Jul 22 2005
Heroes
Wangari Maathai is the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner
I’ve decided to start a new category and photo set on my Flickr Photospace about people I consider “heroes.” Mind you, I may have different definitions of the word hero. These are people who have risen above major challenges in creative ways, to bring about unexpected and profound change. I hope you enjoy hearing about these wonderful people.
Wangari Maathai started a movement in Kenya called the Grain Belt Movement. Even under an oppressive regime, she motivated women to make changes in the environment which they live. Over a period of 30 years, women in Kenya joined her in planting some 30 million trees. While they were doing this, they were creating community and becoming a support structure for themselves in a place where women held few rights.
From these efforts, Wangari has also been an advocate for women, human rights, and environmental sustainability. She was the first black woman in Eastern and Central Africa to earn a Doctorate Degree. In 2002, she was elected to the Kenya Parliament and was appointed Assistant Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife.
All my life, I have been trying to show how the Earth is central to our lives, and I have tried to express this in many ways. Every time I see the soil laid bare, I feel the urge to cover it, to re-clothe the naked Earth in verdant green vegetation. This is the robe of Mother Earth, adorned with beautiful, lush shades of green abundance.
So my dream is for us to return to the Earth her cloak of green vegetation, to give her back what she once had. By doing this we will be working towards what some call sustainable development.
I like the sound of that dream!
3 Responses to “Heroes”
I really like your heros idea, I might have to really ponder the meaning on heros for myself and give something like this a shot. Maathai is definately an amazing woman.
An interesting thing too about some of the shirts that the women in the GrainBelt Movement wore….
The shirts had a simple message stating, “As for me, I am making a choice!”
I think a lot about what i’m doing to change things in this world for peace and justice… if its really changing peoples’ lives for the better. I suppose in the end it does come back to helping our mother Earth to repair all the damage we have done to her.
I was just in the boundary waters for 5 days and really experienced what it was like in wilderness that’s so untouched by our destructive selves; however i was saddened to learn that even up here in this pristine environment it receives acid rain from all the pollution we release in the air. How stupid we are!
Hopefully we will be able learn from Wangari and undo all this damage.