Words from our founder, Kiran Topiwala...

"I was born in Austin, Texas in 1999. It was a small city then. Like most folks in town, my folks liked to "Keep Austin Weird." And as I grew up, I've learned to do the same. In the early 2000s, the slogan "Keep Austin Weird" was a dog whistle for anti-development. It was about promoting small businesses, keeping things local, and living within the abundance of the landscape we call home. These folks didn’t want growth, and were of the opinion, “if we don’t build it, they [corporations, development, globalization… etc.] won’t come.”

Those times, though, are far in the past. Just as Austin grew, I grew, and for a while, I lost my way. I was passionate about photography. The arts. But my folks, you could say, fulfilled the American Dream, and that means there were high expectations of me. There was no reality in which I was going to be able to forego getting a degree or two, and be a photographer.

After high school, I left Austin for four years, and went to Texas A&M to pursue industrial and systems engineering. I chose this simply because I heard a professor mention that this is the degree for you, "if you're the kind of guy that's always trying to figure out the easy most efficient way of doing things." That was me, and still is me. I'm not a fan of rules that impede the common sense way of doing things. I'm a fan of outlaw logic– questioning everything, and thinking on my own to figure out what’s best, and what’s right.

My spirituality stems from growing up in a Hindu household. Coupled with outlaw logic, this led me to develop for myself a knowing of being on the path of dharma. This was something I learned through my experiences; it’s simply about observing and noticing, and acting in the right ways, at the right times. When you get really good at it, living feels effortless. Things fall into place, and all you have to do is let go and let that happen.

As I started leaning into this way of life more in college, the path I’m on now was just starting to unfold. During my sophomore year, I led an “engineering brigade” to Honduras to work on a clean water system for a village. I did this again in my junior year. While the experience was amazing at the time, it left me with many questions about the world of “sustainable development,” like “why I am working in this village, and not a different village that needs help more urgently; or even one that is closer to home, somewhere I have a real, daily connection with?”

These questions kept adding up, and my curiosity led me to dive deeper into sustainable development as I joined the “Development Practice” Master’s Program at Emory University. I thought I was finally going to get answers to my questions, but I just ended up with more, and on top of that, my worldview on non-profits, sustainable development… etc. etc. was broken.

June 2022– Working with EduCARE India in Dharamshala, India as part of my practicum with Emory MDP

March 2019– Engineering brigade in Suyapa, Honduras to design a clean water system.

I was forced to take a step back and reevaluate what kind of work in this paradigm I could do that I would deem “meaningful.” You could say I had awakened to how there is nothing we can do to contend with what is already under way, and the knowing that it can’t be undone. I had begun to focus on what is really worth doing. I became more interested in what kinds of initial conditions are required for coordination and collaboration to happen in the name of reducing human suffering, doing something about our giant ecological mess on Earth, whatever you want to call it.

This led me back to being a creative person, as I saw how art and storytelling can help to bring coherence to this kind of grassroots and community movement I was stumbling upon. The culmination of my thinking, research, experiences, and visions are coming together in the building of Kula Applied Research Institute. We aim to grow collectively, across the world while emphasizing our interconnectedness with everyone and everything. It is for everyone, and no one. We hold as our North Star, livelihoods that are in harmony with nature. Nothing is more important than that, and as more people awaken, we hope to be a support system for our neighbors in keeping what we’re doing weird. This time, we’re going to build it right, so they will come."

To learn more about the kinds of people, patterns, and projects we are supporting, please visit Labs.

Thank you, for helping to support those in service of Earth.