The “Tree Bishop” of Kilimanjaro
08.17.2012
When we go to Tanzania, we don’t just climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. We are also visiting the country, the people, the culture, and of course the environment. So when we see the local people working together to try to save the environment, we want to call attention and say good job.
So “good job” to Frederick Shoo, the Assistant Bishop of the northern diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania. He oversees 500,000 members and 164 parishes. But he is also known as the Tree Bishop, because he is on a crusade to plant trees to save the glaciers on Mount Kilimanjaro.
A PBS report (see link below) says that 92 percent of the glaciers on Mt. Kilimanjaro have disappeared in the last 100 years, and it’s thought they may all be gone by 2020. So the Bishop has decided that planting trees will help keep things cool and moist. As he says in the report:
If the snow on the top of Kilimanjaro goes away then it’s going to be really big blow, not only to the people living around here, but also to the… to the humanity, I would say, because this is one of the world’s wonders, I would call it. If there is no snow there, you can imagine what it will mean.
