Journalist, podcast host, and forthcoming OR Books author covering the frontlines of America’s climate and environmental justice movements.
Host of A People’s Climate with The Nation
Co-Founder & President of Counterstream Media
Hi, I'm Shilpi—journalist, podcast host, and forthcoming OR Books author reporting on climate, environmental justice, and the communities challenging systems of power. I'm the Co-Founder and President of Counterstream Media and host of A People’s Climate with The Nation.
My reporting draws on nearly 15 years working across environmental science, policy, strategic communications, and movement spaces. Before focusing on journalism, I partnered with scientists, organizers, policymakers, and frontline communities to translate complex environmental issues into stories that shaped public understanding and policy conversations. Those experiences—and the collaborations they fostered—continue to inform my approach to narrative justice and relationship-based journalism.
In 2021, I launched what became Counterstream Media as People over Plastic—a podcast and storytelling hub dedicated to the environmental justice stories I wasn't seeing in mainstream media. Today, Counterstream produces award-winning journalism, podcasts, and narrative initiatives, including A People's Climate, The Margin, Peace & Riot, and live storytelling events that spotlight frontline communities resisting extractive industries and narratives.
Before Counterstream, I served as the first Global Communications Lead for Break Free From Plastic, where I helped build an international communications strategy exposing the full life-cycle harms of plastics and petrochemicals while supporting organizers across the United States and the Global South.
My reporting and essays have appeared in The Guardian, The Nation, Non Profit Quarterly, and Prism. My commentary has been featured by ABC, NBC, NPR, BBC, Rolling Stone, Al Jazeera, Newsweek, KQED, Vogue India, and other national and international outlets.
Recent honors include the 2026 Hari Kondabolu Award for South Asian Excellence in Audio Storytelling, the 2025 Rachel's Network Catalyst Award Finalist, and recognition from the Webby Awards and NYC Podcast Awards for A People's Climate.
I live in Oakland, California, on Ohlone land with my family.
New to Narrative Justice?
Here Are Three Things You Should Know
Narrative is Power
The stories we tell and who gets to tell them shape public perception, policy, and power. Narrative justice means shifting dominant narratives that exclude, extract, or erase.Beyond Representation
This isn’t about optics. Narrative justice demands structural change—centering the voices, truths, and leadership of those most impacted by climate, colonialism, and interlocking systems of oppression.A Climate Strategy
A true climate narrative confronts extraction at its roots, builds public will for systems change, and uplifts community-driven solutions grounded in lived experience and cultural resistance.
The Book — coming 2027
My debut book, forthcoming with OR Books' Nation Books series, is a work of reported nonfiction on the fight over land, power, and the future of climate justice in America — reported across contested landscapes from Cop City to Cancer Alley.
Get in touch about collaborations, speaking engagements, media inquiries, or workshops.
Please note: as part of a broader effort to challenge the systemic undervaluing of women of color in thought leadership, I only accept paid speaking opportunities.