Home
Council on Energy, Environment and Water Integrated | International | Independent

What on Earth! CEEW brings sustainability cartoons to Hyderabad Literature Festival 2025

This will be accompanied by a panel discussion on climate and humour curated by EkoGalaxy as part of the Climate Conversations stream at HLF

Hyderabad, 24 January 2025: What On Earth!® (WOE), the Council on Energy, Environment and Water’s (CEEW) flagship cartoon series, comes to the Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) 2025 for a three-day, open-for-all exhibition from 24 to 26 January 2025, at Sattva Knowledge City, HITEC City. Since its inception in 2010, HLF has engaged thousands of visitors annually across 14 editions and has become a platform for diverse conversations. Its popular Climate Conversations stream, curated by EkoGalaxy founders Shreyas Sridharan and Urvi Desai, showcases critical dialogues on climate and environmental issues.

The HLF has always been a green festival. For years now, it has sought to be plastic-free, reuse decor and infrastructure, serve guests water in glass bottles, and encourage all attendees to use public transport, bring their own bottles, and more. This time its programming brings together institutions like IIT-Hyderabad, Mongabay, and Sanctuary Asia, alongside renowned speakers such as Bittu Sahgal, Soumya Swaminathan, and Romulus Whitaker, for workshops, panel discussions, and performances. The WOE exhibition adds a unique layer to these conversations, translating complex climate science into playful yet impactful cartoons that make sustainability relatable to all.

Close on the heels of the world breaching the 1.5°C temperature rise mark in 2024 and President Donald Trump pulling the US out of the Paris Agreement, there is renewed urgency for climate action and sustainability to become more mainstream. The cartoons at the exhibition use humour to spark conversations on sustainability and provoke discussion on climate change, exploring how we treat the planet — and how the planet treats us back.

Like all CEEW research, WOE aims to connect the dots, helping audiences see the bigger picture and their role within it. The series, published every fortnight since July 2021, transforms complex climate and energy science into engaging, relatable storytelling through playful yet impactful cartoons. Covering critical topics such as air pollution, sustainable food systems, clean energy, and climate finance, WOE humanises sustainability, presents fresh perspectives and solutions, and challenges existing biases and mindsets. By reframing the traditionally Global North-dominated climate narrative, WOE amplifies the voice of the developing world, making these global environmental challenges a part of everyday conversations. 

Attendees posing with the exhibits and taking their share of What On Earth!® bookmarks, Hyderabad

 

WOE has been included in the curriculum of MBA and communications courses, featured in climate and ESG newsletters, won an innovation recommendation at the Indian School of Business (ISB), and made it to the offices of bureaucrats and ambassadors and across G20 and T20 meetings with its soft power to start conversations. 

 

Alina Sen, Senior Communications Specialist, CEEW, said, “Cartoons have an incredible power to simplify complex ideas, evoke emotion, and cut across audiences. With What On Earth!®, CEEW is adding comic relief to research and issues that may seem tough and technical so that people engage with them. Wit can take sustainability places, is what we have seen, given the response WOE has received in its various avatars as bookmarks, as digital creatives, on presentations, and as wearable and usable merchandise.”

Adding to the experience, CEEW’s Alina Sen will also moderate the panel discussion, "Comic Relief for a Warming World," on 26 January, from 3:00 to 3:50 PM, at Octave 3, as part of the Climate Conversations stream at HLF. With Brikesh Singh, Chief of Communications & Engagement, ASAR and comedian Raghav Mandava, the session will explore how humour and creativity can make climate communication memorable and impactful through stand-up sets and anecdotes.

Nadia Shaik, a software engineer who visited the exhibition at the festival, said, “The messages in each of the cartoons are so thoughtful. From now on, I will think twice before ordering anything online, travelling solo in a car, and take a beat to decide before I exploit any of the Earth’s resources.”

As with its other initiatives, WOE reflects the CEEW’s broader efforts to take discussions on sustainability and climate action to wider audiences through diverse formats. These include the award-winning documentary series Faces of Climate Resilience, their annual art exhibition Sustaina India, and the inspirational solar anthem Suraj Ka Gola. By using storytelling, art, music, and visual media, CEEW seeks to humanise data, highlight actionable solutions, and work with stakeholders towards collective action for a sustainable future.

For media queries contact: Tulshe Agnihotri – [email protected] | +91 9621119643 / +91 7905717812 

 

About CEEW

The Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) — a homegrown institution with headquarters in New Delhi — is among the world’s leading climate think tanks. The Council is also often ranked among the world’s best-managed and independent think tanks. It uses data, integrated analysis, and strategic outreach to explain — and change — the use, reuse, and misuse of resources. It prides itself on the independence of its high-quality research and strives to impact sustainable development at scale in India and the Global South. In over fourteen years of operation, CEEW has impacted over 400 million lives and engaged with over 20 state governments. Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @CEEWIndia or LinkedIn for the latest updates.

About Hyderabad Literature Festival

Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) is an annual event celebrating creativity in all forms. HLF is a multi-genre, multidiscipline, and multilingual event that features nearly three hundred writers, artistes, academics, scholars, and publishers from India and abroad each year. Starting in 2010, the festival emerged as an important event in the s cultural calendar. It represents the rich and cosmopolitan ethos of the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, as well as the vibrant spirit of modern Cyberabad. More at: www.hydlitfest.org

About EkoGalaxy

EkoGalaxy is a platform for climate education & engagement. They represent the UNESCO Greening Education Partnership in India. They partner with schools and colleges across India & Europe. EkoGalaxy curates the independent stream 'Climate Conversations' at India's leading public festival, the Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF). More at: www.ekogalaxy.com or @EkoGalaxy on IG.