Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai

My Passion:

“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 MaathaiImage courtesy of World Council 

During my lifetime I was a Kenyan social, environmental and political activist

and the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. 

I founded the The Greenbelt Movement which

is an environmental, non-governmental organization focused on

the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and empowering women.
                                                                                                                      

Wangari Maathai Notable Quotes:

“I believe that there comes a time when humanity is called to shift

to a new level of consciousness . . . that time is now.”

“Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops

threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process

heal our own - indeed to embrace the whole of creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder. Recognizing

that sustainable development, democracy and peace are indivisible is an idea whose time has come.” 

“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.” 

“The generation that destroys the environment is not the generation that pays the price.

That is the problem.” 

“Finally I was able to see that if I had a contribution I wanted to make, I must do it, despite what others said.

That I was OK the way I was. That it was all right to be strong.” 

“What people see as fearlessness is really persistence.”