We Just Need More Trees

The machetes flashed in the Kenyan sun as loggers tore through another acre of forest. They did not stop. By nightfall, a barren wasteland replaced what had been a thriving ecosystem that morning. The trees were gone. Just another day in the global war against trees, until Wangari Maathai decided to fight back with something absurdly simple. More trees. She knew what to do.

"When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope," Maathai declared, launching what would become a revolution rooted in soil and saplings.

In 1977, facing rampant deforestation that threatened water supplies, food security, and livelihoods across Kenya, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement. The land was dying. What began with women planting seven trees in a Nairobi park evolved into an environmental crusade that planted over 51 million trees and transformed countless lives. Seven trees. Then millions.