Srinagar, July 2 -- There's something deeply humbling, even uncomfortable, about her solitary mission. Here is a foreigner, older in age, with no local ties, yet doing the hard, thankless work that we, as residents, ignore or shrug off as someone else's job. She isn't cleaning Dal Lake for selfies or social media likes. She does it because she believes that nature deserves care, and that action-no matter how small-is better than complaint.

It's not that Kashmiris don't love their lake. Dal is part of our collective identity-etched into our culture, our art, our economy. But somewhere along the way, we've grown indifferent. We enjoy its beauty, but we overlook the filth. We take boat rides and click photos, but seldom ask where our plasti...