seeds of hope

Green, the color once thought of health, substance, and abundance. Now a days this isn’t so, trees plants, and whole ecosystems are being destroyed at an alarming rate. To combat this, spread education, and help a better the planet, Earth day was created. Earth Day is usually celebrated at the end of April, which tends to be the being of spring; the nature blooming and spreading love and colors. The University of North Texas has steadily been on the right path to having a greener campus, they celebrate earth week with various actives, to promote a better way of life. On April 29 2011 the university gave the office of suitability the permission to table for Arbor Day. We passed out Red Bud trees for a few hours, giving expiations on how to care for them. Red Buds are native to Texas, so they will be able to flourish in this climate, we passed out about 350 trees, so that’s 350 ways to better the environment. Later that night we watched a documentary called “Taking Root” which was mainly about deforestation in Kenya. So in Kenya deforestation was happening on a mass sale, to increased the government and other industrial company’s profit with cash crops. Basically farmers gave up their native sustaining crops to harvest damaging cash crops, such as coffee and tea. These large cash crop farms are openly support by the government, which is governed by men of high ranking and power. The master narrative is officials say this is progress, to helping Kenya to compete a global market. “The hierarchy of meat protein reinforces a hierarchy of race, class, and sex.”(Adams) Men in Kenya, like in every other society are expected to be the provider, hunters of the family. While it is the responsibility of women to gather and make food for the family, but what can one do if there isn’t any food? Trees are cut down on a mass scale, to make room from the crops, and with cash crops the soil cant handle the amount of production that is need to make a good profit. So as a result the land is destroyed, barian to anything that tries to grow there. The system has a hierarchy system, with men at the dominant and control; while women are suppose to be submissive. Radically excluded, women have know say to nature- but are seen as the more nature or nursing gender (Peterson) Andorcentrism, male-centered mind set, as described by Pulmwood, is how this society works, men in control and thinking of everything and one else as the other. “ Way of looking at the world characterize of the dominant, white, male Eurocentric ruling class, a way of dividing up the world that puts an omnipotent subject at the centered and constructs marginal Others as sets of negative qualities. (Nancy Hartsock, Pulmwood 44) Having this dualism create a distinct difference between thee two genders, these only creates oppression for women. Wangari Maathai the leader of the Green Belt Movement, which was began to empower women to make a change for themselves and not keep a disenchanted state of mind. She had women of devastated areas that were destroyed regions plant trees. This small grass root idea slowly turned into political group to overturn patriarchy and elitism within the government. When high officials were question about how they felt about Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt organization, the thing they most often commented about was her gender. They stated she wasn’t being a good woman because she questioned me, but what she really was questioning the status quo, thusly becoming a deviant radical of the state. “Dualism can also be seen as an alienated from of differentiation, in which power construes and constructs difference in terms of an inferior and alien realm” (Plumwood 42) The Green Belt movement never used violence to get there voices heared. Using Intelligence, tenacity hard work and dedication, they were able to frighten the government. The Green Belt organized a hunger strike/ protest was to try to convince the government to free impressed rebels. As a result the army was sent in, attacked the women and other by standards, all of which were men using force to make the women summit. “The hunter loves not nature but how he feels in it as he stacks his pray”. (Collard pg. 4) Never the less The Green Belt as still able overcomes all obstacles to revolution the entire country. Wangari Maathai went on to be come the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize. 40 million trees later the forest of Kenya wasn’t the only thing that flourished, but also a nation. Refusing to be claim what others think, will only hold one back. “Identify is expressed most strongly in dominate conception of reason, and gives rise to a dualised structure of otherness an negation.” Plumwood pg 42)