Real-World Heroes For Whom Saving The Environment Is A Life's Mission

Sunita Narain is the publisher of Down To Earth, and Director-General of Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). She started working as an Environmentalist in the 1980s along with Anil Agarwal, another prominent environmentalist. In 2005, Sunita chaired the Tiger Task Force for the conversation of tigers after their loss in Sariska.

Also, she is a member of the Prime Minister’s Council for Climate Change and the National Ganga River Basin Authority. Sunita Narain was also featured the world’s 100 public intellectuals list issued by US journal Foreign Policy in 2005, 2008, and 2009. She was awarded Padma Shri in 1992 for her work in the field of environment, especially in climate change and water-related issues.

Vandana Shiva is a Delhi based eco feminist and environmentalist. She is a Gandhi follower and is well known for her efforts to protect forests, conserve local biodiversity, and organize women’s networks. She is a physicist and has authored books such as Staying Alive: Women, Monocultures of the Mind, and Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis. She was identified as an environmental ‘hero’ by Time Magazine in 2003. Vandana Shiva is the director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Natural Resource Policy in Dehra Dun.

Vandana Shiva was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 1993, which is considered parallel to the Nobel Prize. She is also a founder of Navdanya, which was a national movement, created in 1984 to protect the diversity of living resources.

Chandi Prasad Bhatt is a social activist and Indian Gandhian environmentalist. He is considered as one of India’s first modern environmentalists. In 1964, he founded Dasholi Gram Swarajya Sangh (DGSS) in Gopeshwar, which later became a mother-organization to the famous Chipko Movement. Bhatt was one of the pioneers in the Chipko movement and was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1982.

Also, in 2005, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan. He is also known for his work on subaltern social ecology.

Medha Patkar is a famous environmentalist and is well known for her role in the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA). This was the powerful movement against the construction of a dam on the Narmada River. The proposed dam would have displaced more than 320,000 people. In 1989, Medha Patkar formed the NBA and had been involved since. She took fasting several times as a peaceful means to protest. She was also involved in protesting against corruption alongside Anna Hazare.

Last but not least, Sunderlal Bahuguna is one of the oldest environmentalists living today with 92 years of age. He was the leader of a famous Chipko movement and is a follower of Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy of Satyagraha and Non-violence. He is a real hero who has been fighting for the preservation of forests in the Himalayas for his entire life. He was first a member of the Chipko movement in the 1970s. Later he was a member of the Anti-Tehri Dam movement, which was started in the 1980s and ended in early 2004. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan on 26 January 2009, India's second-highest civilian award.