Environmental activist and scout Truphena Muthoni recently attempted the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous tree hug, clocking in at 72 hours.
The young activist spoke about her dedication to the environment during an interview on Citizen TV’s Sunday Night show.
She joined hosts Olive Burrows and Jeff Koinange to discuss her mission and the specific criteria for choosing her arboreal embrace.
A Defender of Indigenous Trees
Muthoni, who is 22 years old, identifies herself as an artist. She expresses herself through music, colours, and sustainable living.
Her main role is that of a defender of forests, indigenous trees, and indigenous peoples.
While tree planting is the preferred method for most environmentalists, Muthoni uses hugging. She confirmed that she has also planted numerous trees herself.
The decision to hug trees was made to send a different message.
“I have planted many trees, I decided to hug them now to send a different message because we are told to plant trees, plant trees, plant trees. But I thought that we must first protect what we have,” she said.
Muthoni explained that society is currently unable to replace the indigenous trees that are being lost. Replacing large, established indigenous trees with small saplings is often incorrectly referred to as mitigation.
She stated that the main message behind the hugs is the importance of protecting the existing environment.
The Comfort of Ash
The tree chosen for her world record attempt was a Mexican American ash. The location for the attempt was Nyeri.
This area is deeply personal to Muthoni, as she was born there and partly grew up in the region.
When asked why she chose an ash tree over a cactus, Muthoni clarified that cacti are equally important.
She noted that cacti are significant in environments prone to wildfires because they do not catch fire easily.
Muthoni noted that she would hug a cactus, too. However, she explained why it was not appropriate for the long-duration record attempt.
“I would hug too. They are equally important, but of course, I couldn’t hug a cactus for all that long, but it is also significant in terms of wildfires; it doesn’t catch fire easily,” she explained.
She ultimately chose the Mexican American ash because it was beautiful, available, and, crucially, comfortable for such a long period of contact.
Through her unique form of activism, the 22-year-old hopes to shift the focus from merely replacing trees to actively preserving the indigenous forests already under threat.
By moses sagwe
