The Green Belt Movement: Sharing The Approach And The Experience

Title: The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience
Author: Wangari Maathai
Date Published: 2016
Environmental activist, Wangari Maathai is the founder of The Green Belt Movement, a grassroots organization that urges the planting of trees and other numerous environmental efforts. GBM has been functional and operating in Kenya for three decades during the time the book was written. She became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.
“The Green Belt Movement mobilized thousands of citizens and gave them the opportunity to act and bring about the improvement. They learned how to overcome the feeling of helplessness, and, at last, began to defend democratic rights.”, Maathai said in her Nobel speech in
GBM’s advocacy efforts were also directed against the rampant corruption most especially instances involving public land and open spaces that the government continued to illegally give out to private developers.
The company’s vision is “To create a society of people who consciously work for continued improvement of their livelihoods and a greener, cleaner Kenya.” (Maathai, The Green Belt Movement, p 129). The key aspects in the organization’s vision is that people must understand the connection between environmental degradation and unsustainable livelihoods for them to make conscious efforts to improve livelihoods through conserving and taking care of the environment.
“To mobilize community consciousness for self-determination, equity, improved livelihood securities and environmental conservation using trees as the entry point”. (Maathai, The Green Belt Movement, p 129). GBM’s mission is to conserve the environment it must go hand in hand with the eradication of poverty. Another one to help people understand their status and their surroundings. We must empower them to take the steering wheel and take charge of their own destiny rather than just waiting for others to do the work for
This book is something that I will recommend everyone to read given that it gives us a deeper understanding of taking care of our environment, not only for us but for future generations. The importance of fighting for human rights and conservation of the environment are issues that we should all be concerned about regardless of our race, gender or location. GBM helps us understand the power of communities when people understand what they are fighting for the strength of people when given the opportunity. It depicts a universal story that everyone can relate to. It’s a story of how a nation banded together to fight for one