Earth Day Turns 50

For me, Earth Day has taken on new meaning as I witness (and feel) the overwhelming evidence that atmospheric, geologic, biospheric and other earth system processes are now being drastically altered by our human activity.

Perhaps I would not be as profoundly affected by this planetary crisis had I and my life and filmmaking partner, Alan Dater, not had the good fortune to meet the late, great Kenyan environmental and women’s rights activist and planter of trees, Professor Wangari Muta Maathai. A year after we started working on our film Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai, Professor Maathai became the first environmentalist and first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She recognized that sustainable development, democracy and peace are indivisible. She knew from experience that conflict was mostly rooted in inequitable distribution of resources. April 1st this year would have been her 80th birthday.

“Prof,” as she was lovingly known, became a mentor and great friend during the decade that we knew her. She grew up in a small, rural village in the Central Highlands of Kenya and had a deep understanding of the delicate balance of the natural world, made stronger by her work as a biologist. She loved the Earth for its nurturing of life and communicated her passionate care for it in everything she did whether she was with presidents and royalty, or the women from her village. She knew that without a healthy and vital planet, political power and material wealth meant nothing.

As we as a species come face to face with the climate crisis and the ramifications for the future of all life on Earth, Wangari Maathai is a prophet for our time. Her holistic vision of a whole and healthy planet is ours to embrace and live up to.