The Greener Reader discussion

Mother Theresa and Gandhi were always my go-to idols in terms of amazing, transformational, good-hearted role models. After reading "Unbowed," Wangari Maathai is now made it onto that list! And wow. This book really gave me an interesting insights into both:

1) what it's like to live in a country through the struggles of colonialism and nascent independence (the book is specific to Kenya, but sounds similar to the struggles of so many other countries-- as Wangari points out herself)

2) the life of a sincere and big-hearted advocate-- with the many ups-and-downs, persistence, and courage it takes to bring change and ultimately be qualified for an award as large as the Nobel Peace Prize.

Having honestly not known much about Wangari's life and accomplishments made this book a real treat! It was kind of like when I watched the movie "Lincoln" and totally didn't even think about how he gets shot and killed... I mean, it's something that I knew happened historically... it just caught me off guard in the movie. My bird brain makes every day so exciting.... and since basically only Justine reads these discussions I can say these things. Tangents... ANYWAY:

Here are my top two interesting and new perspectives that I gained from this book... I'd love to hear what you all think (agree/disagree/other thoughts?) either through this forum or through the potluck today!

***The ability for an individual to transform over their life-- TRULY INSPIRING AND HOPEFUL! The beginning of the book seemed to move quite slowly and I honestly couldn't believe at times that this was a memoir of an activist. But I'm so glad I made it through to uncover the transformation that is today's Wangari! In chapters 1-5 we see an innocent, naive, and trusting Wangari-- perhaps my favorite part is when she leaves her Catholic-missionary-style-education in Kenya to study in America, and is basically totally corrupted in an amazing freedom/ liberation type way... Thank you, America!!! How about when she attends the Nation of Islam prayer meeting (pgs 88-91: read it if you didn't already!)... "The next day I reported to work, eager to tell my boss what had happened at the meeting and how I had informed the followers of the Nation of Islam that what they were saying was not true. 'How are you so sure?" the technician asked, with a sly smile... I looked at him with astonishment and asked myself, 'Is he telling me that I may not have been told the whole truth?...Perhaps he knows something I don't." Oh, Wangari!!! Oh, innocent, little, Wangari, my dear who has been so sheltered and trusting. WHO WOULD GUESS that this little angel would be able to pull off the stunts that she did later in life-- talking shit to a Kenyan judge, holding her own in jail, inciting/ leading protests, not letting down on a hunger strike/ vigil... and oh, planting MILLIONS OF TREES! I don't think America can take all the credit, though. I definitely think her jerk-of-a-husband who walked out on her because of her successes and powerful-African-woman status helped too.

***The ability to make change in HIGHLY unfavorable conditions, not get discouraged, and persist to do what is right. Sometimes it can be easy to get discouraged in this world-- there are so many problems in the world that it is truly overwhelming at times! And as an American, UGH- how do we work through all the bureaucracy and navigate this system? ...reading this book has really put that in perspective, because if Wangari can make the changes that she did in a system as corrupt as Kenya-- then Americans really have no excuse. For anyone who ever gets overwhelmed with these problems and thinks "Where do I start?!" and "How will my expertise effect all those other problems?!" Well, Wangari started with herself and her nation and it has inspired and proven to millions that change can be slow and difficult, but is totally possible and worthy of our efforts. Wangari, who was so largely academic and specific to biology for most of her life, began with what she knew-- planting trees, loving her country unconditionally, and believing that Kenya could become a prosperous nation. By the end of the book her efforts transformed so many areas of Kenya-- and it all began and ended with trees!

Marguerite wrote: "Mother Theresa and Gandhi were always my go-to idols in terms of amazing, transformational, good-hearted role models. After reading "Unbowed," Wangari Maathai is now made it onto that list! And wow..."

Hard to have much of a discussion here WHEN YOU READ MY MIND MARGUERITE.

I somewhat struggled through the first 100 pages but like you said, am thankful I got that back story of her childhood. One of my favorite things about this book is that it really takes you through the life of conditions you "know" exist, but you don't really know!!! To live as a woman in such a patriarchal society and under such a repressive government, I feel like for the first time I have concrete examples of what a struggle it is to thrive in such an environment, and it would be so easy and UNDERSTANDABLE for folks to give up on justice, democracy, environmentalism.

