- Part of finding the voice
is really bringing your true and most authentic self
to the space,
'cause then it allows people to come
in their true and most authentic self into the space.
(easy music)
- I'm here at Frick Park,
where the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy
has done a ton of work to support these trees,
which I'm surrounded by.
Trees are an important part of the climate solution,
especially on degraded lands,
and especially when it comes
to protecting and restoring ecosystems.
If you're someone who's passionate about helping people
often, when it comes to planting trees,
you might not see that connection,
but how can we help people and connect with people
while also getting trees in the ground
in places where our planet needs them?
Today, I'm connecting with Clara Kitongo,
who's someone who not only understands the science
and the importance of trees,
but also is able to fulfill her passion
of connecting with people,
through her One Tree per Child Program,
helping the next generation
see the power and importance and impact
that tree plantations can have
in being part of the climate solution.
Could you introduce yourself?
Like, who are you?
- I'm Clara Kitongo.
I come from Uganda,
that's where I was born and raised all my life.
- Like where are we right now?
What neighborhood is this in Pittsburgh?
- We're literally sitting in the nursery,
so a lot of the trees that will eventually be planted
across Pittsburgh
and some parts of Allegheny County actually
are sitting right here on this bench,
if you can believe it.
Our site is in Lawrenceville.
There's a 62nd street bridge up over yonder.
- Well, could you talk about
what you decided to study in college
and how you figured out what you would study?
- As a kid, I wanted to be a teacher and a musician.
Those were my two things,
but as an African person,
you don't become a teacher and a musician.
Like, what are you doing?
You're not gonna add anything to the society in that way.
Or maybe teacher you will,
but you're not gonna get paid a lot of money.
Musician not even looked at
as something that's reasonable to do.
So very early, I decided to be an aeronautic engineer,
to become an astronaut,
and then eventually, to be an architect,
and then eventually, to be a civil engineer.
So I ended up, you know,
applying to Carnegie Mellon to do civil engineering,
'cause it was the one school I knew, and I'm like,
okay, I'm gonna pursue this dream
and become a civil engineer.
And, you know, I did those classes.
They were really amazing,
learning how, you know, structures work, how soil works,
but then I didn't wanna build bridges,
like concrete bridges.
I was like,
this is not really making me feel like I'm adding value.
I was like a Black girl in Pittsburgh,
and most of the people who are working in this field
are White men, older White men.
So I instantly cut myself out of civil engineering
literally, just because I didn't see anyone
who looked like me in that field.
Now, looking back, I'm like,
nah, I probably will do it, if I want to,
like, I'll find a way to do it,
but at that time,
I didn't have the tools to really be able
to navigate kinda that reality.
- When did you first really understand,
not only like trees and the power of those,
but also trees as a climate solution
or part of a climate solution?
- Mm, that's a great question.
Being in Uganda, it's like a tropical country,
so we're like right on the equator, it's really warm,
it's always rainy.
But, from those early ages,
we learned about deforestation and reforestation,
so I always knew,
when you have a place that's deforested,
you're probably gonna get a desert at some point,
or when you bring trees into spaces,
you start changing how the fabric of the space
really looks like.
So, of course, people like Wangari Maathai
made it even much easier,
because she, in that class with Danielle,
I learned about the Green Belt Movement,
which Wangari Maathai had started with, you know,
poor women in Kenya,
really turning a place
that had been basically like deforested to build houses,
now turned into a forest.
So what can I do that makes me feel less anxious
is the actual work of maybe planting a tree
or being connected with kids who are doing work like that.
Makes me feel like, okay, I'm doing something now.
- How did you realize that you could actually do something?
Because one thing that I find
is that a lot of the images
that are about how horrible it is
could feel really like disempowering,
and you feel hopeless looking at it.
Like, what are we gonna do,
this is such a big problem that we have to address?
We need to plant a lot of trees
and do a lot of other things to actually do something,
but how did you get to the point where you realized
that you could actually do something about climate change?
- To be honest,
sometimes it feels like a little drop in the bucket,
like a really small little drop,
but I think part of the reason why I even continue to do
is part of my own personal beliefs,
'cause I think I mentioned that I practice Buddhism.
And there's a concept
of like oneness of self and environment,
but then also, you've heard about the butterfly effect.
It's like things like that,
where it's like a small little thing that one person does
does have a ripple report effect in certain aspects,
so if I make your day, if I make you smile right now,
and you're feeling good,
maybe you'll smile to somebody else, and, you know,
maybe somebody, you start a chain reaction like that.
So that thought process of Buddhism
allows me to center my mind a little bit,
'cause it does feel sometimes like, is really this,
are these trees really making an impact?
But they really are,
because when you look at it in a wave reaction,
like this small thing is adding to a much bigger movement,
then I see, okay I need to at least do something,
because to do nothing is not an option, so.
Feeling like I could do do something was I would've just,
I came to it by empowering myself, if that makes sense,
like to not belittle the little action.
Every little piece actually
is coming to this much bigger solution,
which then, in the end,
it's like, well I don't have to fix everything,
but what of it can I focus on doing
and then put my energy into that.
- Could you talk about
just the work that you're doing as a climate solution,
but also, like how you communicate that
to the young people you work with?
