"I will be a hummingbird" - Wangari Maathai

Dr. Maathai shares this symbolic story that she heard while in Japan.


The moral of the story:- There is something I can do, no matter how small it is collectively it will make a difference.


I am called to be a hummingbird in my community - doing the best I can because that is all I am called to do.

Wangari Maathai & Sustainable, Holistic Development

The Green Belt Movement was founded in 1977 by Dr. Wangari Maathai.  It began as a grassroots tree planting program to address the challenges of deforestation, soil erosion and lack of water is now a vehicle for empowering women. The act of planting a tree is helping women throughout Africa become stewards of the natural environment. 


By protecting the environment, these women are also becoming powerful champions for sustainable management of scarce resources such as water, equitable economic development, good political governance, and ultimately… peace.


GBM has now grown to be one of the most prominent women’s civil society organizations, based in Kenya, advocating for human rights and supporting good governance and peaceful democratic change through the protection of the environment. Its mission is to empower communities worldwide to protect the environment and to promote good governance and cultures of peace. 


As a result of this movement, more than 40 million trees have been planted across Africa. The 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 are standing up for their rights and those of their communities and so are living healthier, more productive lives. 

Dr. Wangari Maathai - Founder of the Green Belt Movement

The planting of trees is the planting of ideas. By starting with the simple act of planting a tree, we give hope to ourselves and to future generations.–Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai - A Dramatic Story - Part 4

The trees continue to grow. Today there are more than 6,000 Green Belt nurseries throughout Kenya that generate income for 150,000 people, and thirty-five million trees have deeply altered the physical and social landscape of the country. The Green Belt Movement has also started programs teaching women about indigenous foods, income generating activities, AIDS, and self-empowerment. Through cinema verité footage of the tree nurseries and the women and children who tend them, TAKING ROOT brings to life the confidence and joy of people working to improve their own lives while also ensuring the future and vitality of their land.

Dr. Maathai planting a tree

Through intimate conversations with Maathai, whose warm, powerful, and luminous presence imbues much of the film, TAKING ROOT captures a world-view in which nothing is perceived as impossible, presenting an awe-inspiring profile of one woman's thirty-year journey of courage to protect the environment, ensure equality between men and women, defend human rights, and promote democracy--all sprouting from the achievable act of planting trees.

Dr. Maathai stresses a point

In her Nobel Peace Prize speech, Wangari Maathai said, "Although initially the Green Belt Movement's tree planting activities did not address issues of democracy and peace, it soon became clear that responsible governance of the environment was impossible without democratic space. Therefore, the tree became a symbol for the democratic struggle.

Wangari Maathai - A Dramatic Story - Part 1

An activist, an environmentalist, a farmer, a politician, a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, a no-nonsense leader, A WOMAN! 

Dr. Wangari Maathai's story begins with the act of planting trees for fuel, shade and food and peaks with her a award of the Nobel Peace Prize. 


Dr. Maathai is a woman born in rural Kenya, who started down the path that reclaimed her country’s land from 100 years of deforestation, provided new sources of food and income to rural communities, gave previously impoverished and powerless women a vital political role in their country, and ultimately helped to bring down Kenya's twenty-four-year dictatorship.


Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai is a documentary film documenting the dramatic story of a woman  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.


The film weaves a compelling and dramatic narrative of her personal journey in the context of the turbulent political and environmental history of her country.