In the second in ClearFire Media's series, "Conversations with Great Thinkers and Practitioners of our Times," professional facilitator Doug Kruschke interviews global change-agent and spiritual teacher Satish Kumar, editor of Resurgence Magazine and founder of Schumacher College in Great Britain.

At the age of nine, Satish Kumar renounced the world, and with the blessings of his mother he joined the wandering brotherhood of Jain monks in rural India. At the age of eighteen, he renounced his membership as a monk and devoted his life to work on Gandhi's vision of creating a renewed India and a peaceful world. He was not without success, getting landowners to donate land to be redistributed to landless peasants.

Inspired by the actions of Bertrand Russell, he later undertook an 8,000 mile peace pilgrimage, walking from India to Moscow, Paris, London and Washington without any money and eating no meat. His passion was to visit the four capitols of the then nuclear nations. He wanted the leaders of the worlds superpowers to know that in a nuclear war most of the people who would die would be non combatants. He wanted the leaders to understand the spiritual consequences of precipitous actions.

In 1973, he became Editor of Resurgence Magazine "publishing articles that are on the cutting edge of current thinking, promoting creativity, ecology, spirituality and frugality." He has been the editor ever since. He founded the Small School in Hartland, a pioneering secondary school (aged 11-16) which brings into its curriculum ecological and spiritual values.

In 1991, he founded Schumacher College, a residential international center for the study of ecological and spiritual values. He currently is the Director of Programme at Schumacher.

He was a co-founder of Jain Spirit  - in partnership with Vandana Shiva. Satish established Bija Vidyapeeth (School of the Seed), an international college for sustainable living in India.

Following Indian tradition, in his fiftieth year, he undertook another pilgrimage: again carrying no money, he walked to the holy places of Britain - Glastonbury, Canterbury, Lindisfarne and Iona. This pilgrimage was a celebration of his love of life and nature.

In July 2000, Satish Kumar was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Education from the University of Plymouth. In July 2001 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Literature from the University of Lancaster. In November 2001, Satish Kumar was presented with the Jamnalal Bajaj International Award for Promoting Gandhian Values Abroad. Satish teaches, lectures and runs workshops internationally on reverential ecology, holistic education and voluntary simplicity. His autobiography, No Destination, has sold 50,000 copies and is published by Green books. Satish’s two other books, You Are, Therefore I Am – A Declaration of Dependence and The Buddha and the Terrorist are also published by Green Books. He is currently working on a new book.

In 2005 the BBC commissioned him to make a documentary about his life with nature. In addition, Satish has given public lectures at many venues including L.S.E., St. Paul’s Cathedral and Davos.