In the first three weeks of January 2026, over five Kenyans have hugged trees because they felt unheard and desired public attention. From desperate parents and teenagers to police officers, Kenyans ...

Twenty-two-year-old environmental activist Truphena Muthoni Environmental activist Truphena Muthoni becomes the first person to hug a tree continuously for 72 hours on December 11, 2025. [Amos Kiarie, ...

On a recent 80-degree day at Rock Creek Park, an urban national park in the heart of Washington D.C., a dozen children as young as four sank their hands into the creek mud, discovered crayfish hiding ...

A Kenyan woman, Truphena Muthoni, beat her own world record, hugging a tree continuously for 72 hours at the foot of Mount Kenya. Her “silent protest” was meant to hold authorities and a complacent ...

In June 2023, I hugged a tree. It wasn’t a special tree, and I didn’t hug it to save it or to make a political statement. I don’t even remember what kind of tree it was, just that it was on the campus ...

Founder’s Briefs: An occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. When Truphena Muthoni stepped up to a royal palm in Nyeri and ...