ACTIONS: How to Replace the Air You Breathe

Take a deep breath. Ah . . . Now what can you do to replace the oxygen you took in?
    How about planting 10 trees? It takes 10 trees to provide one person’s lifetime consumption of oxygen. As Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Green Belt Movement, says, “If you haven’t planted 10 trees, you’re breathing someone else’s oxygen.” More than 40 million trees have been planted across Africa thanks to the Green Belt Movement, a nonprofit grassroots nongovernmental organization with two arms, one in Kenya and one international. Unbowed: One Woman’s Story, Maathai’s memoir, makes clear the connection between sustainability, human rights, and peace. For more information, see wangarimaathai.com.
    To get started replenishing your air, enter your tree planting pledge with the United Nations Environment Programme, a project to plant one billion trees worldwide each year, at unep.org/billiontreecampaign.

Susan Baller-Shepard