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Home | Religion and Media | Featured Documentaries & Discussion Tools | Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai
Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai

Community Appeal
How can one simple act lead to a movement much bigger?  Watch this film and learn how your community can be inspired to go further in justice movements facing your community.

Taking Root tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy—a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration.

Call to Action
Fact:  More than 200 major companies and businesses across the world have adapted recommended Corporate Ecosystem recommendations to use sustainable business practices.  Click here for more information. 

Taking Root can help your community:
•Create a local campaign that connects environmental issues and poverty issues within your community.

Bookmark this Organization: Auburn recommends Green For All as an organization to support in their work of eco-justice and poverty and building an inclusive green economy.  Click here for more information. 

Resources
•Use this Taking Root Outreach Guide to bring action to your community through the important message of Taking Root.  Click here for more information.
•Take this community assessment tool to evaluate the work that needs to be done in your congregation.  Click here for more information. 

Synopsis
Taking Root:  The Vision of Wangari Maathai, 2008
Taking Root weaves a compelling and dramatic narrative of one woman's personal journey in the context of the turbulent political and environmental history of her country. The first female to receive a Ph.D in East Africa, Maathai discovered the heart of her life's work by reconnecting with the rural women with whom she had grown up. They told her that their daily lives had become intolerable: they were walking longer distances for firewood and the soil was disappearing from their fields. Maathai thought to herself, "Well, why not plant trees?" Trees provide shade and produce nutritious fruit to combat malnutrition. With this realization Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots organization encouraging rural women to plant trees.

Maathai and her colleagues soon found themselves victims of President Moi's political oppression. In response, Maathai’s political activism only grew. At great risk she lead numerous confrontations in defense of the environment and social justice each of which brought her country closer to democracy.

Purchase Information
   Click here to learn how you can purchase Taking Root:  The Vision of Wangari Maathai for your congregation. 

   
Documentary: A scene from the film Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai

It can begin with a seed and lead to a movement. Wangari Maathai shows all of us that persistence and and hope can spark a movement. Let this film be an inspiration to your religious community and follow this link to Auburn’s documentary division to learn how you can take advantage of our free resources for your next educational opportunity.