Genius of Money - Post III - Interview with Wangari Maathai

I am deeply moved by her endeavor, which pursues to endorse the power of planting trees. At the beginning, she simply wanted a viable solution to resolve the soil erosion issue while generating new sources of firewood for the local residents. However, the simple act of planting trees surprisingly evolves into a political movement when the government came to intervene, escalating the thinking of environmental concerns officially into a protest against the government.

Wangari therefore realizes that the environment sphere is closely linked with other spheres such as economics, politics, cultures, and spirits. I never imagined how difficult planting trees could be. In Kenya, it requires a license to plant trees and there is a complicated administrative process to go through. Wangari, faced with all the challenges from the external institutions such as the local government and the internal insecure forces such as such local leaders of schemes, managed to get through and made the entire world heard her declaration.  

No matter what kind of circumstance one is in, I guess there is always one thing to keep in mind, as stated by Wangari, “if I’m only a drop, I want to be a full and effective drop”.