Marimuthu Yoganathan, popular as The Tree Man, born in 1969 in Tamilnadu is an Indian environmental activist. Yoganathan is a bus conductor by profession. However, he is very much attached to the nature and has been contributing immensely towards the protection and betterment of the environment. He uses 40% of his monthly salary towards sapling plantation and educating children. He has planted over 4,20,000 sapling trees across the state of Tamil Nadu. He strongly feels that we should plant and nurture the native tress as they bring about good health and happiness. According to him, the native tress not only give us oxygen, shelter, herbs, help in rain; but their parts can also be used as commodities in our daily life. According to him, the seeds of Azhinjal, a native plant found in Tamilnadu can be used as soap. He strongly feels that we should protect and enrich our environment by preserving and growing the forgotten native plants and trees and fully utilize their capabilities as they are the best suited to our climatic conditions.
In view of his dedication to the environment, his work has been included in the CBSE textbook of class 5. Government of Tamil Nadu has also conferred upon him the title “Suttru Suzhal Sevai Veerar”.
