This was Elizabeth Wathuti’s message in the opening address at COP26 in Glasgow 2021. “Policymakers are more than hummingbirds. The forest is on fire and they have bigger trunks,” Elizabeth said. “Mere pledges and empty promises won’t do.”
Despite the naysayers, Elizabeth believes her work, and other young activists CAN influence rigid global policymaking on climate change. In the words of her mentor, Wangari Maathai, she will be like the hummingbird that extinguished a forest fire with little drops of water, while bigger animals, such as elephants, which could carry much more water in their trunks, just watched.
You can watch this profoundly meaningful film here:
“I will be a hummingbird” – Wangari Maathai – YouTube
Elizabeth has spent her life listening to Nature, understanding her and now she feels her pain. It breaks her heart to see human activity destroying our beautiful Earth.
Elizabeth planting her first tree at the age of seven.
An ingenious way of campaigning – on a pedalo – for Fridays for Future.
In 2016, Elizabeth founded the Green Generation Initiative. Since then, her ‘Adopt a Tree Campaign‘ has inspired over 20,000 school children to fall in love with Nature and be environmentally conscious. The project has planted over 30,000 tree seedlings, all with a survival rate of 99% and worked with 35 schools in Kenya.
Green Generation Initiative – Green Generation Initiative
Elizabeth is Head of Campaigns for the Wangari Maathai Foundation AND she received the 2023 Amnesty International Chair Award.