The recent addition of seven Indian sites to Unesco’s Tentative World Heritage List should fix our gaze on places we should preserve. Two of the seven sites stand out for the lessons they hold. Rock formations in Meghalaya’s Mawmluh cave teach us how the world might have coped with a two-century-long drought that occurred about 4,200 years ago. Kerala’s Varkala Cliffs teach us the perils of unscientific commercial development at a place where rainfall is intensifying. Both lessons are of immense value for future generations.