Satish Kumar

For other people named Satish Kumar, see Satish Kumar (disambiguation).

Satish Kumar
Kumar in 2008
Born (1936-08-09) 9 August 1936 (age 88)
Sri Dungargarh, Rajputana Agency, British India[1]
(present day Rajasthan, India)
Known forFounder, Schumacher College & The Small School, Editor Emeritus of Resurgence & Ecologist
MovementNuclear disarmament;
Environmental sustainability
Board member of
RSPCA[2]
PartnerJune Mitchell
ChildrenMukti Kumar Mitchell, Maya Kumar Mitchell
AwardsHonorary Doctorate in Education, Plymouth University; Honorary Doctorate in Literature, University of Lancaster; Honorary Doctorate in Law, University of Exeter; Jamnalal Bajaj International Award[2]

Satish Kumar (born 9 August 1936)[1] is an Indian British activist and speaker. He has been a Jain monk, nuclear disarmament advocate and pacifist.[3] Now living in England, Kumar is founder and Director of Programmes of the Schumacher College international center for ecological studies, and is Editor Emeritus of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine. His most notable accomplishment is the completion, together with a companion, E. P. Menon, of a peace walk of over 8,000 miles in June 1962 for two and a half years, from New Delhi to Moscow, Paris, London, and Washington, D.C., the capitals of the world's earliest nuclear-armed countries.[4][5] He insists that reverence for nature should be at the heart of every political and social debate.

Defending criticism that his goals are unrealistic, he has said,

Look at what realists have done for us. They have led us to war and climate change, poverty on an unimaginable scale, and wholesale ecological destruction. Half of humanity goes to bed hungry because of all the realistic leaders in the world. I tell people who call me "unrealistic" to show me what their realism has done. Realism is an outdated, overplayed and wholly exaggerated concept.[6]

  1. ^ a b Kumar, Satish (2000). "Path without destination: The long walk of a gentle hero". Belief.net. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
  2. ^ a b "About Satish". Resurgence. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  3. ^ Cullen, Tom A. (19 May 1969). "Indian Pacifist Preaches Guerrilla War on Violence". Star-Banner. Ocala, Florida, United States: Halifax Media Group. p. 8. ISSN 0163-3201.
  4. ^ "Satish Kumar looks back on his historic 8,000 mile peace walk from India to the US". inews.co.uk. 19 July 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2022.
  5. ^ Vidal, John (16 January 2008). "Soul man". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  6. ^ Sica, Giulio (16 January 2008). "What part does spirituality play in the green movement?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 May 2010.