- And I hope it is,
it is a climate solution, we know.
Because, you know, trees,
especially the older much more mature trees,
we know play a very big role in carbon sequestration,
just pulling the carbon out of the air,
using even the roots sinking, you know, carbon in,
so this we're doing
is almost like a capital project for the future.
You know how people do capital fundraisers?
Planting these trees now
is almost like banking on the future,
because we're gonna only see these benefits
like 10, 20, 30 years from now.
So when we work with young kids,
we are really giving them that perspective of seeing,
wow, you are literally part of changing the fabric
of what this city is gonna look like
in 20, 30 years from now, and your hands have a role in it.
So we don't really have to talk so much,
"Oh, the climate," with them,
'cause that actually freaks them out
and maybe even makes them a little anxious.
We're gonna be able to clean the air a little better,
you know, with these trees
that we're bringing into the space or manage storm water,
when it comes into the space.
Like really kind of making
more real life connectable solutions for them,
then it's like, "Oh, let's really plant more trees,"
or, "Let's learn about how water moves through the city,"
or and then they wanna be, they engineer new solutions,
'cause that's where they are with their computer games.
But, at least they're able to touch the tree
and have that hope, that kind of like hands on,
I've done something and this feels great.
And, "When am I gonna plant trees again?"
They say, when we're done, so.
- I guess I'm curious about like lessons from your journey,
but specifically, as a Black woman in this space,
are there and have there been
any particular challenges with that?
- You know, cause sometimes we don't know
that we have a superpower,
and I think that's part of the journey of my own life
is realizing, oh actually,
because you are born in Uganda
and you have this unique experience,
that is in itself a superpower,
'cause of the perspective that you're bringing to the table.
I come to the US with many layers being an immigrant.
On the surface, I'm African American,
but I'm really African, so there was like,
where do I really fit in,
and how do I find my voice in all of this space?
The truest thing for me is that the environment
connects me to all of those experiences,
be it as an African woman or an African American woman,
which I am now, I consider myself American,
'cause I became a US citizen eventually,
after being here for some time.
But in navigating spaces, I found that, man,
I had to face the fact that, okay, I'm scared,
but I have to do something.
And having role models, like Wangari Maathai,
was very helpful, because you see a person,
who got her PhD from Pitt, not, you know, in like the '80s,
and she was from Kenya.
It makes you feel like, okay, I can do something,
and somebody was courageous enough
to make a move in this direction.
And then, other layers could be like,
oh, but maybe I don't have the technical know-how,
I didn't grow up around trees, or I'm afraid of,
I used to be afraid of being in the forest,
if you can believe it.
And then, really sitting with my true feeling and deciding,
okay, how am I gonna use this fear
to create value for my life?
How am I gonna be courageous to be like,
okay, I may not know how I start,
I may not know like all the technical pieces,
but I know that I wanna be in this field.
How can I just make some actions towards that?
And it maybe was, it came through volunteering.
To navigate the environmental space,
which can sometimes be a little intimidating
for a Black person,
allowing myself to be uncomfortable, have dialogue,
and then recognize, okay this is for a bigger.
It's not just okay for the job,
it's for this bigger vision of human,
how can we live on this earth?
So, you know, where we have to find a way to navigate this,
uncomfortable relationships,
for the sake of creating a more peaceful
or a more sustainable future.
- You mentioned music, you mentioned voice,
could you tell us more about, like, more about your music?
- I'm gonna just literally sing it for you
right now, because.
♪ For so long ♪
♪ The people have been pressed down ♪
♪ The system got me wonder ♪
♪ Where to break down ♪
♪ Sun up to sun down ♪
♪ Working for my ransom ♪
♪ Trying not to feel like I'm let down ♪
♪ But moving forward ♪
♪ As I sway to the beat ♪
♪ And finding my position ♪
♪ As I prepare the heat ♪
♪ Swaying to the river ♪
♪ Feeling how I flow ♪
♪ I only put concrete waves I swim through ♪
♪ So it's straight to the roots I go ♪
♪ Man's elevated, it's love related ♪
♪ And it's straight to the roots I go ♪
As you can tell,
a song is really about getting
to like the root of the issues that matter,
things that really matter.
Part of finding the voice
is really bringing your true and most authentic self
to the space,
'cause then it allows people to come
in their true and most authentic self into the space, so.
- The massive difference between walking into a room,
and there being no one who looks like you,
no one who shares your culture, your experiences,
no one who like truly understands
what your day-to-day life might be
and the struggles and challenges that you might have
because of your identity
versus walking into the room,
and there's one person who has that, or a couple people,
or there's someone who's standing at the front of the room
with a microphone who people respect who reminds you of you,
like, that actually goes a long way.
And I think it's so cool that
like you could be here sharing your story,
because and be anywhere sharing your story,
because that's like actually making an impact,
when's someone's like,
oh I could finally see myself doing
this really important work that we need more people to do.
Because just the diversity of perspectives
is necessary for solving any problem,
and like you can't solve any problem
with just one view and one perspective.
- Hey, my name's Clara Kitongo,
and I'm helping the world reach drawdown
by planting trees in Pittsburgh.