GOM #3- Wangari Maathai

In John Bloom’s interview with Wangari Maathai, I was able to learn about the Green Belt Movement and how politics and humans play a better role in our society. Maathai started the Green Belt Movement to help empower women, who were in charge of the farm, to be able to plant their own trees to provide resources for themselves rather than export crops only. By doing so, they would be able to fulfill more needs rather than selling for money only. Where the politics come in is when anyone or any program encroaches into the government’s money. When Maathai realized that she was competing with the government, she was required to show all these licenses and certifications when all she wanted to do was plant trees.

Politics play a huge role in almost everything. In countries such as Kenya where the government may be a bit more corrupt than other countries, those who are under the government will usually get quashed. The government was the first ones to originally uproot all the trees but the trees are what feed the people and soil. Maathai also mentions about spirituality of humans and nature that I believe is dying faster and faster in our growing world of technology. No longer are we playing outside or taking hikes but usually cooped up inside and playing video games. I am afraid that by the time I have kids, I won’t be able to take them to the great outdoors that I had the chance to experience. We need to reconnect with nature and be able to provide it with what it needs so that it can do the same to us. Instead, we are always taking from nature yet never really giving back and that is what the Green Belt Movement is trying to accomplish.