With that award, the Norwegian Nobel Committee demonstrated that environmental protection has become yet another path to peace.
In a press release from the organizations web site, the Committee wrote, “Peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment. She has taken a holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights and women’s rights in particular. She thinks globally and acts locally. Maathai stood up courageously against the former oppressive regime in Kenya. She has served as inspiration for many in the fight for democratic rights and has especially encouraged women to better their situation.”
In 1971 she became the first woman in Kenya to take a doctorate, subsequently becoming the first female professor at the University of Nairobi. It is said that Maathai possessed an innate ability of combining science, social commitment and active politics that strengthened the very basis for ecologically sustainable development. Having witnessed how deforestation and forest loss led to ‘desertification’ (turning lands into deserts) in Africa, Maathai held that protecting forests is a vital factor in the struggle to strengthen the living environment of our common Earth.
On World Environment Day in 1977, she planted nine trees in her backyard and founded the Green Belt Movement. Its aim was to restore Africa’s forests and put an end to the poverty that deforestation was causing. She is credited with mobilizing poor women to plant 30 million trees over a 30-year period. The struggles for the environment, for democracy and for women’s rights all came together to form a whole.
In the 1980s, her successes with tree-planting and political campaigning for women brought her into conflict with the authorities. Not without cost however, as Maathai’s many initiatives exposed her to harassment, imprisonment, attacks with tear gas, ridicule in the press. Out planting trees, she was once clubbed by guards hired by developers who wanted the lands cleared. Reportedly, she was hospitalized with head injuries but survived, returning with renewed strength and resolution knowing she must be on the right path. Her detractors and the government met with little success in their efforts to curb this awkward woman. Maathai became internationally known, won numerous prizes for her work, and at age 65 she is now Kenya’s Assistant Minister for the Environment.
Our own ‘Johnny Appleseed’ of native trees, community forester and owner of Treez, Inc., Jim Trainer, has been a tireless advocate for preserving and planting trees in the interests of sustainable development. Trainer has been nominated for three prestigious awards in the last three months alone including the National Wetlands Award program, the Jefferson Awards, and the Vision 2020. Kitsap Heritage Tree Program, proposed by Trainer, has recently been endorsed by the non-profit Champion Tree Project International (CTPI), whose mission is to help lead society towards sustainability by protecting, propagating and planting a living legacy of Champion Trees. Since its inception in 1996, CTPI has proven the merit of cloning rare forest trees in order to preserve their genetics for future scientific research and public appreciation (
www.championtreeproject.org/ArborAge/Launch.htm).
As the largest and oldest living trees on the planet, Champion Trees are the icon of sustainability and demonstrate an exceptional ability to withstand stress over a long period of time, while simultaneously improving living conditions for a diversity of surrounding life forms. Given the importance of restoring sustainable urban forests, it is important to realize the significance of these rare natural resources and new biotechnology that is now available. In March the Bainbridge Forestry Commission agreed to incorporate the Kitsap Heritage Tree Program into their Bainbridge Forestry Commission Management Plan.
Kitsap Trees, a local non-profit environmental group founded by Trainer, Mike Shepherd, Daren Nygren, and Don Larson, in collaboration with Washington State Department of Transportation, started the third segment of its Kitsap Treeways project along State Route 3 near Poulsbo.
More than twenty volunteers, in addition to the group’s members, planted 455 Douglas firs and Western hemlocks at the Finn Hill overpass and hillsides near the entrance to Olhava. Another 300 Western hemlocks were planted between Silverdale and the Sherman Hill overpass.
“This is a great effort and I’m thrilled to be a part of it. I am looking forward to seeing more of this area planted and as these trees mature and flourish, I hope that we can reap the rewards of this hard work,” said Kathryn Quade, Poulsbo City Councilwoman and Poulsbo mayoral candidate. She and her husband Doug had joined the volunteer crew.
