The indomitable Wangari Maathai would have turned 72 yesterday, April 1st, 2012. Maathai, who was the first African woman and the first environmentalist to win a Nobel Peace Prize (in 2004), passed away last September.
Founder of the Green Belt Movement, Maathai spent her life working to save Kenya’s forests, uplift the country’s women, and fight for democracy. For Maathai, all of these issues were interconnected. Over the past three decades, the Green Belt Movement has planted tens of millions of trees across Kenya and trained thousands of women in agroforestry, bee-keeping, and other sustainable livelihoods.
For more information: Nobel laureate and Green Belt Movement founder Wangari Maathai dead at 71.
To listen to a radio interview with Maathai: Wangari Maathai muses on trees, activism, and God.