I think her super sweet naivete is such a contrast to the image of those that fight the system and are political icons, it's so inspiring to read about her perseverance and I love her philosophy on it, she credits her courage with just really not understanding why anyone would want to deny another human being their rights, or hurt them. And her signature story that I remember first hearing in the movie "Dirt!", about the hummingbird tryin to put out the fire one drop at a time while all the other animals watch feeling it's a helpless cause and the hummingbird says "I'm doing what I can". If we all just did what we could and had faith it makes a difference!!! But that's where the discussion can get interesting, those that DON'T believe in the small steps and small efforts might think this is all too warm and fuzzy.

Knowing the accomplishments she achieved, I read the book thinking it must be so easy to make the choices she did because she knows she's doing what's right, but I was constantly reminded what a long lonely struggle "doing what's right" can be... and to have such a commitment to a nation whose government was so corrupt... Where does that come from????

And I think there was definitely a theme of some of that strength and hope being sourced from her connection to the earth and the soil and growing her own food and trees and making physical changes to the earth and understanding the symbiotic relationship humans have with it. We love what we know and we protect what we love.

MIND BLOWN. CRYING ALL THE TIME IN DISBELIEF OF THE PERSEVERANCE THAT EXISTS IN SOME HUMAN BEINGS. AND BELIEVING THAT IT CAN BE CULTIVATED IN ANYONE. AND ITS NEVER TOO LATE.

Justine

I agree that it was good to have the back story. Missionaries have long been held in a very deep dark place in my mind, but when I see some of the results of their education, they gain a little ground. While America was critical to her evolution, Wangari also had a thirst for knowledge and life that led her to break free of the imposed mental barriers of the Catholic church and Kansas.

It is amazing to think of the things she achieved just from having the goal of planting trees. Land rights, cultural/political problems and sexism all can be addressed through the simple act of planting trees. Her narrative was very direct. It was never, "Should I contest the detainment of young men for political reasons?" It was always, "We set up a protest... we formed an advocacy group... I wrote a letter." I'm sure that she had some inner debate, but it is clear from the events in her personal life that she was intelligent and had very strong conviction. Honestly I'm blown away and completely support her Nobel Prize award.


BONUS: Tom Morello is a direct descendent of Jomo Kenyatta

Aloha readers,

I wish I could find out about your readings and gatherings a lot earlier. Any idea how? Is there a website with info? All I get now is an email announcement on the eve of the event. In any case, I tried to get Mrs Maathai to attend the End Corporate Dominance Conference at Portland State Univ when I was working there in 1998-99. Many American activists don't realize that despite the political chaos, Kenya is a hotbed of global activism against the neo-liberal economic consensus that puts the developing nations under the boot of first-world lenders and financial institutions. We did get another Kenyan, whose name I forget, to speak on behalf of Fifty Years is Enough, the DC-based non-profit which works for sustainable development across the Global South. That was the time when the World Bank Bonds boycott was underway. I will try to find Wangari's book, which I assume she wrote after her Nobel award. We will miss her and her contribution to global understanding and post-colonial democracy for the world's majority. BTW -- Marguerite, good luck in NYC!

Hi Richard!

Thanks for your interest and thanks for the good luck wishes :) That's awesome that you reached out to Wangari and had involvement with Kenya around the times of her writing! Wangari said in her book how after the Peace Prize she was so busy and couldn't get to everything.

If you (or anyone) would like to message me your email address then I can easily add you to an email list-serve that we have for the Greener Reader-- announcements and reminders are sent out 2 or 3 times per month. I always update the Greener Reader Goodreads page, but I usually only message the group right before the meeting. I will start messaging the group when we announce the monthly book now! I used to think I may have been annoying group members with messages, but sounds like it's what the people want! :)

Also, the website that is always updated by our member Nicole is: www.riseHI.org/books

Aloha!!

Thank you so much Marguerite. I saw the website (mahalo Nicole), and your book selections -- sorry I missed good ol' Slavoj, the Slovenian philosopher. He's always entertaining. ;) I'll try and keep up with you now. Regards, Richard.