India’s 107-Year-Old ‘Mother of Trees’ | Saalumarada Thimmakka

Meet

India's

107-Year-Old

'Mother of Trees'

'Saalumarada Thimmakka' often referred to as the ‘Mother of Trees,’ is an Indian environmentalist and activist known for planting over 8,000 trees across India in her lifetime. Every day, she inspires thousands of people across the globe to cherish the natural environment, and she’s doing it all at 107 years old.

In the 1930s, Thimmakka and her late husband selflessly dedicated their lives to the environment. The couple, who never had children, made it their mission to nurture the Earth around them. In the 1950s, Thimmakka was determined to plant as many trees as possible between her village of Hulikal and the neighboring village of Kudur. In the span of three years, she and her husband were able to plant and sustain 284 trees where there were none before.

After her husband passed in 1991, Thimmakka continued to devote her life to protecting and valuing the environment. She has gone on to plant over 8,000 trees across India, most of them in her home state of Karnataka. Aside from planting trees, Thimmakka is heavily involved in environmental activism in her country. She is a member of India's State and National Environmental Protection program and an active campaigner for afforestation– the process of planting trees.

Thimmakka and her adopted son, Umesh BN, founded the Saalumarada Thimmakka International Foundation in 2014. The organization operates as a charity dedicated to funding environmental conservation and restoration projects, research studies, and the facilitation of education on the natural environment. Alongside this, other objectives of the foundation include providing shelter and resources to the poor, giving financial aid to Indian students, and supporting the maintenance of medical hospitals nationwide.

Her work has inspired others around the world to become environmentally conscious. She is the namesake for Thimmakka’s Resources for Environmental Education, a nonprofit based in Oakland, California, providing ecological advice to local restaurants. The Indian government considers her achievements so important, that her story has been added to Hindi textbooks to teach and inspire Indian students.

Thimmakka’s achievements have earned her worldwide recognition. Earlier this year, she received the Padma Shri award, an honor given by the Government of India for exceptional civilian work. She also won the National Citizen’s Award in 1995 for the selfless work she does for the environment.

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Baobab Tree:

𝐼𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒹 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒾𝒸𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝐵𝒶𝑜𝒷𝒶𝒷 𝓉𝓇𝑒𝑒. 𝐼𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝓊𝓃𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝓎 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝓇𝑒𝑒 𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝓃𝑒𝓉, 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒾𝓉𝓈 𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓈𝒾𝓏𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝓇𝓊𝓃𝓀𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒸𝓁𝒶𝓌-𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒷𝓇𝒶𝓃𝒸𝒽𝑒𝓈. 𝐼𝓉 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓈 𝓃𝑜 𝓈𝓊𝓇𝓅𝓇𝒾𝓈𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑜𝒹𝒹-𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝓇𝑒𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝓃𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝑀𝒶𝒹𝒶𝑔𝒶𝓈𝒸𝒶𝓇. 𝒜𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝒶𝓁𝓁, 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓈𝓁𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝒾𝓈 𝒽𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝓌𝑒𝒾𝓇𝒹 𝒸𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒𝓈, 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓁𝑒𝓂𝓊𝓇 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓃𝒹𝓇𝒾. 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝐵𝒶𝑜𝒷𝒶𝒷 𝓉𝓇𝑒𝑒 𝒾𝓈 𝒶𝓈 𝓊𝓈𝑒𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝒶𝓈 𝒾𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝓊𝓃𝒾𝓆𝓊𝑒. 𝒯𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝒶 𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓈𝑒 𝒻𝒶𝓈𝒸𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝒶𝒸𝓉𝓈 𝒶𝒷𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝐵𝒶𝑜𝒷𝒶𝒷 𝓉𝓇𝑒𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓎𝑜𝓊’𝓁𝓁 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝑜𝓊𝓉 𝓌𝒽𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓃𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓋𝑒 𝒸𝓊𝓁𝓉𝓊𝓇𝑒𝓈 𝓇𝑒𝒻𝑒𝓇 𝓉𝑜 𝒾𝓉 𝒶𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 “𝒯𝓇𝑒𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝐿𝒾𝒻𝑒”

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