Many of us often wonder what kind of planet we’re leaving behind for our children. But few ask the opposite: what kind of children are we leaving behind for our planet?
This is an important question that our grandparents should have asked of each other. In the barely three centuries since we began the race to mechanize agriculture, production, and even warfare, we have proven to be the greatest threat to our home. In primary school in Kenya, I heard the story from some old men in our village that the rains came from places like Mau forest, Maragoli forest, and Nandi Hills, all the way to the plains of Kano. These were places I considered sacred. As a young mind, I felt these places provided the livelihood of our village. It made our local river flow, made our farms productive, and provided food through good rains. Yet as I joined Maseno University, 25km northwest of my home, Maragoli forest was gone. Political brawls and encroachment had begun to threaten the very existence of Kenya’s largest water tower, the Mau forest. Around this time, I joined a student organization called SIFE, now Enactus. I was therefore pursuing a degree in philosophy and political science as well as getting a formal introduction into a new kind of entrepreneurship, which was teaching me to have a head for business and a heart for the world. I was learning how the positive power of business could transform the world in ways we only imagine. My first experience trying to live on a better planet was a project called “Greenpreneurs,” in which I led a group promoting the growing and selling of trees and tree seedlings in the local market.
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August 2017
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