Nativekeeps works at the intersection of waste, livelihood and land — helping remote Himalayan communities turn indigenous knowledge into everyday, workable sustainability.
Tourism has reached the high Himalaya faster than the infrastructure to handle what it leaves behind. Nativekeeps documents and spreads practical, low-cost ways for mountain communities to manage waste, protect their land, and earn from it — rather than importing solutions that don't fit the terrain.
The work sits close to the ground: composting and segregation methods suited to remote villages, small-scale agro-livelihood ideas for families already farming the slopes, and a steady record of what actually works, written up so other communities can use it too.
Composting, segregation and low-waste practices adapted to the reality of remote, high-altitude villages — not copied from plains-based models.
Supporting the people and crafts already rooted in these hills, so preserving a tradition also means earning a living from it.
Working alongside rural Himalayan farming households to make small-scale agriculture more resilient and better rewarded.
Campaigns, recipes and journals that turn low-waste living from an idea into a daily habit anyone can pick up.
The range these stories are written for.
Years of fieldwork, kept as a growing public record rather than kept quiet.
Nativekeeps is run alongside a full-time career in architecture and building design — the same instinct for how a place is put together, turned toward the villages of the Indian Himalaya.
It's a personal, ongoing project: a growing record of what genuinely works for these communities, built one village and one season at a time.