A Butterfly and a Friend

 Yesterday evening, I received a message from one of my very close friends. At first, I ignored it. A few minutes later, I opened it and found several photographs of butterflies. 

He doesn’t know much about butterflies. He probably couldn’t name a single species. But he knows me—he knows my craziness, my passion, and how much these little creatures mean to me.

He had taken those photographs simply because he saw something I love.








At that moment, I felt that perhaps years of passion, hard work, and dedication had finally paid off—not because I had discovered a new species, but because someone who knew nothing about butterflies had learned to notice them, appreciate them, and care about them.

He still sends me butterfly photographs from time to time.

And perhaps that is what conservation is truly about: when your passion becomes someone else’s reason to care.


Sonam Pintso Sherpa

Green Journalist - Sikkim

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take the Rimbi story as a lesson and a warning.

Image
  Take the Rimbi story as a lesson and a warning. The more cruelly we treat nature, the more strongly nature will respond. Mountains are not lifeless rocks that can be cut, blasted and reshaped endlessly for our convenience. They are living landscapes, holding forests, water, soil and communities together. When we use heavy machinery excessively, blast mountains with dynamite and cut hills without respecting their natural stability, we disturb systems that took thousands and millions of years to form. Nature may remain silent for a long time. It does not argue with us. It does not protest in the way humans do. But when its limits are crossed, the consequences can be devastating. Rimbi should not be remembered only as a disaster. It should be remembered as a warning. A warning to authorities. A warning to planners. A warning to developers. And a warning to all of us. Development is necessary, but development that ignores the character and fragility of the mountains can p...
Read more

Cleaning the Earth Is Not Enough—We Must Stop the Waste at Its Source

Image
Every year, we witness countless cleanliness drives. Volunteers gather with gloves and bags, collecting plastic bottles, snack wrappers, and other waste from roads, rivers, forests, and  Tourist destination . These efforts are inspiring and reflect a growing concern for the environment. Yet, after a few weeks or months, the same places often become polluted again. This raises a serious question: Are we solving the problem, or simply repeating the cleanup? Cleaning drives are important, but they are temporary solutions. The real issue lies far beyond the waste we collect. The problem begins much earlier—in the production and packaging of products, particularly the widespread use of single-use plastics. Large corporations manufacture and sell products on a massive scale. Their goods reach every village, town, and mountain valley. While companies generate enormous profits, the plastic packaging they leave behind becomes a burden on communities, local governments, and nature. To addres...
Read more

Butterfly Happiness: When Butterflies Come Looking for Salt

Image
 🦋 A Little Butterfly Happiness  11 August 2026  Sikkim India 🇮🇳 I don't force butterflies to sit on my face. As we know, butterflies are sometimes attracted to sweat and its salts, a behaviour known as puddling. They may visit people because sweat provides minerals such as sodium. These days, the weather has been sunny and hot, which makes me sweat more. And as a butterfly enthusiast, I actually enjoy these little moments when a butterfly comes close and decides to use me as its temporary mineral source! So, I took the opportunity to click a few photographs. I may not look particularly handsome in these pictures, but honestly, when a butterfly chooses to sit on me, that's more than enough to make me happy. For me, butterfly watching isn't always about finding a rare species or getting the perfect photograph. Sometimes it's simply about being outdoors, feeling connected with nature, and enjoying these tiny, unexpected encounters. A little sweat, a little sunshine, a...
Read more