Conversation between wangarimathai and me in a flight
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Answer:
you making any significant progress in reversing that erosion?
Maathai: The situation has improved as awareness has risen. But so many people are poor, and they cut down forests as a source of energy and to grow crops.
CNT: How do you persuade people to plant trees?
Maathai: We tell them, If you don't take care of this land today, tomorrow you will have rocks, not soil. We teach them how to plant but also to work with others so there's a multiplier effect. We give them money for each tree that survives. That's a real incentive.
CNT: There's democracy of sorts in Kenya, thanks in part to your struggle, but there's still corruption and land-grabbing
Maathai: Corruption has infiltrated deep into society, so the guy at the bottom with nothing is hoping that corrupt leaders will come down and share a piece of the action. That's why we do civic education: to help people understand how corruption hurts them—how it makes them poorer, unable to send their children to school, unable to provide for themselves.