One Million Trees And Counting….
Wangari looked out at her beloved country and was saddened that the lush, green, fertile land of her childhood was disappearing.
Wangari Maathai was born in a rural village in Kenya, Africa, in 1940. In her youth, Africa was a beautiful place abundant with shrubs, creepers, ferns and trees.
Now those trees, shrubs and vegetation were almost gone.
She would watch as the women in the villages would go further and further out to find sticks to burn to cook their meals.
She wondered what she could do to help the women and also restore her beloved country.
The idea came to her to plant trees. She decided to pay the women to plant trees and care for them as they went about the countryside gathering wood.
The GREEN BELT MOVEMENT was born.
The government did not like Wangari. They did not like the idea of empowering women with the ability to earn money.
Wangari was beaten and jailed numerous times by the brutal Moi government. But she fought back and was instrumental in transforming Kenya’s government into a democracy.
In 2004 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the Environment. Her Green Belt Movement had planted over 30 Million Trees.
In 2006 she became the Global Ambassador for “A Million Trees, A Million Dreams,” a Shaklee environmental campaign that raises awareness of global climate change and initiates efforts to plant trees in North America and Africa.
Through the sale of Gold Ambassador Memberships and environmentally safe products, Shaklee facilitated the planting of trees.
On Earth Day 2009, Dr. Wangari Maathai joined Roger Barnett, CEO of Shaklee Corporation and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, in planting the ceremonial ONE MILLIONTH TREE in the Million Dreams campaign.
Learn more about Dr. Wangari Maathai in her book, Unbowed…A Memoir.
Make a Difference…Plant a tree or two or three or more.
Update: Click HERE to view the video of the Tree Planting Ceremony
