Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai
Wangari Muta Maathaiwas a Kenyan environmental and political activist. She was educated in the United States at Mount St. Scholasticaand the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the University of Nairobi in Kenya...
NationalityKenyan
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth1 April 1940
CityNyeri, Kenya
CountryKenya
rain rivers water
I want to do the right things - I want to plant trees, I want to make sure that the indigenous forests are protected because I know, whatever happens, these are the forests that contain biodiversity, these are the forests that help us retain water when it rains and keep our rivers flowing, these are the forests that many future generations will need.
water tree enemy
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.
jobs pain water
I know there is pain when sawmills close and people lose jobs, but we have to make a choice. We need water and we need these forests.
water environmental degradation
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.
nature talking water
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.
admiring call knees looking mother trying until wonder
I would be on my knees looking at them and admiring them, trying to have them on my neck, until my mother would call and wonder what ... I was doing in the river.
ground
If they had resources, they would not be killing each other over grazing ground and water.
environment few fight resources
When you have the environment degraded, it is always so that we are going to fight over the few resources that are left.
almost conflict connection democracy few human obvious relationship resources seem sharing today
We are sharing our resources in a very inequitable way. 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.
death extinction facing forests life matter
It's a matter of life and death for this country, ... The Kenyan forests are facing extinction and it is a man-made problem.
cannot causes deal empowering environmental involving people promoting root
You must not deal only with the symptoms. You have to get to the root causes by promoting environmental rehabilitation and empowering people to do things for themselves. What is done for the people without involving them cannot be sustained.
environment future invest people protection train
If you want the future generations to live in peace, we must invest in the protection of the environment and we must train especially our young people so that they don't think, for example, the whole world is like Japan.
optimistic important looks
It's very important to remain optimistic and to see the silver lining in everything you do. Because no matter how sometimes things look difficult, and look like there is no hope, there is always a small glimmering of silver lining that is in everything, and I always look for that, and hang on that, and before I know it, another day comes and is gone.
ambition thinking people
There will always be people who think that you have ambitions.