Wangari Maathai told this story when she spoke at the United Nations in 2005.
Wangari Maathai: I learned this story from a professor in Japan. I think it has an important lesson for us:
There was a big fire in the forest, and all the animals started to run away. They said, “We can’t do anything. The fire is too big.” They waited for some bigger animals to put out the fire. Then they saw a little hummingbird. The hummingbird decided, “I will help to put out this fire.” So the hummingbird flew to the river, picked up one little drop of water, returned to the forest, and put it on the fire. The hummingbird saw that the first drop of water did not put out the fire, but he continued flying to the river and back. The other animals laughed at him. “What are you doing? Did you put out the fire?” they asked with a laugh. And the little hummingbird answered, “I’m doing what I can.“