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 is an award-winning animator and illustrator based in London. She has worked on wildlife documentaries set in the western United States, experimental dance animations, and commercials with major studios. The common thread in her work is her love of drawing, which she expresses by skillfully blending digital and analog techniques to create images and films. She uses her artistic talent to realize her desire to tell stories through various mediums, ranging from narrative films and documentaries to music videos. Her works have been screened at renowned animation festivals such as Annecy; her graduation film was supported by Elf Factory; and her short film True Sound Façade won awards at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival and the 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 three-dimensional expression. He has directed and produced a number of short films, and contributed to various renowned 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, and has helped several films win prestigious awards such as the Golden Globes, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the Annie Awards, and the Japan Academy Awards. Now, as a member of the sankaku creative team, he continues to explore new possibilities in animation by directing CGI and art-based visual storytelling.