National Geographic Magazine - UK October 2018

‘IF YOU STRIP AWAY YOUR PRECONCEPTIONS, IT’S A FAR MORE HONEST WAY OF CONVEYING WHAT PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY LIKE.’ One of the most challenging aspects of storytelling at National Geographic is introducing our readers to people and cultures they’ve never seen before. It’s a beautiful part of our 130-year history but also an ethical minefield: What’s our responsibility in telling the stories of those who, at least outwardly, seem so different from us? How do we cover cultures sensitively, without “exoticizing” or romanticizing what’s natural for them? This month’s cover story, on grave threats to the indigenous people who live in the Brazilian and Peruvian Amazon, brings this subject into high relief. Our photographer, Charlie Hamilton James, spent a month with indigenous groups such as the Awá and Guajajara people;…

‘IF WE IGNORE THESE ISSUES, THEY WON’T GO AWAY. THEY’RE REAL, AND THEY’RE HAPPENING AROUND US RIGHT NOW.’ Less than two hours after I set out to photograph the wild ponies of the Welsh Carneddau mountains for this issue’s “Proof,” the farmer acting as my guide received a phone call that could change his way of life forever. His family have monitored, managed, and protected these ponies for centuries, but the news he received about agricultural funding cuts proposed by the Welsh government could have a catastrophic impact on his profession and on the ponies that roam these remote peaks. Vital income subsidies may be replaced by rewards for meeting land-management targets, such as the production of food or timber. With the wild and rugged nature of the area’s terrain,…

Mary McCartney: Tell us about your support of the Ahimsa Dairy Foundation and how it aligns with your values. Chrissie Hynde: The word ahimsa comes from Indian Vedic culture, and that’s where this whole cow protection thing comes from. There are four principles: never kill cows, milk cows by hand, give oxen meaningful work, and cows must suckle from their mothers. These are all followed by the Ahimsa Dairy Foundation, based in Rutland. Industrial farming is the reason that I—and the vegan and animal-rights communities—have rejected animal products. Big business and corporations have pushed small farmers off their land, and now there’s no alternative to industrial farming. How do you reach a larger audience to let them know that alternatives such as ahimsa milk exist? People want ahimsa milk, but…

THIS MONTH’S GUEST EDITOR, Mary McCartney, grew up riding horses on a remote farm in Scotland. Her recent book, The White Horse, provided the inspiration for her trip to photograph the hardy wild ponies of the Welsh Carneddau mountains. To understand the resilience of these ponies, you must first understand the landscape they call home. The Carneddau mountains in Snowdonia National Park cover thousands of acres, with some peaks soaring more than 3,000 feet. Rainfall is heavy, winds are high, winter temperatures are bitterly cold, and people are scarce. “The ponies are as wild as the hills,” says Gareth Wyn Jones, a local farmer whose ancestors have managed them for 370 years. The ponies are said to have survived a planned cull by Henry VIII, who decreed that any horse…

YOU WOULD ALMOST have to be nuts to be filled with hope in a world so rife with hunger, hatred, climate change, pollution, and pestilence, let alone the self-destructive or severely annoying behavior of certain people, both famous and just down the hall, none of whom we will name by name. Yet I have boundless hope, most of the time. Hope is a sometimes cranky optimism, trust, and confidence that those I love will be OK—that they will come through, whatever life holds in store. Hope is the belief that no matter how dire things look or how long rescue or healing takes, modern science in tandem with people’s goodness and caring will boggle our minds, in the best way. Hope is (for me) not usually the religious-looking fingers of…

On any day, in any place, we can find opportunities to work for good and create hope. National Public Lands Day, September 22, enlists help restoring parks and other sites. Last year, volunteers made $18 million in improvements at 2,600 sites. neefusa.org/npld Food Rescue US helps businesses that have too much food give to people who have too little, via food delivery volunteers. foodrescue.us The EarthEcho Water Challenge equips people to protect local water sources by doing basic monitoring. worldwatermonitoringday.org Be The Match helps patients with blood cancers like leukemia find a marrow donor and receive a transplant; find dates for its Walk+Run fund-raisers at bethematch.org.…