EDITOR’S NOTE: Lisa Kristine is a humanitarian photographer and artist. The views expressed in this commentary are her own.
From a distance, it looked like a mountain rising through the brown haze of northern India — until I was told it was a landfill.
As we drove closer, it became obvious that what I mistook for solid rock was trash, compacted, sunbaked, and piled dozens of stories high. Near the summit, I could just make out human figures moving slowly across the surface. They were waste pickers, collecting scrap to sell. Without protective gear, they blended into the toxic landscape.
“I’m going up,” I said. My translator looked alarmed. “It’s too dangerous. There are too many…