psychedelic Journalism Fellow. His essay on what he saw during a tumultuous month in his home country of Nepal has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. Enjoy!
Yours sincerely,
Alex Ip
Publisher and Editor
I recently watched a gripping new movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio called One Battle After Another. If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend it. The movie follows a (fictional) group of former revolutionaries known as French 75, who once fought fiercely for the rights of migrants crossing the U.S. border and waged open resistance against state authority.
Years later, when the movement subsides and the police crackdown intensifies, DiCaprio’s character is forced into hiding. He builds a new identity to protect himself and his young child, trying to leave his past behind. But even after more than a decade on the run, the ghosts of his past life keep finding him.
Through a chain of tense events, the film shows how a revolutionary’s life is never free of battles. No matter how far he runs, DiCaprio’s character keeps getting caught in various forms of battle to save his own life and his daughter.
I’m drawing a parallel between the movie’s themes and what’s unfolding in countries like Nepal. Recently, Nepal witnessed a deadly Gen Z–led uprising that turned violent after a government crackdown. But barely weeks after that political storm, the country has been hit by a climatic one. Intense monsoon rains have swept much of the nation into a muddy chaos. It triggered massive landslides, flash floods, and widespread destruction, especially in the Eastern foothills and lowlands of Nepal. As of this writing, the death toll has reached 52, with many still missing.
But amid all the doom and gloom of overlapping battles of geopolitics and intensified climate disasters in this Himalayan nation, there is also a story of hope.
Last year, when rainfall of a similar magnitude hit central Nepal, more than 200 people were killed. Of course, no two natural disasters are ever the same. But this time, the heavy rains struck right in the middle of Dashain, the biggest festival in Nepal. It is also the time when millions were traveling across the country. Without proper preparedness, the impact could have been far worse.
But the new leadership, which was born out of an agreement with the Gen Z movement, took the crisis seriously. Right after Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology announced a high likelihood of intense rainfall, the new ministers didn’t hesitate to block major highways connecting across the country. Unlike other countries, highways are still the main means of travel for people during festivals. The government also mobilized government resources, technical expertise, and emergency services to protect people and deliver aid where it was needed most.
When a disaster of a similar scale struck last year, the then-prime minister was touring the United States. When questions were raised about the death of more than 200 people under his watch, he remarked that even if he were at home, he couldn’t have predicted or prevented a landslide. He didn’t cut his trip short, nor did he offer words of comfort or assurance to grieving families. It felt as if climate change, heavy monsoons, and the lives lost to them were none of his business.
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Growing up, for me, climate change felt like a distant story, as if it were the story of the Arctic or Antarctica, of penguins or polar bears, or the sinking islands of the Maldives. But not mine. Now, whenever news of heavy rainfall breaks, it triggers a wave of panic. I feel the urge to call home and make sure my family, friends, and community living in those fragile foothills of Nepal are safe.
And it’s not just me. A global study published in The Lancet Planetary Health in 2021 found that out of more than 10,000 young people aged 16 to 25 from across the world, six in ten said they were very worried about climate change, and almost half said that the worry interfered with their daily lives. In the U.S., a 2025 survey showed that about one in five young people is afraid to have children because of climate change.
For many who witnessed the unfolding of such events on the ground or have their loved ones experience the horrors of extreme weather events, their climate anxiety is more closely linked to general anxiety disorders. This anxiety can show up as feelings of guilt, grief, sleeplessness, or a sense of disconnection from nature. It also tends to be stronger in places where people feel governments aren’t doing enough, while countries with strong climate policies, like Sweden and the U.K., report lower levels of climate-related anxiety.
To my friends in the U.S. and elsewhere whose governments aren’t doing enough on climate action, I get it. It’s frustrating! But that doesn’t mean we can look away. A leader is just a representation of the ground. Meaning climate denialism or hesitation often starts within our community. Maybe what we need most right now is open conversations and simple guidance to bridge those divides.
One way or another, we have to find a way out of this crisis. If Nepal’s new government has shown anything, it’s that preparedness, resilience, and unity can bring hope. As I mentioned earlier, people tend to feel more hopeful about climate issues when they see their government taking action.
We might not fix everything today or even tomorrow, but we can’t afford to give up. If we can’t run, let’s jog. If we can’t jog, let’s walk. And if we can’t walk — let’s crawl!
Whatever it takes, we keep moving.
✨ NEWS BEHIND THE NEWS
💸 Thank you to our new donor, Robert McMahon! As a reader-funded news outlet, our goal is to have 60% of our revenue come from you by the end of the year. Support us with a small, monthly donation here.
🎙️ I joined 285 South, Atlanta Community Press Collective, Atlanta Civic Circle, Decaturish, and The Atlanta Voice on WABE's Closer Look with Rose Scott, where we discussed how independent journalists are building trust amid funding cuts and political attacks. Listen to the show again here.
⚛️ This year's Science Journalism Forum (SJF) runs from October 27 to 30 in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) —with a hybrid option to join from anywhere in the world. The theme is "Science Journalism at a Crossroads: Rethinking Trust, Funding, and Innovation." You are eligible for 50% off all SJF ticket types with the discount code Xylom50. Join us!
📱 ICYMI: We’re piloting a WhatsApp channel, which would help reach users who stay off social media, and curb misinformation at the source (share it with your immigrant parents, aunties, or uncles!)
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In Fort Valley, officials initially backed a plan for an EV facility expected to employ 7,500. But with no visible progress a year later, the company returned with a new pitch — a 99-year lighting contract. One council member called it a “bait and switch.”
🗺️ WHAT ELSE WE'RE READING
Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar (Kristin Gelineau, The Associated Press)
Asked who is to blame for the loss of his son, Taher is direct: the United States.
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“We all know better. You have to have consent for this,” said a Keck physician who is not involved in the program but brought the documents to Annenberg Media’s attention. The physician, who declined to be identified out of fear of losing their job, said the Navy facility “wasn’t designed or developed to save lives. It was just to desensitize people to the trauma.”
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