Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan environmentalist and political activist known for founding the Green Belt Movement and being the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
You cannot enslave a mind that knows itself. That values itself. That understands itself.
Those of us who have been privileged to receive education, skills, and experiences and even power must be role models for the next generation of leadership.
Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven’t done a thing. You are just talking.
No matter who or where we are, or what our capabilities, we are called to do the best we can.
You cannot protect the environment unless you empower people, you inform them, and you help them understand that these resources are their own, that they must protect them.
We cannot tire or give up. We owe it to the present and future generations of all species to rise up and walk!
In Kenya women are the first victims of environmental degradation, because they are the ones who walk for hours looking for water, who fetch firewood, who provide food for their families.
In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.
It’s the little things citizens do. That’s what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees.
I don’t really know why I care so much. I just have something inside me that tells me that there is a problem, and I have got to do something about it. I think that is what I would call the God in me.
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.
In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy and peace.
The women of the Green Belt Movement have learned about the causes and the symptoms of environmental degradation. They have begun to appreciate that they, rather than their government, ought to be the custodians of the environment.
You can make a lot of speeches, but the real thing is when you dig a hole, plant a tree, give it water, and make it survive. That’s what makes the difference.
We can work together for a better world with men and women of goodwill, those who radiate the intrinsic goodness of humankind.
Culture defines who we are and how we see ourselves. A new attitude toward nature provides space for a new attitude toward culture and the role it plays in sustainable development.
The generation that destroys the environment is not the generation that pays the price. That is the problem.
What a friend we have in a tree, the tree is the symbol of hope, self improvement and what people can do for themselves.
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.
The planet needs trees. If there is indeed that carbon dioxide out there in the atmosphere, the only species on the planet that can actually trap it for us in a natural process of photosynthesis are the trees.
Every person who has ever achieved anything has been knocked down many times. But all of them picked themselves up and kept going, and that is what I have always tried to do.
All of us have a God in us, and that God is the spirit that unites all life, everything that is on this planet.
If you make mistakes that is alright because we all make mistakes and we learn from those mistakes. You gain confidence from learning, failing and rising again.
The people are learning that you cannot leave decisions only to leaders. Local groups have to create the political will for change, rather than waiting for others to do things for them. That is where positive, and sustainable, change begins.
For me, one of the major reasons to move beyond just the planting of trees was that I have tendency to look at the causes of a problem. We often preoccupy ourselves with the symptoms, whereas if we went to the root cause of the problems, we would be able to overcome the problems once and for all.
Anybody can dig a hole and plant a tree. But make sure it survives. You have to nurture it, you have to water it, you have to keep at it until it becomes rooted so it can take care or itself. There are so many enemies of trees.
The most important thing that I have learned is that transformation is possible, and that the individual can make a difference in transforming his or her life, in transforming the environment, and in transforming the society in which he or she lives.
The environment and the economy are really both two sides of the same coin. If we cannot sustain the environment, we cannot sustain ourselves.