When the Paris climate talks closed in 2015, everyone said we must keep the planet from warming more than 1.5 °C. Ten years later, we have already crossed that line. Scientists keep warning us, but emissions still climb. This gap between knowing and doing troubles me, and I am not the only one. Acharya Prashant, the man behind a movement called Operation 2030, keeps asking why our knowledge has not turned into action. His answer is startling in its simplicity: the real trouble is not in factories or parliaments, it is inside us.
Operation 2030 is not another petition or street march. It is a call to stop and look within. The idea is simple yet sharp: if we do not understand our own wants and fears, no rule or gadget will save the Earth. Acharya Prashant says that most of us live in a mental fog. We buy, travel, and compete without asking what we truly need. Out of that confusion, we harm soil, water, and air. Clear the fog, he says, and wiser choices follow on their own.
This thought has reached millions. His short talks travel across phones and laptops faster than any climate report. In 2025, he received the Most Impactful Environmentalist Award from the Green Society of India, though he plants no forests and writes no policy paper. Reporters covered the launch of Operation 2030 with surprise because it points the finger back at each viewer. Instead of just blaming the policymakers, he asks us to question the hunger that drives endless material growth.
The campaign reminds people that world leaders wanted emissions to fall by almost half before 2030. Now that goal has slipped, Operation 2030 asks a tougher question: what can each person still do? One suggestion is to think twice before having more children. Another is to look at the food on our plate. Acharya Prashant explains that as per many prominent reports, raising animals for meat creates more greenhouse gases than the entire global transport sector. He does not hand out diets; he invites clear seeing. When you see the link between your dinner and dying forests, skipping meat feels natural, he says. His foundation claims their talks saved over a million animals last year. PETA India named him “Most Influential Vegan” for that reason.
Young people seem to like his straight talk. Engineering campuses such as IIT Bombay and research hubs like IISc Bangalore keep inviting him. He meets them not as a motivational speaker or a scientist but as someone who loves honest questions. In these sessions he often urges young minds to look beyond conventional narratives of climate responsibility and examine the deeper patterns in their daily lives. In a lively exchange with environmental economist Dr Eban Goodstein, Acharya Prashant argued that even perfect laws fail if citizens remain unclear inside.
While he respects sincere effort, yet warns that commonly accepted ‘good deeds’ like driving eco-friendly cars and tree-plantation drives born from social image do little. Real change grows from a still mind that no longer needs endless stuff to feel complete.
Operation 2030 asks us to live plant-based because it makes sense, to buy less because peace is not sold in malls, to travel less not out of fear, but because peace doesn’t lie in travelling to a distant place. These lines sound simple, but they feel demanding when I look at my own habits. That is the power of his message. It feels like standing before a clear mirror.
As I write, heatwaves break records and storms grow stronger. Many leaders shout about urgency. Acharya Prashant speaks of understanding. He says panic without clarity leads to chaos, while clarity—even without panic—guides steady steps. He does not promise to save the planet. He offers a way to stop wounding it by healing the restlessness within us.
I find that honest and strangely hopeful. If millions of minds become calmer and clearer, perhaps the Earth, too, can breathe easier.
