"Protecting the global environment is directly related to securing peace...
those of us who understand the complex concept of the environment have the burden to act.
We must not tire, we must not give up, we must persist."
-Wangari Maathai
those of us who understand the complex concept of the environment have the burden to act.
We must not tire, we must not give up, we must persist."
-Wangari Maathai
Meet Dr. Wangari Maathai, my HERO and the first African woman and first environmentalist to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (2004). She founded the Greenbelt Movement in Kenya back in the 1970s in response to illegal deforestation and conflict over diminishing natural resources. On Earth day 1977, she planted 7 trees, with the ultimate goal of planting 1 million trees in her deforested homeland. Over the past 32 years, the Greenbelt movement has spread like wildfire- going international with over 45 million trees planted! She is now working towards planting 1 BILLION trees! I first fell in love with her work as an undergraduate at Seattle University. For my theology thesis project, I chose Wangari as my modern-day "Prophet of Nonviolence" and was able to hear her speak in Seattle back in 2006.
Little did I know that my new employer, the New York Restoration Project (NYRP), had partnered up with Mayor Bloomberg of New York City last year to promote their own "NYC Greenbelt Movement" in what is known as "MILLION TREES NYC." It's an initative to plant 1 million trees throughout NYC over the next 10 years!! Mayor Bloomberg announced the month of April to be the Million Trees month, so I will be helping coordinate huge volunteer tree planting events this month, with groups as large as 500 people. To kick off this festive month, NYRP co-sponsored an event last night that brought none other than my hero, WANGARI MAATHAI to New York City!!! I was second in line for the event yesterday evening, having rallied my roomate and several friends to join me. We all left with autographed books: The Challenge for Africa, Unbowed: A Memoir, and The Greenbelt Movement. (for all my Seattle and LA friends...Wangari will be speaking in your cities later this month, check out www.greenbeltmovement.org for more info).
I knew I liked my job.
Speaking of which, there have been several on-site adventures and misadventures this past week...
So the cast of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (i.e. Ice-T and Hilary Duff) TORE UP the grass in our garden where they were filming. So our task this week was to dig up all the old grass and lay down new sod. And GUESS where the sod was from...the old Yankee Stadium! That's right. And it was immaculate! My co-worker Jay is a native New Yorker and die-hard Yankee fan, yet had never been to Yankee Stadium. Once the sod was down, Jay laid out on the grass with a BIG smile and said..."After 29 years, I can finally say that I've set foot on Yankee soil."
It was also Jay who found the dead, be-headed Rooster this morning while we were doing litter patrol at our park headquarters. As a Puerto-Rican, Jay took one look at the rooster and the hair on his skin immediately stood on end. You see, unbeknownst to me, there is a type of voo-doo common to Latin American cultures called "Santeria." Santeria is used to bring about bad luck for someone in particular, and can entail the use of a little doll with pins in it or a photograph of the person, candles and candy, and always the blood of a slaughtered animal. In this case, the rooster was beheaded, and the blood dripped over whatever object/photo they had used. Candles, plastic gloves and a box filled with additional rooster heads (without bodies) were also strewn about at the site. According to Jay, we could dispose of the rooster only if we did not touch it with our hands. As for the candles and gloves, we left them in place for the wind and rain to deal with. Otherwise, the dark cloud of bad luck could be transferred to us. It was quite an eerie experience that put Jay on edge for the rest of this ominous Good Friday.
With spring awakening, and summer to come, Donte assured me that this was just the beginning of many more bizarre encounters in the parks. I can't wait.
I am headed to Boston tomorrow morning for coffee with SU alum, Aaron VanDyke and some Easter adventure with Judah Slavkovsky!!!! Happiness IS.
Happy Holidays,
Hana T.
Little did I know that my new employer, the New York Restoration Project (NYRP), had partnered up with Mayor Bloomberg of New York City last year to promote their own "NYC Greenbelt Movement" in what is known as "MILLION TREES NYC." It's an initative to plant 1 million trees throughout NYC over the next 10 years!! Mayor Bloomberg announced the month of April to be the Million Trees month, so I will be helping coordinate huge volunteer tree planting events this month, with groups as large as 500 people. To kick off this festive month, NYRP co-sponsored an event last night that brought none other than my hero, WANGARI MAATHAI to New York City!!! I was second in line for the event yesterday evening, having rallied my roomate and several friends to join me. We all left with autographed books: The Challenge for Africa, Unbowed: A Memoir, and The Greenbelt Movement. (for all my Seattle and LA friends...Wangari will be speaking in your cities later this month, check out www.greenbeltmovement.org for more info).
I knew I liked my job.
Speaking of which, there have been several on-site adventures and misadventures this past week...
So the cast of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (i.e. Ice-T and Hilary Duff) TORE UP the grass in our garden where they were filming. So our task this week was to dig up all the old grass and lay down new sod. And GUESS where the sod was from...the old Yankee Stadium! That's right. And it was immaculate! My co-worker Jay is a native New Yorker and die-hard Yankee fan, yet had never been to Yankee Stadium. Once the sod was down, Jay laid out on the grass with a BIG smile and said..."After 29 years, I can finally say that I've set foot on Yankee soil."
It was also Jay who found the dead, be-headed Rooster this morning while we were doing litter patrol at our park headquarters. As a Puerto-Rican, Jay took one look at the rooster and the hair on his skin immediately stood on end. You see, unbeknownst to me, there is a type of voo-doo common to Latin American cultures called "Santeria." Santeria is used to bring about bad luck for someone in particular, and can entail the use of a little doll with pins in it or a photograph of the person, candles and candy, and always the blood of a slaughtered animal. In this case, the rooster was beheaded, and the blood dripped over whatever object/photo they had used. Candles, plastic gloves and a box filled with additional rooster heads (without bodies) were also strewn about at the site. According to Jay, we could dispose of the rooster only if we did not touch it with our hands. As for the candles and gloves, we left them in place for the wind and rain to deal with. Otherwise, the dark cloud of bad luck could be transferred to us. It was quite an eerie experience that put Jay on edge for the rest of this ominous Good Friday.
With spring awakening, and summer to come, Donte assured me that this was just the beginning of many more bizarre encounters in the parks. I can't wait.
I am headed to Boston tomorrow morning for coffee with SU alum, Aaron VanDyke and some Easter adventure with Judah Slavkovsky!!!! Happiness IS.
Happy Holidays,
Hana T.
No comments:
Post a Comment