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“It’s the little things citizens do. That’s what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees.” –Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist and peace activist who was the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, died this week from cancer at the age of 71. Maathai was best known as the founder of The Green Belt Movement, a group she started in 1977 that encouraged poor women to collect native tree seeds in the wild in order to ensure they had access to sustainable firewood for cooking and potable water. Eulogies came pouring in from around the globe upon news of her passing. Fellow Nobel Prize laureate Desmond Tutu described her as a “visionary African woman” and Al Gore said that Maathai “overcame incredible obstacles to devote her life to service – service to her children, to her constituents, to the women, and indeed all the people of Kenya – and to the world as a whole.”
Sea Change Radio co-founders Bill Baue and Francesca Rheannon sat down with Maathai in the spring of 2009. This week, we remember the spirit of Wangari Maathai by bringing that conversation to you in its entirety.
[amazon-product align=”right”]0307377407[/amazon-product]Wangari Maathai tells Sea Change Radio Co-Hosts Francesca Rheannon and Bill Baue the story of a great fig tree that stood near the village where she grew up in Kenya. At that time, her mother and the other villagers regarded the tree as sacred — as the tree of God. Maathai also told this story in the documentary film about her life and work with the