In nature's economy the currency is not money, it is life.

We share this planet, our home, with millions of species. Justice and sustainability both demand that we do not use more resources than we need.

I saw brilliant ideas coming out of the [Chipko] movement that needed better articulation, that needed elaboration and systematic analysis. I just followed that and it's been very exciting.

My training in science is actually one that is very critical of mechanistic science. I was trained in quantum theory which emerged at the turn of the last century. We are a whole century behind in absorbing the leaps that quantum theory made for the human mind.

In traditional agriculture, the soil is the mother. She's the mother who gives, to whom you must give back.

My mother taught that if anyone needs you, you should be available to them.

The Chipko activists have always been close to my parents, since my father was among the few forestry officials who supported them within the bureaucracy. And I was involved with the Chipko movement in my student days.