From Kenya we have Wangũi Kamonji, a researcher, storyteller, dancer, community builder, teacher and learner. “I am fascinated by design, traditions, urban issues and their rural sources, communities’ responses to environmental issues, and food (and other forms of) sovereignty. I write the blog fromtheroots.co.ke where I report on my findings from countries around the world including Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, India, Italy and Vietnam. In particular I explore how we can regenerate and revive the knowledge, education, economics, relationships, and environments to create a new just world”. While blogging for Transition, Wangũi will explore African environmentalism and African environmentalists in order to expand the face of who is considered an environmentalist in this large diverse continent, and which issues of concern exist besides the mildly stereotypical trees and wildlife. She will consider the place of the environmental consciousness from the viewpoint of some African environmentalists, their journeys, challenges, and triumphs.
Light Posting 8th to 22nd October
By Resilience.org Staff, Resilience.org
Due to editorial holiday, there will be light posting from 8th to 22nd October. Regular posting will resume on the 23rd.
The Right Structures have Power – Simon Mitambo on Reviving Cultural and Biological Diversity
By Wangũi Kamonji, Transition Network
I like giving the example that we humans can behave like cancerous cells. Working out of a disconnection from nature, as if we are separate from other natural aspects is similar to when cells stop communicating with the whole system.
Going Farther Together – The Lake Victoria Peace and Sustainability Centre, Rusinga Island
By Wangũi Kamonji, Transition Network
LVPSC brings together about 30 groups and organisations working in various sectors on the island under the banner of peacebuilding and sustainability work. Through working together they are able to support smaller groups, have access to peacebuilding and ecological trainings, and widen their reach both on the island and in wider Kenya.
Putting Things Back where They Should Be – Managing Waste in Naivasha Town
By Wangũi Kamonji, Transition Network
James Kagwe, who runs a waste management collective called ‘Waste to Best’ in Naivasha Town in Kenya’s Rift Valley. His path has taken him from flower growing to street clean-ups, waste collection and waste management.
Seeing and Using our Own Resources
By Wangũi Kamonji, Transition Network
I would define permaculture in a general way as sustainable human settlements in a holistic approach, so that everyone can take it up. Here in Laikipia, for example, we’re talking about building peace, livelihoods, and about degraded landscapes, so we take that approach.
Thriving Communities and Thriving Ecosystems through the Bee
By Wangũi Kamonji, Transition Network
I wanted to connect as many ‘honey peoples’ as possible because I felt that they had been forgotten. The ‘bee custodians’, as I like to call them as opposed to beekeepers, had held the space for bees throughout our previous generations. And yet the hunter-gatherer is pitched at the bottom of the strata of livelihoods.
A Picture isn’t Complete without Nature – Africans in their Environments
By Wangũi Kamonji, Transition Network
I invite you to see with new eyes. Ultimately Guha’s definition of environmentalism is not wrong. It just doesn’t fit mine and many others’ reality of what environmentalism is: holistic; long rooted in time and space; for something and not only against; alive and based in the land, lives, work and bodies of those around me, African in and of their environments.