BSEC: Wangari Matthai

Wangari Matthai

We can work together for a better world with men and women of goodwill, those who radiate the intrinsic goodness of humankind. To do so effectively, the world needs a global ethic with values which give meaning to life experiences and, more than religious institutions and dogmas, sustain the non-material dimension of humanity. Mankind’s universal values of love, compassion, solidarity, caring, and tolerance should form the basis for this global ethic which should permeate culture, politics, trade, religion and philosophy.

Without such an ethic, the power game, materialism, and individualism take over. So also would anarchy, egoism, hatred, injustice, violence, and intolerance. We must make our choice, or others, less sympa-thetic, will make that choice for us.

Wangari Maathai
4th United Nations World Conference on Women
Beijing, September 1995


	Wangari Matthai We can work together for a better world with men and women of goodwill, those who radiate the intrinsic goodness of humankind. To do so effectively, the world needs a global ethic with values which give meaning to life experiences and, more than religious institutions and dogmas, sustain the non-material dimension of humanity. Mankind’s universal values of love, compassion, solidarity, caring, and tolerance should form the basis for this global ethic which should permeate culture, politics, trade, religion and philosophy. Without such an ethic, the power game, materialism, and individualism take over. So also would anarchy, egoism, hatred, injustice, violence, and intolerance. We must make our choice, or others, less sympa-thetic, will make that choice for us. Wangari Maathai 4th United Nations World Conference on Women Beijing, September 1995
	BSEC is honored to welcome Wangari Maathai to speak at the opening Platform of our 2001/2002 Season on Sunday, September 23rd. Professor Maathai, Kenya's foremost environmentalist, democracy and human rights advocate, founded the Green Belt Movement on Earth Day 1977, encouraging farmers (70% of whom are women) to distribute seedlings and plant "green belts" of trees to stop soil erosion, provide shade, and create a source of firewood. To date, the movement has planted over twenty million trees, produced income for eighty thousand people in Kenya alone, and has expanded its efforts to over thirty African countries, the United States, and Haiti. The Green Belt Movement is an education program that empowers ordinary people to learn to take individual responsibility and local action that will lead to self and community sustainability. Program: 10am: Professor Maathai shares her story with the Sunday School students 11pm: Platform with Leader Lisel Burns and Professor Maathai 12pm: Lunch Break 2pm: Leadership Support & Methodology Workshop with Professor Maathai 5:30pm: Pot Luck Supper Let us know if you or your organization would like to explore local and global collaborations with Grassroots and Green Belt movements in Kenya and beyond. Call Lisel Burns at (718) 783-2298, or e-mail liselburns@aol.com. Implicit in the action of planting trees is a civic education, a strategy to empower people and to give them a sense of taking their destiny into their own hands, removing their fear, so that they can stand up for themselves and for their environmental rights. - Wangari Maathai Links for Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement: Interview with the UNESCO Courier People and the Planet Women's Environment & Development Organization Commission on Global Governance (full text to statement to World Conference on Women) Speak Truth to Power In Context Contributions can be made to the Green Belt Movement via the Marion Foundation.

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