Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Wangari Maathai

I found Wangari Maathai’s impact in Africa to be particularly interesting. She says much of her motivation for what she did came from her childhood and was nurtured by a good education. I found it interesting how she focuses on the women of Kenya and how they are the ones who are most affected by environmental damage. She talks about how since the women are the caretakers, they notice when recourses to feed the family are diminishing. She came up with a solution to meet the needs of the women of Kenya, “we have planted over 30 million trees that provide fuel. Food, shelter and income to support their children’s education and households needs.” Maathai had to help the women realize that “meeting their needs depended on their environment being healthy and well”.

The Green Belt Movement also developed a “citizen education program” to help people understand the connections between their society and the environment. The program educates people in diseases particularly HIV/AIDS and how much of a pandemic it can be. They discover they can be a solution to stopping disease and healing the earth.

This issue is an example that can be used world wide of how we can be solutions to the damaged earth. We can reverse some of the damage. The Green Belt Movement is doing a great job in not only taking action directly on the earth, like planting trees, but also spreading the knowledge and educating others on how to help.

1 comment:

  1. I liked your analysis of the speech. I too agree that the issue an example that can be used world wide of how we can find the solutions to the damaged earth.

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