Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World [B0975]

2010 PB in excellent condition. An impassioned call to heal the wounds of our planet and ourselves through the tenets of our spiritual traditions, from a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize It is so easy, in our modern world, to feel disconnected from the physical earth. Despite dire warnings and escalating concern over the state of our planet, many people feel out of touch with the natural world. Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai has spent decades working with the Green Belt Movement to help women in rural Kenya plant-and sustain-millions of trees. With their hands in the dirt, these women often find themselves empowered and "at home" in a way they never did before. Maathai wants to impart that feeling to everyone, and believes that the key lies in traditional spiritual values: love for the environment, self-betterment, gratitude and respect, and a commitment to service. While educated in the Christian tradition, Maathai draws inspiration from many faiths, celebrating the Jewish mandate tikkun olam ("repair the world") and renewing the Japanese term mottainai ("don't waste"). Through rededication to these values, she believes, we might finally bring about healing for ourselves and the earth.

Wangar? Maathai (1940 - 2011) was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist who founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on planting trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. In 2004 she became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

From recent-ish Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "This is so simple yet impactful. Connecting spirituality and the natural world, Wangari Maathai does a great job summarizing the values we should hold at our core if we want to be good humans and good environmentalists. 'Our earth speaks to us, and we must listen if we want to survive.' "; "Maathai is so inspiring. This volume is an easy read, and a good introduction to her work and legacy."; "It was an interesting read that inspired reverence for the earth and physical efforts to protect it in our daily lives. There were examples shared from different cultures about how each made caring for the earth a part of their culture, thoughts, and actions. This book can help a religious person see the need for caring for the earth, and it can bring a spiritual dimension into the conversation for someone who isn't religious, as well."; "Reading this book was like listening to a creek-thoroughly enjoyable and simultaneously stimulating. Maathai asks as many questions as she answers, revealing her own path to success as one of the world's great healers and protectors of the earth and its fragile relationships."