Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Tree Hugger's Ultimate Hero

SAVE THE TREES!*
This is a blog about real estate in Coral Gables/Coconut Grove and North Carolina and there are, obviously, other issues of concern to real estate other than bricks and mortar; for example: TREES. What would our homes and neighborhoods be like without beautiful, sheltering trees? As we all know, there are many places in the world where rampant, government sponsored deforestation has erased vast areas of ancient forests. In our neighborhoods the loss of the trees would mainly affect us aesthetically whereas in parts of Africa, Asia and South America the loss of forests wipes out the entire interdependent eco-system that humans, animals and plants need to survive. As a person who worships trees as other people worship some big, invisible guy in the sky I would like to share with you the inspiring story of one woman's mission to save trees.

The power of one woman to vastly improve the lives of millions of suffering people against all odds is proven by the story of Wangari Maathai, the founder of The Green Belt Movement in Kenya, Africa who, with one simple idea; that women should plant trees, was able to overcome years brutal government opposition including death threats and bloody beatings and go on to see her simple idea become a highly successful, international movement and for which she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. Why would the Kenyan government want to kill one woman who simply wanted to teach other woman how to plant trees? If you don't already know Wangari's story you should take the time to learn it...it will inspire the tree-hugger in you or just the human being in you!
http://greenbeltmovement.org/blog/index.php

* Very sadly Wangari Maathai died last year, a great loss for all who love trees and those who defend them from predation.