Saalumarada Thimmakka

Adding Life to the World

Today, June 5th is World Environment Day. One of India's most famous living environmentalists is 107 years old this year. 
 
Her name is  Saalumarada Thimmakka.  When she was a young girl, she married a local herdsman. When, at the age of 40, she realized they would never have children, Thimmakka wanted to die. 
 
But then, she and her husband came up with their own way of adding life to the world; they began to plant banyan trees.
 
Thimmakka reasoned,

"Banyan trees offer shade and the fruit is food for several creatures.”

Thimmakka and her husband cared for the trees by carrying water to them after working in the fields; all 384 of them - planted along a 4 km stretch of highway. 
 
After Thimmakka's husband passed away in 1991, Thimmakka carried on with her work. It's estimated she and her husband planted over 8,000 trees during their lifetimes. 
 
In India, Thimmakka is known as the Mother of Trees.


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Saalumarada Thimmakka
Saalumarada Thimmakka

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