Twelve Billion Trees
From Wellington Cathedral of St Paul
Twelve Billion Trees: 2nd October 2011: pm: The Very Revd Frank Nelson
- Psalm 136
- Proverbs 2: 1 - 11
- 1 John 2: 1-11
Twelve billion trees! The figure jumped out of the obituary for Wangari Maathai – Kenyan politician, human rights activist, advocate for women’s education, tree planter and Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2004. Wangari Maathai died last week, aged 71. Her obituary appeared in yesterday’s paper, along with that extra-ordinary number of trees. I have to confess that I had never heard of her until seeing reports of her death last week, so did a bit of internet sleuthing. The eldest of six children she was able to go to school because her younger brother asked their father why he had to go to school and not his sister. In an age and continent where few girls got the opportunity of real education Wangari seized what was offered her in both hands. Completing a doctorate in 1971 she became politically aware of what was happening in her own country of Kenya when her husband ran for office. This took her into the slums of Nairobi and she began to think of ways to alleviate the suffering and poverty of the many girls and women she saw there. In time she would found the Green Belt Movement.
Next bit of sleuthing: what is the Green Belt Movement? “Through its holistic approach to development, the Green Belt Movement addresses the underlying social, political, and economic causes of poverty and environmental degradation at the grassroots level. Its empowerment seminars help people make critical linkages between the environment, governance, and their quality of life. Participants develop a deep desire to better their own lives and communities. As they gain economic security, they are willing to protect shared resources such as forests, public parks, and rivers. The GBM started by addressing a serious problem with a simple solution: getting communities to plant trees as a symbol of their commitment.”
Speaking about her founding of, and continued involvement in, the Green Belt Movement Wangari Maathai said: “If I have learned one thing, it is that humans are only part of this ecosystem. When we destroy the ecosystem, we destroy ourselves, for in its survival depends our own.”
Our Anglican calendar invites us to pray specifically on Monday and Wednesday this week for the Care of Creation. No doubt the days were chosen because they straddle the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi – the original tree hugger. Among the poems alleged to come from his hand is one we sing frequently as a hymn beginning “All creatures of our God and King.” This is one of the verses
Dear mother earth, who day by day Unfoldest blessings on our way, O praise Him! Alleluia! The flowers and fruits that in thee grow, Let them His glory also show. Alleluia.
Back in 1994 the Anglican Communion outlined five marks of mission as a way of encouraging Christians to engage our faith with the world in which we live, a world, so we believe and confess, that God created. The fifth mark of Mission is “to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.” I have no idea whether or not Wangari Maathai was a Christian, though the chances are good that she was, but she seems to have embodied very well this fifth mark of mission in the Green Belt Movement. For me the concept of “the integrity of creation” is so important. We hear so many stories about famine and floods in the world. When one does a little digging behind the stories it quickly becomes clear that all too often famine is linked to war, to deforestation, to using water which ought to run downstream for others to use.
Of course, we say, we don’t practice that sort of thing here in New Zealand! I am no expert, don’t profess to be, but was intrigued to hear anecdotally that an estimated 40 million trees are planted annually in New Zealand, well down from a peak of about 100 million in the early 1990s. Even more disturbing is the very obvious clearing of plantation forests for dairy farming. Travel in the Tokoroa region, or south of the Rakaia River and you will see what I mean. Please note that I am referring to commercially planted forestry trees, not the many wonderful volunteer projects involving reforestation so many community groups in this country are involved in.
Years ago Christine and I were part of an attempt to encourage people to plant fruit trees in one of the resettlement areas near Bloemfontein in South Africa. It was patronising and probably naïve. Among the reasons for doing this was that people literally had nothing. For miles around, the trees had been scavenged for firewood, and the young girls had to do the walking, the collecting and the carrying of great bundles of firewood on their heads. If they weren’t carrying firewood, chances are they would be carrying buckets of water. Little wonder that few of them went to school. As I read Maathai’s obituary that experience resurfaced – it is the familiar story of so much of Africa. Traditional ways of life, often involving a very close relationship with the land and all its bounty, have long broken down. Clearing of native bush and forests for cash crops at the mercy of world market-forces leave whole communities, countries even, vulnerable to the vagaries of what happens in the mega-cities and their money markets. Add unpredictable weather patterns, whether or not one subscribes to climate change, and leaders too often intent only on enriching themselves, and disaster and hunger are all too common.
Among the articles printed in this month’s Cathedral News is the on-going story of the Good Shepherd Secondary School in Kagera, in the north west corner of Tanzania. As many of you know, this school has been a particular project and practical expression of mission for the Diocese of Wellington. The Cathedral community has supported it over a number of years – through special offerings taken at our annual carol services and, last year, profits from the Spring Ball. There is an appeal now to raise US$5000.00 from the Cathedral community to enable the next phase in the building project. Speaking at Synod John Rowan QC emphasized the importance, not only of providing secondary education in this remote corner of the world, but of providing it for girls and young women. Here is one localised and very practical way in which we, who only need to flick a switch to get power, or turn a tap to get fresh running water, can make a difference.
The other ‘mission’ article in this month’s Cathedral News is much closer to home. Less than 20 km from this Cathedral Charles Huri-huri NoaNoa is based at St Matthew’s Anglican Church in Taita. I got to know Charles quite well when he joined an EFM group I was running before I came to the Cathedral. He is one of those interesting people who doesn’t fit too many of our conventional patterns. He chooses to work with men who struggle to contain their tempers, especially after a few ‘tinnies’; he has opened his home to men who have served time and struggle to fit into a society which doesn’t want them or need them. As well as the food-bank and breakfast clubs, the community vegetable gardens and church services that fills his time, Charles also manages a football club. It’s not one that is likely to win a world cup soon, though last year they did get into the national finals. The Tumeke Taita Touch Team are the beneficiaries of the sale of the controversial New Zealand Icon – still on view in the narthex, but only for a short time before it heads across the Tasman to Canberra.
Tomorrow and Wednesday this week are set aside as Days of Prayer for the Care of Creation. Will you join me in adding your prayers for the integrity of the whole of creation, giving thanks for such people as Wangari Maathai, John Rowan QC, Huri-Huri NoaNoa and the projects in which they are involved – projects which recognise the dignity of God’s people and the totality of God’s wonderful creation? But don’t let your prayers be the end. Open your wallets to support the two mission appeals mentioned, get involved, or continue to be involved, in the community tree-planting efforts which are transforming the face of our own city, its streams and valleys.
Let all things their Creator bless, And worship Him in humbleness, O praise Him! Alleluia! Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son, And praise the Spirit, Three in One! Alleluia.
