Torn-Socks Professor Quits IIT Bombay to Fight Climate Change
In a rare and revolutionary move, renowned solar scientist and climate crusader Professor Chetan Singh Solanki, often called India’s “Solar Man” and “Solar Gandhi”, has announced his resignation from IIT Bombay to dedicate himself fully to saving humanity from the grave crisis of climate change.
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Prof. Chetan Singh Solanki quits IITB to Fight Climate Change
Professor Solanki has spent over two decades at IIT Bombay, playing a pioneering role in solar energy education and research – writing several books on solar, securing patents, creating online courses and setting up India’s largest research centre on solar energy.
Coming from a simple farmer family from a small non-descript village in Madhya Pradesh, he did a master’s degree from IIT Bombay, did a PhD on solar energy in Europe, and returned to India in 2004 to serve his country. Gradually he became one of India’s leading voices on the subject of solar energy.
In the year 2020, Prof. Solanki started the Energy Swaraj Yatra through a special solar bus to bring awareness about the serious issue of climate change and to make common citizens, educational institutions and government machinery take action in the right direction. This yatra will conclude in Dec. 2030. During this journey, he also took a pledge not to go home for 11 years and made his solar bus his home. In the last five years, Prof. Solanki has traveled 68000 km across the country by staying in the solar bus and gave more than 1650 lectures on the subject of climate change. In his journey, he also understood the inaction of common people and institutions towards climate change and created many programs for solutions like energy literacy, Indore Climate Mission, etc.
But now, he says, awareness is not enough – we need action. He said that “the limit of 2 degrees Celsius global warming – beyond which climate change will become irreversible – is only 20 to 25 years away. If we cross this limit of global warming, the very existence of human life will be in danger. And our life will not only become difficult but also expensive to live everyday.
Prof. Solanki says that “We are living in a now or never type of situation. We are living in a climate emergency and the world is fast asleep.“
To solve this, Prof. Solanki asks everyone a simple question: “When our income is limited, our expenses are also limited. Similarly, when the size of the earth is limited, all its resources like minerals, soil are limited – then how come the number of our buildings, vehicles and clothes is constantly increasing” He believes that to stop climate change, we all have to adopt the mantra of “Finite Earth – Finite Consumption”, which is the basic mantra of The Finite Earth Movement started by him. Prof. Solankis photo of torn socks and his “I can afford, but nature cannot” is an example of this basic mantra.
Announcing his resignation from IIT Bombay, he said, “I chose purpose over prestige because we are now living in a climate emergency, which is becoming a threat to human existence on the planet.“
Prof. Solanki has started the Finite Earth Movement (FEM), which is based on the simple truth that “On a finite planet, unlimited consumption is not possible.” His goal is to engage about one billion people in climate action in just the next three years through FEM. “My resignation is not just a career change, but a call to duty,” he said. “IIT Bombay gave me prestige, but now FEM is the seed of purpose.”
23 October 2025 will be Prof. Solankis last working day at IIT Bombay. He called on citizens, institutions and governments across the world to join the Finite Earth Movement and make finite living not just a national but an international mission, as climate change is a problem of entire humanity.
Visit www.thefiniteearth.org to learn more and join the movement.
