We can all be hummingbirds.
I fell in love with this beautifully animated clip from Dirt! The Movie a few years ago. I stumbled across it again today and thought it was worth posting!
Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai shares her philosophy about dealing with the world’s what-can-sometimes-feel-overwhelming environmental issues. Watch and listen as she tells this inspiring tale of being a hummingbird and doing the best we can under seemingly impossible odds.
More about Wangari Muta Maathai (1940-2011).
She was born in Nyeri, a rural area of Kenya (Africa), in 1940. She obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964), a Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh (1966), and pursued doctoral studies in Germany and the University of Nairobi, before obtaining a Ph.D. (1971) from the University of Nairobi, where she also taught veterinary anatomy. The first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Professor Maathai became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor in 1976 and 1977 respectively. In both cases, she was the first woman to attain those positions in the region.
The Green Belt Movement (GBM) is an environmental organization that empowers communities, particularly women, to conserve the environment and improve livelihoods. GBM was founded by Professor Wangari Maathai in 1977 under the auspices of the National Council of Women of Kenya (NCWK) to respond to the needs of rural Kenyan women who reported that their streams were drying up, their food supply was less secure, and they had to walk further and further to get firewood for fuel and fencing. GBM encouraged the women to work together to grow seedlings and plant trees to bind the soil, store rainwater, provide food and firewood, and receive a small monetary token for their work.
Be a hummingbird right now…
Donate to The Green Belt Movement‘s tree-planting campaign here.
Bonus:
Listen to the latest Green Divas Radio Show…
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