“The Greenbelt Movement is committed to increasing public awareness of the relationship between environmental degradation, poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, mismanagement of natural resources, and the political and economic impact of these throughout Africa.”—Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai, born in Kenya, Africa, wished to restore her country’s degraded environment while providing poor rural women with better economic lives. The Greenbelt Movement deliberately discouraged participation by technicians and managers from outside the community, to encourage confidence in local peoples, who are often overwhelmed by experts and come to think they are incapable and backward. As of 1955, more than sixty thousand women have planted over seven million trees in their communities. The Greenbelt Movement has spread to over thirty countries.
Second edition printed at the worker-owned and union Community Printers, Santa Cruz, CA.
This is #14 in the Celebrate People’s History Poster Series.
