Nairobi-Under the hazy skies of Nairobi’s busiest highway, a quiet green revolution is taking root.
On a narrow strip of land along the Thika Superhighway, a group of young environmentalists armed with seedlings and shovels gathered this week to plant trees. Their goal is simple: to fight the choking carbon emissions that rise each day from the thousands of cars hurtling down one of Kenya’s most vital roadways.
Leading the initiative is Anthony Muruthi, a lecturer at Nairobi National Polytechnic. He’s not one for grand speeches, but his message is clear.
“We breathe this air every day. We have to clean it ourselves,” he told The Standard during the event. “The trees will do more than absorb carbon. They’ll offer shade, beauty, and maybe even hope.”
The campaign, still small in scale, has tapped into something bigger: a growing sense among young Kenyans that the climate crisis can’t be left to government alone.
A Patch of Green in a Grey City
The Thika Superhighway is both a symbol of modern Kenya and a source of environmental strain. It connects Nairobi to central Kenya and sees tens of thousands of vehicles daily. With every kilometre, diesel engines and exhaust fumes blanket the air.
Muruthi and his team, many of them students believe that lining the highway with trees is a step toward change.
“Every tree counts,” said Sheringham Orodo, a student volunteer. “It’s not just about climate change. It’s about doing something real, right here, where we live.”
The group is part of the President’s Award programme, a youth service initiative that encourages civic responsibility through community projects. In the past year, the programme has expanded to include environmental restoration projects across several counties.
Muruthi hopes the tree-planting will one day include rest stops — shaded areas with simple washrooms and public seating. For that, they’re appealing to the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) for support.
“We’re not asking for much,” he said. “Just space, some water, and permission to care.”
Echoing a National Call
The effort aligns with President William Ruto’s ambitious plan to plant 15 billion trees by 2032 — a cornerstone of his administration’s response to climate change and land degradation.
But progress has been uneven. While the national government champions the cause, much of the actual planting falls to local groups like Muruthi’s. Volunteers say they often lack the tools and funding to scale their work.
“We want to do more,” said student Humphrey Karani. “But we need seedlings, transport, water. Give us that, and we’ll plant every weekend.”
From Idle Hands to Green Jobs?
Beyond carbon, the project also addresses another urgent problem: youth unemployment. Muruthi says tree-planting, if properly supported, could offer “green jobs” to thousands of idle young people, steering them away from crime, drugs, and despair.
“Instead of losing our youth to the streets, we can give them a purpose,” he said.
The World Bank has long advocated for climate-focused employment as a way to tackle both environmental degradation and joblessness. Kenya’s youth unemployment rate, currently estimated at over 13%, remains a stubborn national challenge.
For now, the group is focused on what they can control — planting, watering, and watching their saplings grow.
It’s not glamorous. It won’t go viral. But for these young Kenyans, each tree is a quiet act of resistance in a country where the cost of doing nothing is growing by the day.
