Who we are

Beyond Carbon was founded in 2024 to counter carbon-oriented forest data infrastructures with community-owned knowledges of landscapes.

Our transnational initiative’s core members are Dr. Madhuri Karak (India/Türkiye), Cindy Julianty (Indonesia) and Michelle Cheripka (United States/The Netherlands). We are three women from three corners of the world who share backgrounds in climate justice and community building, with an overarching interest in uniting art, research, and technology tools into advocacy.

Our Team

Core Team

Madhuri Karak

Founder & Research Lead

India / Türkiye

Madhuri Karak (she/her) is a researcher working at the intersections of climate, technology, and people's movements in South and South East Asia for the last 15+ years. She writes, teaches, and speaks on topics ranging from Indigenous data sovereignty and the environmental impacts of tech infrastructures to the limits of geospatial tools for territorial recognition. Madhuri was a Mellon - American Council of Learned Societies Public Fellow (2019-2021) and holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from The Graduate Center, City University of New York.

Cindy Julianty

Advocacy Lead

Indonesia

Cindy Julianty (she/her) is a community land rights activist and lawyer currently focusing on climate, territorial recognition, and biodiversity conservation. Cindy represents both BRWA, Indonesia’s Ancestral Domain Registration Agency (Badan Registrasi Wilayah Adat), and the Indonesia chapter of the Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCA) Consortium. She currently lives in Bogor, Indonesia.

Michelle Cheripka

Creative Lead

USA / The Netherlands

Michelle Cheripka (she/her) is a queer producer and director for multimedia projects. Michelle’s work focuses on personal experiences of systemic issues. She works with environmental non-profits, and has experience with tv series, commercials, documentaries, Facebook Live series, and feature films. Her independent film work has screened in festivals and venues in New York, London, Los Angeles, Boston, Beijing, and Rotterdam. She is currently based in Los Angeles, California (USA) on the ancestral homelands of the Tongva people.

Project Collaborators

Felipe Mammoli

Technology Lead

Brazil

Felipe Mammoli (he/him) is an interdisciplinary researcher working on the cultural aspects of how digital technologies are used to make sense of climate change, especially in the Amazon. He holds a degree in Computer Science and a PhD in Science and Technology Policy from the University of Campinas, Brazil. Currently, he works as a research specialist for the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation at the Center for Information Technology - Renato Archer, where he applies creative computing methods to create visualizations and sonifications of climate change data.

Laura N-Tamara

Animator & Illustrator

UK/France/Indonesia

Laura N Tamara (she/her) is an award-winning animator/illustrator based in London. She has worked on documentaries about animals of the American West, experimental dance-animation films and commercials with big studios. What ties her practice together is a love of drawing, blending both digital and analog techniques masterfully to craft images and films. Her artistic talent is at the service of her desire to tell a wide range of stories, from narrative films to documentaries to music videos. Projects she worked on have been screened at major animation festivals such as Annecy, her graduation film was supported by Elf Factory studios, and her short film True Sound Façade won awards at San Francisco Dance Film Festival & Homescreen Festival.

Masaya Inaba

CGI Director

United Kingdom

Masaya Inaba is a CGI artist and director who brings emotion and depth to animation through the art of 3D expression. He has directed and produced several short films while contributing to numerous acclaimed projects such as Children of the Sea, INU-OH, Poupelle of Chimney Town, and PHOENIX: EDEN17. His work has also extended to international productions including Star Wars: Visions and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, contributing to films recognized by major awards such as the Golden Globes, Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Annie Awards, and the Japan Academy Awards. Currently, as a member of the creative team sankaku, he continues to explore new possibilities in animation through CGI direction and art-driven visual storytelling.