Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan environmentalist and climate justice advocator who started the Green Belt Movement, responsible for planting over 30 million trees. She was also the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Born in 1940 near a holy fig tree, high up in the Kenyan central highlands, she got lucky when her mother boldly decided to send her to school. She was educated by Italian nuns and later studied in the US, during the time of the Civil Rights Movement. Unsurprisingly, this influenced her activism.
“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 Maathai
With a doctorate in the pocket and a strong vision, Wangari fought for climate justice in her home country. Some called her stubborn and “hard to control”, like her ex-husband, others beat and imprisoned her for her activism, but she persevered. She brought women into the political centre, using gender and nudity in protests. Though controversial to some, ‘Mama Miti’, mother of trees, was an inspiration to many. Change isn’t easy, but she showed that you can start simple: plant a tree.
Sources and other media:
- Podcast: ‘Pioneers: Wangari Maathai’, Encyclopedia Womannica, 2019: https://encyclopedia-womannica.simplecast.com/episodes/pioneers-wangari-maathai-Degsm_pK.
- Article: ‘Planting Trees as Resistance and Empowerment: The Remarkable Illustrated Story of Wangari Maathai, the First African Woman to Win the Nobel Peace Prize’, Maria Popova: https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/06/04/wangari-maathai-the-woman-who-planted-millions-of-trees/
- Children’s books about her life and work include: ‘Mama Miti’; ‘Seeds of Change’; ‘Tree lady’; ‘ Wangari’s tress of Peace’; ‘Planting the trees of Kenya’; ‘The woman who planted millions of trees’.
- Video: ‘Tree planter, Nobel Prize laureate, revolutionary: Prof. Wangari Maathai at 80’, Ecosia, 2020:
Brain & Guts 
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