When Maathai became aware of Kenya’s ecological decline: watersheds drying up, streams disappearing, and the desert expanding south from the Sahara, she began making connections others hadn’t. She listened to the women talk about water, about energy, about nutrition and made the linkage between their situation and environmental degradation. “We need trees,” she said. “They will replenish the soil, provide fuel wood, protect watersheds and promote better nutrition (through growing fruit trees). With her Green Belt Movement she planted 30 million trees and the rest is history. “As trees grow, they give us hope and self-confidence,” she said.