Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai. Movie and Refresments.
Carpenter Carse Library Friday April 30th 7pm
Vermont filmmakers tell the inspiring story of the Green Belt Movement of Kenya and its unstoppable founder, Wangari Maathai, the first environmentalist and first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Taking Root illustrates the development of Maathai’s holistic worldview and model for sustainable development. Maathai discovered the core of her life’s work when she turned her attention to the rural women with whom she had grown up in Kenya’s central highlands. One hundred years of colonialism and neocolonialism had devastated the forests they’d lived with for centuries.
“Why not plant trees?” Maathai thought. Trees provide shade, prevent soil erosion, supply firewood, building materials, and produce nutritious fruit. In 1977, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in Kenya and began teaching women about the connection between environmental problems and their daily problems.