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THE PLANTING OF IDEAS
By Carolyn Mugar and Jeff Masarjian
Boston Globe, MA
Oct 24 2006
"THE PLANTING of trees is the planting of ideas," says Dr. Wangari
Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and environmentalist. But what
does she mean?
Hosted by Boston's Urban Forest Coalition, she will address this
question at Faneuil Hall today.
In a world faced with such weighty problems as global warming,
dwindling fossil fuels, and the gap between rich and poor nations
-- the planting of trees may seem of little importance. Yet, as the
founder of the Green Belt Movement, Maathai has taught us that tree
planting is a critical step toward helping to protect the environment
and fight poverty.
A Kenyan, Maathai has dedicated herself to fighting two of her
country's starkest problems: poverty and deforestation. With less
than 2 percent forest coverage, Kenya is well below the UN recommended
minimum of 10 percent. Maathai's movement has held fast against these
daunting challenges, forging an ingenious path forward -- one that
simultaneously addresses both crises. It is an approach built upon
education and direct engagement with local communities.
Led by Maathai, the Green Belt Movement organizes poor rural women in
Kenya to plant trees. Each new tree yields multiple benefits in their
lives -- reversing the tide of deforestation, restoring Kenyan's main
source of cooking fuel, and strengthening the community.
The Green Belt Movement has incorporated education on women's rights
into its environmental programs, empowering disenfranchised Kenyans
to fight for a sustainable and viable economic future. All these
actions make clear what Mathaai means by comparing the planting of
trees with the planting of ideas.
And she is not alone in that view. All around the world, NGOs and
other concerned parties are taking comparable steps to protect the
environment and combat poverty. In Armenia today, estimated forest
cover is less than 8 percent; a dramatic decrease from a healthy 25
percent at the turn of the last century. Moreover, its environment,
one of the world's most ecologically diverse with seven different
climate zones, is in grave jeopardy.
Currently, due to lack of alternative energy sources, the 40 percent
of Armenians living below the poverty line are overreliant on wood
for fuel. If the trend of poverty-driven deforestation continues,
much of Armenia will become a desert in just 20 years. Like Kenya,
deforestation threatens to rob Armenia of its natural beauty and
resources.
That's why, similar to the Green Belt Movement's efforts, an
organization called the Armenia Tree Project offers public education
programs. We recently developed a new interactive environmental
curriculum, "Plant an Idea, Plant a Tree," which offers instruction on
how the health of Armenia's ecosystem is closely tied to its economic
future. We have introduced this curriculum in all 1,400 of Armenia's
public schools. In rural villages, our staff trains and works with
subsistence farmers on planting and forestation techniques. At our
large-scale nursery and environmental educational center, we instruct
college students and professionals on environmental stewardship. In
our 12 years, Armenia Tree Project has made enormous strides, planting
and restoring more than 1,250,000 trees and creating hundreds of jobs
in our backyard nursery micro-enterprises for Armenia's rural poor.
In the 30 years of the Green Belt Movement's existence, an astonishing
30 million trees have been planted and 30,000 Kenyan women trained
in forestry, food processing, bee keeping, and other trades. Their
example inspires our work.
Such accomplishments suggest that in a world overwhelmed by seemingly
large and unsolvable issues, the long-term solutions may well lie in
simple but practical actions, taken on the local level.
Carolyn Mugar is the founder and Jeff Masarjian the executive director
of Armenia Tree Project.
From: Baghdasarian
By Carolyn Mugar and Jeff Masarjian
Boston Globe, MA
Oct 24 2006
"THE PLANTING of trees is the planting of ideas," says Dr. Wangari
Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and environmentalist. But what
does she mean?
Hosted by Boston's Urban Forest Coalition, she will address this
question at Faneuil Hall today.
In a world faced with such weighty problems as global warming,
dwindling fossil fuels, and the gap between rich and poor nations
-- the planting of trees may seem of little importance. Yet, as the
founder of the Green Belt Movement, Maathai has taught us that tree
planting is a critical step toward helping to protect the environment
and fight poverty.
A Kenyan, Maathai has dedicated herself to fighting two of her
country's starkest problems: poverty and deforestation. With less
than 2 percent forest coverage, Kenya is well below the UN recommended
minimum of 10 percent. Maathai's movement has held fast against these
daunting challenges, forging an ingenious path forward -- one that
simultaneously addresses both crises. It is an approach built upon
education and direct engagement with local communities.
Led by Maathai, the Green Belt Movement organizes poor rural women in
Kenya to plant trees. Each new tree yields multiple benefits in their
lives -- reversing the tide of deforestation, restoring Kenyan's main
source of cooking fuel, and strengthening the community.
The Green Belt Movement has incorporated education on women's rights
into its environmental programs, empowering disenfranchised Kenyans
to fight for a sustainable and viable economic future. All these
actions make clear what Mathaai means by comparing the planting of
trees with the planting of ideas.
And she is not alone in that view. All around the world, NGOs and
other concerned parties are taking comparable steps to protect the
environment and combat poverty. In Armenia today, estimated forest
cover is less than 8 percent; a dramatic decrease from a healthy 25
percent at the turn of the last century. Moreover, its environment,
one of the world's most ecologically diverse with seven different
climate zones, is in grave jeopardy.
Currently, due to lack of alternative energy sources, the 40 percent
of Armenians living below the poverty line are overreliant on wood
for fuel. If the trend of poverty-driven deforestation continues,
much of Armenia will become a desert in just 20 years. Like Kenya,
deforestation threatens to rob Armenia of its natural beauty and
resources.
That's why, similar to the Green Belt Movement's efforts, an
organization called the Armenia Tree Project offers public education
programs. We recently developed a new interactive environmental
curriculum, "Plant an Idea, Plant a Tree," which offers instruction on
how the health of Armenia's ecosystem is closely tied to its economic
future. We have introduced this curriculum in all 1,400 of Armenia's
public schools. In rural villages, our staff trains and works with
subsistence farmers on planting and forestation techniques. At our
large-scale nursery and environmental educational center, we instruct
college students and professionals on environmental stewardship. In
our 12 years, Armenia Tree Project has made enormous strides, planting
and restoring more than 1,250,000 trees and creating hundreds of jobs
in our backyard nursery micro-enterprises for Armenia's rural poor.
In the 30 years of the Green Belt Movement's existence, an astonishing
30 million trees have been planted and 30,000 Kenyan women trained
in forestry, food processing, bee keeping, and other trades. Their
example inspires our work.
Such accomplishments suggest that in a world overwhelmed by seemingly
large and unsolvable issues, the long-term solutions may well lie in
simple but practical actions, taken on the local level.
Carolyn Mugar is the founder and Jeff Masarjian the executive director
of Armenia Tree Project.
From: Baghdasarian