Whilst the western world argues over "How dare you?!", white entitlement and whether student strikes or Friday rallies really make much of a difference to the global environment in the end, I'm choosing to shift my focus to people who are NOT privileged and who still manage to make an incredible difference to our global environment, not by the blame they cast, the speeches they recite, the tears they almost shed or the memes they inspire across social media, but by their practical, tangible actions.
Saalumarada Thimmakka. Not exactly a household name, but she should be.
In India, she is known as the Mother of the Trees. 107 year old Saalumarada was blessed and honoured by India's President Ram Nath Kovind and awarded a 2019 Padma Shrii Award - India's highest civilian honour.
A quarry worker from the Indian State of Karnataka, Saalumarada had no formal education and was carrying deep grief about her childlessness. She decided to plant banyan trees to channel her grief and to literally become an Earth Mother. With her husband's help, she planted and tended 365 banyan trees along a four kilometer stretch of highway between the towns of Hulikal and Kudar.
She didn't have the benefit of climate change education, nor a school to be able to strike from, and yet she acted for the greater good, intuitively, honouring her local environment at what can not have been a small personal cost. Carrying water by hand to those young banyan trees in the brutal hot-dry season 45C heat? Now THAT is conviction to be celebrated!
She has since personally planted and tended over 8,000 trees!
Her husband passed away in 1991 and she continues her environmental activism. In addition to being an advocate and champion of the trees, she has assisted her village with water storage, and has established a trust in her village to be able to build a hospital in her husband's memory.
By their fruits you shall know them. LOL Damn, now WHO said that? LOL - just kidding - attributed to Jesus Christ, Matthew 7:16. And so it is.
The blame and finger pointing will pass, but ultimately the only thing that will matter is not how loudly you banged on the drum or how many climate change rallies you went to, but "What did you actually DO?"
Activism is NOT about memes, social media or reading prepared speeches. It's about modelling new paradigm behaviour, teaching skills and about persistence. 107 years of persistence is something to be applauded. Given a standing ovation, even.
Personally I am choosing to CELEBRATE Saalumarada Thimmakka and others like her. Choosing to give my attention to positive action, things that matter and people who have demonstrated their conviction, that those energies may be magnified in the world.
Grateful. Thinking about planting & tending trees.
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, Starting Within! 
