"In fact, scientists are only now beginning to understand the vast range of services-natural, social, psychological, ecological and economic - that forests perform: the water they clean and retain; the climate patterns they regulate; the medicine they contain; the food they supply; the soil they enrich; the carbon they entrap; the oxygen they emit: the species of flora and fauna they conserve; and the peoples whose very physical existence depends on them". These are the words of Wangari Mathai who won the Nobel peace prize in 2004.
She was a Kenyan social, environmental and political activist who found the Green Belt Movement that focused on the planting of trees environmental conservation and women's rights. In her book “Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World”, she stresses the need of mobilizing the communities to become the resources with environmental thinking and activism to replenish the earth.
Mathai founded the green belt movement in 1977 in response to the environmental concerns raised by the rural Kenyan women. She got ‘seed money’ from the United Nations Voluntary Fund for women and paid a small stipend to the women who planted seedlings throughout the country. Through seminars she developed in the minds of the people love for the environment, gratitude and respect for the earth’s resources, self empowerment, self betterment and the spirit of service and volunteerism. Moreover, they understood the root causes of ecological destruction and the need to set it right. As Mathai drew inspiration from the Jewish mandate ‘tikkun olam’ (repair the world) and from the Japanese term ‘Mottainai’ (don't waste). She believed that we might bring about healing for ourselves and the earth.
In ‘Replenishing the Earth’, Mathai explores the broader application of the core values that continue to guide the Green Belt movement and that remain at the centre of its activities. The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with her trip into the Congo rainforest that illustrates many of the earth’s wounds. The second part enumerates the three ways of looking at our planet. The first from the space, the second is viewing of earth’s history over the eons. The third view is the picture of earth with its relationship with the locals and the small. The third part examines the relevance of the four core values of the green belt movement. Love for the environment motivates one to plant trees and nurture them, protect animals and their habitats and conserve the soil.
Gratitude and respect for earth’s resources entrails valuing all that the earth gives us and practicing ‘Mottainai’ of Japan, the three R’s: reduce, reuse and recycle. Self empowerment and self betterment improve one’s life and life circumstances through the spirit of self reliance. The spirit of service and volunteerism make one to use one's time, energy and resources to provide service to others without expecting or demanding compensation, appreciation or even recognition.
According to Mathai these values are not unique to the Green Belt movement. Neither are they contained within certain religious traditions. They are universal. When these values are ignored they are replaced by vices like selfishness, corruption, greed and exploitation. Unfortunately, majority of the people have got detached from the natural world because of industrialization, mechanization, urbanization and habitat loss.
The intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that the sea levels are expected to rise by the end of this century due to the global warming, by between 11 and 17 inches. Majority of the low lying areas and small Island States will be swallowed by water. We have reached a point in the evolution of this planet where our needs and wants are outstripping the ability of the earth to provide. That is why storms droughts and other catastrophic weather events are becoming more frequent and more intense. Since the wounds that have been created in the earth are so deep we all have to work hard with speed to heal the wounds of the earth. If we fail to assist in the earth’s healing process, the earth won't take care of us. As the scientist Love Lock has hypothesized, the earth will find ways to return to thermal equilibrium by whatever regulatory means it can.
So, as we are both the custodians and dependents of the planet and as Nature is Almighty, a love for the environment, similar to the giving of one's self that are seen in the lives of Prophets, Saints, local heroes should be inculcated in all human minds. This should also be practiced by everyone, everywhere to replenish the earth.
----Thulasidharan V
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