About Arun
Surprisingly, I have transformed into a green activist, which was not always the case. While I had been attracted to minimalism and conscious consumption patterns and cared about the environment and the impact of human activity, I was unsure how to make a meaningful difference. Finally, however, a significant and personal event occurred. It was as if a green light illuminated everything around me, motivating me to channel my passion towards making all my activities eco-friendly.
My Story
“There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time, we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story.” ~Linda Hogan
I spent most of my childhood time with my parents in the Himalayan forest in a true connection with diversity and nature. I recall, "With the green mountains and forest in the background, my friends and I would go swimming in the river and sometimes would leave on our undershirts and shorts, and we'd always get in trouble because our clothes would never be white again." As a boy, I loved forest and nature and was a green teen, you can say. But, like in developing countries, as usual with middle-class families, the city attracted my parents for better opportunities and education and restricted my nature connection only for the summer holidays. I Graduated in Engineering & post Graduated in Management. I couldn't get along with more than nine years of my marketing life in three companies in Delhi and opted out of the corporate mainstream to avoid settling into a mundane routine of maintaining my material growth and losing my zest for life.
To raise my inner humanity and compassion, I even dropped my closed room Doctorate program and started to serve society, successfully indulge in my love for travel and explore the other side of the fence, volunteering and consulting many non-profit sectors, accepting & understanding the challenges of environmental degradation, extreme poverty, and deforestation that threatened to destroy the world with no place to live. But it doesn't have to be that way! I would say, though the grass is not greener on the other side, perhaps it's very dynamic, full of diversity, energy, life & incredibly beautiful. And Just beneath the surface, I realize many challenges, enormous light of hope, excitement, empowering world of awareness and passion towards taking one beautiful step with energy that flows through many species in connection and harmony to show enormous outcomes.
In my current status as an environmentalist and sustainable specialist, I'm devoting my time and life to protecting the planet Earth and serving its species. I believe that my movement, "Sustainable, biodiverse agriculture with forest conservation & restoration," saving our planet & changing our world can go hand in hand. In this pursuit, I spent all of my savings to help marginalized farmers/communities & visited many institutions, individuals, scientists, and social workers in similar movements worldwide. I earned my learning and wisdom on many Eco-villages, green schools, and forestry projects across the continents that split presently among India, Philippines, Kenya, Malawi, and Canada. I walked from city to city many times, covering villages in days to make efforts & help people make decisions on carefully using products & natural resources while interacting with their surroundings and making decisions for their daily needs.
My connection with the various projects has given me great wisdom to conceptualize and work on my dream of establishing a TRUE GREEN SCHOOL or GURUKUL. Keeping in mind that education needs to be re-envisioned, including cultivating wisdom, learning to live in a society, and overcoming oppression and exploitation. For education to be more productive, it has to be dialogical, interactive, inclusive, & compassionate & needs to heal the rift between mind, body, and soul. As humanity endeavors towards sustainable development, educating each individual on mother earth and nature to take good care of the environment that nurtures and sustains all species in balance - is the most significant concern of the new millennium.
Over the years, I've tried many theories, models, and philosophies. I've played diverse roles – son, brother, husband, father, intuitive environmentalist, engineer, marketer, healer, student, teacher, speaker, presenter, writer, social worker, and volunteer.
My pursuit has always been to become a better person, do different things locally or globally, and help others. I've chased these dreams with all my heart.
Yet, looking back, I can see that I sometimes missed one important point – a simple truth my mother repeated many times to me that it isn't what we do that makes us great; it's how we do it & the creativity for this all comes with an empty mind (not a blank mind) which takes every resistance as an
extraordinary event or process of thoughts that empties itself of its own impetus. Then we will see a radical, deep shift that is not about influence, circumstances, culture, or society. It's that mind which creates a new society or community that is there for a moment and always fades with time with nature's rule. Though, recognizing that no community, tradition, or knowledge is permanent, we can still see that the mind, which is empty, is creative and always in a state of creation.
Here, even in my profession, my purpose is not to bring the change but to create awareness and consciousness, which have been lost for a long in me and others. Change towards something known is not a change at all. Therefore the purpose is to bring those times back to life when all matter and energies on earth were at their best potential in connection without too much control over each other.
In a real sense, what we consider positive thinking is a process of being told to be positive and wondering if you follow this. How we do it matters a lot and echoes on and on. Kindness leads to kindness. Judgment leads to judgment. Love leads to love.
My current passion is making environmental consciousness work and providing this awareness easily accessible to everyone. I believe this is the highest service I can provide to the world and you (And I love & enjoy doing it, too!). Unless the thinking involved in a system is developed or evolved, the underlying structure, including the brain, remains unchanged. The part of the awareness is to pay attention to our habitual patterns of thinking that are responsible for most of our actions.
When I look at the degradation, consumption patterns with the rising human population, and related problems, we face personally and globally, the immediate facilitation step with new awareness is the only lasting cure I see. Ethically, as a human, I need to behave in a way such that if everyone behaves that way, it will solve most of the problems.
I love new technology for the increased leverage it gives us – yet without deep awareness, we tend to waste that leverage on the same mean pursuits.
For a true world to occur, we must shift our awareness. Yet, shifting awareness is the only long task in nonempty minds. Shifting awareness is not an easy game.
Research Work &
Expertise in
Agroforestry
Regenerative Agriculture
Landscape Designing
Forestry
Help as many people and the community as possible, my mission is to...
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Learn and embody amazing connections to raise awareness of diversity and nature power.
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Strip away needless nonsense – within myself and the facilitation,
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Deliver the message in as clear & helpful a manner as possible to bring as many possibilities for a shift for a better environment and wellbeing.
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Make the project work with the awareness of the environment and wellbeing in connection and easily accessible to all.
More Sharings
A generation of humanity coming together to reverse climate change.
Previously, I worked in the corporate world, where I was directed on what to do for maximum profit without much consideration for my interests or values. However, after leaving that environment, I decided to pursue my passions. So, I started exploring nature through forest walks, mountain adventures, and visiting remote islands and green communities. Additionally, I spent time with native communities in India and other countries, which brought me joy. Although some people may view my decision as a step back from mainstream society, I consider it a step forward and wondered if my adventures could have a greater impact beyond personal fulfilment.
This thought led me to initiate environmental and agroforestry projects in India, Palawan (Philippines), and Peterborough (Canada). As I travelled through these countries, I collaborated with four Indian and two international NGOs that empower farmers with organic and sustainable farming techniques and work on forestry restoration projects. I combined this cause with the green movement, giving rise to the environment explorers initiative. During my two-year journey through India, I visited various indigenous communities, forest dwellers, farmers, forest schools, NGOs, and government entities, sharing my views on the environmental challenges of adopting conventional and modern consumerist methods.
Through my journeys, explorations, and endeavours, I have come to realize that no matter how meticulously I plan, there is always a limit to what I can control. The same holds true for trailblazing researchers, leaders, social workers, journalists, and activists. Consequently, when I dedicate my time and efforts, I prioritize listening to all voices, including the energies of the natural world and strive to remain adaptable and open-minded to accommodate evolving circumstances in a collaborative and inclusive manner.
