Today is World Environment day.

A ‘National Summer Camp ‘  held at Prayagraj [Allahabad]  this week [June 1- 5] was one of the many ways that Tarumitra, India’s largest youth environment movement is celebrating World Environment Day. The World Environment Week Celebrations, was organized by Tarumitra Prayagraj  and  attended by student representatives of various high school units, concluded Sunday,  June 5, at Shanti Sadan Prayagraj.

This student movement grew out of a Student Leadership Training activity from Patna’s Loyola School in 1988. It was initiated by the well known Jesuit environmentalist Dr Robert Athickal SJ.

Tarumitra  (friends of trees in Hindi and Sanskrit) is now  in 23 states of India and with around 2,000 schools and colleges in the country. Over 250,000 youngsters across the country are connected to the organisation. the primary  focus is  on the conservation of biodiversity and promotion of ecological sensitivity.

The headquarters is in Patna, Bihar, India which is a bio-reserve called ‘Tarumitra Ashram’   that students planted and now regularly manage. The current director of ‘Tarumitra Ashram’ is Jesuit Father Anthony Pendanath.

“Tarumitra has a strong belief that students are not just the future of the planet. They are the present as well. When they become aware of eco-friendly and green ideas at an early age, the possibility is greater that they would refrain from activities which are harmful to the environment,” he says.

Eco-Spirituality

The core of the movement is  eco-spirituality. “Mysticism consists in transcending the temporary into the eternal, from the prosaic rituals to an intimacy of ‘one-ing’ with the Divine,” says Father Robert.  He often says that Jesuit tradition is intimately based on the mystical experience of Saint Ignatius by the river Cardoner when the saint experienced the Oneness of things in God.

Eco-spirituality is how human beings realize that everything in the universe is deeply inter-connected. It encompasses all positive beliefs, faiths, religions, and philosophies.

 “We are called to be mystics, in intimate communion with a sense of cousinship with the entire universe,” says the Biblical theologian, Fr. George Mlakuzhy from Delhi.

“Tarumitra’s green journey is animated by committed youth who actively respond to and engage with urgent environmental global issues, and in caring for our common home. Tarumitra works on the principle of Universal Cousinship  and strongly advocates that “the whole world is my family,” says Tarumitra executive Devopriya Dutta who has been working with the organisation since 2015.

Tarumitra received the UN Special Consultative Status (ECOSOC) in 2005, enabling them to participate in events like the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development where progress on the Sustainable Development Goals are reviewed with UN member-states.

Students representing Tarumitra participate in UN Summits and these ‘young green leaders’ from time to time  addressed General Assemblies on ecological concerns.

Tarumitra welcomes interns from many universities in India and abroad to work with the school children who participate in their ecological programs.

Interns have come from 23 of the 29 states of India, as well as from the United States, Belgium, Zambia, Germany, Switzerland, Honduras, Mexico, Ecuador, Panama, El Salvador, Columbia, Guatemala, and Bolivia. The University of Zamorano in Honduras, for example, sends interns for up to six months.

They can take short or long assignments in environmental education, organic farming, advocacy, environmental campaigns, and social-media networking.

  eco-spirituality, ecology, India, Jesuits, Laudato Si', Taru Mitra, Tarumitra Friends of trees, world environment day