How Indian Schoolchildren Built One of the Country’s Largest Environmental Movements
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📰 The quick summary: A Jesuit priest in India turned a small group of tree-planting schoolchildren into one of the country’s largest student environmental movements, proving that local action guided by young people can grow into lasting, widespread change.
📈 One key stat: Tarumitra eventually reached hundreds of thousands of students across India, showing how a movement started with no money or office can scale into a nationally significant force for environmental action.
💬 One key quote: “Slow work but very rewarding,” Father Robert Athickal said of Tarumitra’s forest planting and experiments with organic farming.
1️⃣ The big picture: Father Robert Athickal, a Jesuit priest who died on July 19, 2026, at age 73, spent nearly four decades building Tarumitra, meaning Friends of Trees, from a small group of worried schoolchildren in Patna into one of India’s largest student environmental movements. Starting in 1988 with no funding, no office, and no government backing, Athickal trusted young people with real responsibility, letting them lead campaigns, organize school units, and represent the movement at national and international gatherings. In 1994, the Jesuits provided ten acres on the outskirts of Patna, which students aged 12 to 15 transformed into a biological reserve holding hundreds of plant varieties, including species disappearing from northern India. Athickal wove together Indian philosophy and Catholic theology, teaching that humans carry moral obligations toward animals, plants, rivers, and soils alike. By the time he stepped down from leadership in 2019, former students were running programs and carrying Tarumitra’s methods into new institutions and regions across the country.
2️⃣ Why is this good news: Tarumitra’s story shows that environmental movements with lasting impact do not require large budgets or powerful institutions behind them, only a clear method, local relevance, and genuine trust in young people. By giving students real leadership roles from the start, the movement built a generation of environmental organizers who carried its work far beyond Patna. The biological reserve created on ten acres of degraded land now shelters hundreds of plant varieties, including native species that had been disappearing from northern India, offering a practical model for ecological restoration. Tarumitra’s consultative status with the UN and its presence at international gatherings gave young Indian voices a platform on global environmental discussions. Most importantly, the movement continues to grow after its founder’s death, because it was always built around its members rather than any single leader.
3️⃣ What’s next: Tarumitra continues to operate under the leadership of coordinators and former students trained through decades of work. The biological reserve, organic farms, and school networks Athickal helped establish remain active across India. His methods offer a replicable model for communities and educators looking to connect young people with local environmental responsibility.
Read the full story here: Mongabay – Father Robert Athickal asked children to protect the living world
