Satish Kumar is an activist and speaker. He has been a Jain monk, nuclear disarmament advocate and pacifist. 

Founder and Director of Programmes of the Schumacher College international centre for ecological studies, and Editor Emeritus of Resurgence & Ecologist magazine, Satish’s most notable accomplishment is the 8,000-mile peace walk he completed with his companion, E.P. Menon. It took them two and a half years, and included the capitals of the world's earliest nuclear-armed countries.

A teacher once taught him that wars stem from fear, while peace begins with trust. Embracing this idea, they set off without any money, trusting in themselves and in others to get by. 

There was an extra poignancy to my meeting Satish, as he worked for many years with my beloved late father-in-law, Martin Polden OBE, the co-founder with Diana Schumacher OBE of the Environmental Law Foundation (ELF).

It was truly an honour spending an hour with Satish, being reminded of what truly matters in this world, and how we can all be inspired to live - with love, and with purpose.

Overview:

In our uplifting conversation, Satish:

• Describes his early years as a Jain monk, before joining a Ghandian ashram.
• Talks about his long walk for peace, journeying from India to Moscow, Paris, London and Washington, and then from Tokyo to Hiroshima.
• Explains how he then settled in England and became editor of Resurgence magazine, authoring 10 books during his 40 years’ editorship.
• Expands on the inspiration behind his 8,000 mile walk for peace, and some of their amazing experiences along the way, including meeting Martin Luther King.
• Recalls how the symbolism of ‘pausing and reflecting over tea, instead of pressing the nuclear button’ became a theme of his peace walk.
• Enthuses about promoting an ‘education of heart and hands’, engaging both hemispheres of the brain, which is why he founded the Schumacher College in Devon.
• Discusses the history and the work of ELF, of which King Charles is the president, and Client Earth, one of the organisations that followed it.
• Delights in the B-Corp movement and shares Alan’s goal to ‘bring love into business’ and to consider the importance of the planet more.
• Shares his thoughts about what he would like to see businesses doing in order to drive positive change for the planet.
• Looks to the future, continuing with his purpose of being an activist in the service of humanity and the planet.
• Passes on a key message to the entrepreneur-focused listenership of this podcast.