1) Wangari Maathai is our HERO and we are very proud of her! Dr. Wangari Maathai is an environmentalist, a political and human rights activist, a member of Kenya’s parliament, a former Assistant Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize and the founder of the Green Belt Movement. As the first woman in East and Central Africa to have earned a doctoral degree and the first African woman and environmentalist to have been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, it is no wonder that Professor Maathai initiated a grassroots tree planting program — to address issues of deforestation, soil erosion and an inadequate water supply in her country — which also blossomed into an organization that works with women to improve their quality of life. According to the Green Belt Movement, Professor Maathai has helped women in Kenya plant more than 30 million trees on their farms and on school and church lands. In 1986, the Green Belt Movement established a Pan African Green Belt Network through which it shared its environmental conservation/tree planting programs with other African groups. Today, more than 40 million trees have been planted in total across Africa due to GBM’s efforts. As a result, soil erosion has been reduced in critical watersheds, thousands of acres of biodiversity-rich indigenous forest have been restored and protected and hundreds of thousands of women and their families have empowered themselves and their communities. Miriam

2) The environment in this coutnry Kenya needs a lot of help. Papers are everywhere. People dig trences and the sand is left there on the road. People throw rubbish anywhere and everywhere. In the slums it is another story. Dirt everywehere: sewage pipes and the water flows everywhere together with human waste. There is only a few tilets and sometimes people gotto the toilet in the bushes and open grounds. I would really like to heplp out but I do not even know where to start. I think first and fore wos the sewage pipes should be fixed and put in place in a way that they will never burst. Mbuthiq Charles Njoroge

3) Actually Boda Bodas are quiet good for the climate, aren't they? Have a look at the picture. It shows a boda boda - our bycicle taxis: The bicycle taxi operators partly have the Government to thank for the fast growth of their informal trade. This was after Transport minister John Michuki introduced stringent traffic rules to streamline the Public Service Vehicles, which led to an increase in fares and some PSV operators being pushed out of business. The crisis reached a turning point after a countrywide matatu strike in 2004 to protest at Michuki's directive, which paralyzed public transport.Many people in Nakuru started using bicycles to reach their places of work.Those who did not own bicycles would pay for a ride, and the boda boda business was born in the town. The taxis now ply a number of routes in the town, with the operators charging between Sh15 and 20, which is cheaper than matatu fares.

they are not afraid of being different

a) efficient cook stoves could be one thing - not cutting trees another important issue. Cooking stoves fuelled by wood or crop residue are contributing to climate change significantly more than many people would expect.In rural areas, women and children may spend several hours a day collecting wood for cooking or making charcoal, tasks that contribute to deforestation and soil erosion. Worse, the choking smoke from indoor wood fires causes respiratory disease--mainly pneumonia--which is the leading health hazard in developing nations and annually kills four to five million children worldwide.

b) pioneers

We planted trees and we want to plant even more trees!

We have the power to change things - politicians need to hear our voice! we have to raise our voice!

We started to think about climate change and that's one first step.

We had a difficult last year: A prolonged drought has crippled agriculture production in rural Kenya, greatly affecting millions of families who rely on farming, fishing or herding.

The entire Horn of Africa has been prone to dry periods over the previous decades, but this spell, which some blame on a variety of environmental issues, is particularly harsh. An estimated 100,000 cattle have died in Kenya due to lack of water, and Kenya’s government estimates 10 million people face food shortages. And after this drought there was rain with no end - and as a consequence heavy floodings and landslides: One of the factors contributing to the flooding has been the above normal level of rainfall. Over the past few years the government of Kenya has been embroiled in controversy over deforestation of the country. In 1998 the government authorised the destruction of forests around Mount Kenya, which lies 200 kilometres northeast of the capital Nairobi. The government pushed forward its programme, despite the concerns of environmental groups who warned that the widespread deforestation was leading to drought and desertification in some parts of the country and in other parts to flooding, due to the destruction of natural water catchment areas.The Action for Endangered Species organisation has stripped Kenya of the global conservation award it was given in 2001. However the responsibility for the destruction of forests, now estimated to average 3,000 hectares per year, does not just lie with the corrupt Kenyan regime. Behind the government’s policy is the pressure to earn hard currency to pay off debts to Western banks. WE NEED TO PROTECT OUR FORESTS: WE HAVE TO PLANT TREES!

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