Wangari Muta Maathai ( 1 April 1940 – 25 September 2011) was an internationally renowned Kenyan environmental political activist and Nobel laureate. She was educated in the United States at Mount St. Scholastica (Benedictine College) and the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the University of Nairobi in Kenya. In 1977, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women’s rights. In 1984, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, and in 2004, she became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.” Maathai was an elected member of Parliament and served as assistant minister for Environment and Natural resources in the government of President Mwai Kibaki between January 2003 and November 2005. She was an Honorary Councillor of the World Future Council. In 2011, Maathai died of complications from ovarian cancer. ( From Wikipedia)
WANGARI MAATHAI QUOTES
“Human rights are not things that are put on the table for people to enjoy. These are things you fight for and then you protect.” ― Wangari Maathai
“I’m very conscious of the fact that you can’t do it alone. It’s teamwork. When you do it alone you run the risk that when you are no longer there nobody else will do it.” ― Wangari Maathai
“There are opportunities even in the most difficult moments.” ― Wangari Maathai
“Education, if it means anything, should not take people away from the land, but instill in them even more respect for it, because educated people are in a position to understand what is being lost. The future of the planet concerns all of us, and all of us should do what we can to protect it. As I told the foresters, and the women, you don’t need a diploma to plant a tree.” ― Wangari Maathai
“The future of the planet concerns all of us, and all of us should do what we can to protect it.” ― Wangari Maathai
“If we went to the root cause of the problems, we would be able to overcome the problems once and for all.” ― Wangari Maathai
”It’s a matter of life and death for this country. The Kenyan forests are facing extinction and it is a man-made problem.” – Wangari Maathai
“We need to promote development that does not destroy our environment.”-Wangari Maathai
“Women are responsible for their children, they cannot sit back, waste time and see them starve.”- Wangari Maathai
