I make it a point to listen to Living on Earth.
This radio program is broadcast on my local NPR station at 6:00 AM. I’m up anyway and I always learn something.
For the last couple of weeks, the show has included portions of an interview with Wangari Maathai. She’s a master tree planter, a dedicated environmentalist and the winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.
When tempted to despair at the continued disrespect for our planet, Wangari Maathai gives me hope. Maathai embodies the “audacity of hope” even more than Barak Obama.
Here are links to the radio interviews:
loe.org/shows/shows.htm [loe.org]
loe.org/shows/shows.htm [loe.org]
I cannot wait to read her book, Unbowed. She is brilliant, well-educated and remains rooted in the wisdom and spirituality of her Kenyan culture. She has managed to overcome daunting odds and continues to speak out. I’m joining her billion tree campaign unep.org/billiontreecampaign/ [unep.org]
There are few heroes in this world. Wangari Maathai fits my definition of a true hero. She takes corporate culture head-on, despite being jailed several times. She says it better than I ever could:
” . . . in the course of mobilizing, in the course of creating networks of women to plant the trees it had become necessary to also give them information on how the environment is destroyed sometimes by the state. And it became necessary for us to raise our voices and tell the government that it was not managing those resources responsibly. Ah, and it was while we were doing this that we got arrested. The actual planting of trees would have been alright. But it would have been completely nonsensical for us to be planting trees on one side and other people are cutting them on the other. So we decided to protect the standing trees and especially forests, which also serve as the water catchment areas for millions of people who live around the mountains.
. . . I’m very very happy that the climate change discussion is gaining momentum. And people are recognizing that one of the ways in which we can help the planet is by planting trees but also by protecting the trees that are standing. So I hope that governments that have money will help the African governments so that they can protect that forest from logging. Because it’s also important to say that the logging is not being done by local people. The logging of these forests is usually done by big timber companies from developed countries.
So considering that it is the developed countries that have contributed so much to the green house gasses that are causing the warming up of the earth it is only appropriate that they too should participate in assisting governments, not only to stop the logging , but to help with the rehabilitation of the logged areas. ”
As I prepare to hike my precious trails, I am grateful that women all over the world have an opportunity to hear Wangari Maathai’s voice. I’ll do whatever it takes to help spread the word.