ILLUMINATE. CHALLENGE. INSPIRE.
How the simple act of women planting trees changed a nation...
Watch TrailerTAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai tells the inspiring story of the Green Belt Movement of Kenya and its founder Wangari Maathai, the first environmentalist and first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
The U.S.-educated Professor Maathai discovered her life's work by reconnecting with the rural women with whom she had grown up. Their lives had become intolerable: they were walking longer distances for firewood, clean water was scarce, the soil was disappearing, and their children were suffering from malnutrition.
Maathai thought to herself, 'Well, why not plant trees?' Maathai soon discovered that tree planting had a ripple effect of empowering change.
Countering the devastating cultural effects of colonialism, Maathai began teaching communities about self-knowledge as a path to change and community action. The women worked successively against deforestation, poverty, ignorance, embedded economic interests, and violent political oppression. They became a national political force that helped to bring down Kenya's 24-year dictatorship.
Through TV footage and chilling first person accounts, TAKING ROOT documents the dramatic confrontations of the 1980s and '90s, as the women of the Green Belt Movement confront human rights abuses and environmental degradation. Cinema verite footage of the tree nurseries and the women and children who tend them brings to life the confidence and joy of people working to improve their own lives on their terms.
TAKING ROOT: The Vision of Wangari Maathai captures a world-view in which nothing is perceived as impossible and presents an awe-inspiring, profile of Maathai's unstoppable and courageous thirty-year journey to protect the environment, defend human rights, and promote democracy.
Dr. Maathai's courage and vision are rivaled closely by her capacity to teach. Her story -- as told in this film -- is worth a thousand textbooks.
Roger Wilkins, Clarence J. Robinson Professor Emeritus, George Mason University
"Taking Root"... portrays a vision of education that is not about changing peoples heads, but ultimately changing the conditions under which people live. ... It is worth a hundred hours of classroom talk.
Dr. Thomas Heaney, Associate Professor, Adult & Continuing Education, National-Louis University
full review
TAKING ROOT is one of the most important documentaries of our times. ... May the work of Dr. Wangari Maathai ... move us all to live as service warriors.
Alli Chagi-Starr, Green for All and Co-Founder, Art in Action Youth Leadership Program
full review
TAKING ROOT demonstrates that the environmental movement is a social justice movement at its core.
Nehanda Imara, African American & Environmental Studies, Merritt College
full review
TAKING ROOT captures the transformative potential of regular people finding their voices. It ... contradicts the negative, disempowering images of Africa. ...It will inspire untold, endless acts of courage.
Frances Moore Lapp?, Author & Activist
full review
Audience Award, Green Film Festival in Seoul, South Korea, May 2009
Audience Award & Best Documentary, Mendocino Film Festival, Mendocino, California, May 2009
Visit the official website for Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai
Appropriate for: Middle School High School College/University
Special Features:
The Special Edition DVD includes:
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