Marimuthu Yoganathan, a 56-year-old bus conductor from Thenur village in Coimbatore, has spent more than three decades proving that environmental revolutions do not always begin with big institutions or big money, sometimes, they begin with one man and a sapling.
Using nearly 40% of his modest TNSTC salary, he has reportedly planted over 3 lakh trees across Tamil Nadu, earning him the moniker: “Tree Man of India.”
His journey is a reminder that while many speak of climate anxiety, some quietly rebuild the earth, one school, one child, and one seedling at a time.
Nilgiris Sparks a Lifelong Mission
Yoganathan’s story began in 1987, when a teenage visit to the Nilgiris changed him forever. He watched the timber mafia felling trees that tribals considered sacred, not just ecological destruction, but cultural erasure. The injustice ignited something fierce within him.
He protested, created posters, and campaigned against tree felling long before “environment activism” was a phrase used on social media. When he later became a bus conductor with TNSTC, he chose to keep his profession and passion separate, but never distant.
Environmental veteran Jeyachandran, his mentor, helped him navigate early skepticism and even clashes with authorities over roadside plantations. Yet his saplings persisted.
Over the years, he revived barren lands, replenished lost greenery, and restored soil that had been stripped of life. In Thenur and beyond, his trees healed landscapes suffering from erosion, water scarcity, and disappearing biodiversity.
“Throughout my career, I have dedicatedly contributed approximately Rs. 30 lakhs of personal funds towards promoting a verdant ecosystem and fostering biodiversity,” says Marimuthu Yoganathan on his website yogutree.org.
A Weekly Ritual of Greening Lives
For most, Mondays are for routines. For Yoganathan, they are for regeneration.
Every Monday, his weekly off, he travels to schools, colleges, factories, and roadside stretches to plant saplings. More than 3,700 institutions across 32 districts have witnessed this ritual. He encourages children to name the trees they plant, turning saplings into companions and responsibility into affection.
Even on regular days, while issuing bus tickets, he hands out free saplings to passengers, a quiet, everyday act of resistance against the shrinking green cover.
Despite living in a rented home, supported by his wife and two children, he dedicates almost half his income to trees. His model of activism isn’t powered by grants or machinery, just persistence, humility, and soil-stained hands.
Accolades, Yet a Simple Dream
For his 36 years of service, Yoganathan has received the Padma Shri (2021), the National Youth Award, CNN-IBN Real Heroes (2011), the Eco Warrior Award from the Vice-President, and praise from Prime Minister Modi’s “Mann Ki Baat.”
But despite the national recognition, he says the government has provided no direct support. His dream is modest: a small plot of land to set up a nursery and a home, not for comfort, but so he can grow more saplings for Tamil Nadu.
His work proves that you don’t need vast resources to move a forest, only an unshakable will.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
Yoganathan’s life is a testament to quiet courage. His work radiates compassion, empathy, and harmony with nature. In a world that often feels overwhelmed by environmental loss, his story plants hope: that one individual, with ordinary means and extraordinary conviction, can inspire entire communities.
If more people amplify, support, and emulate such grassroots heroes, India’s environmental future will not just be secure, it will be thriving.
