Words from a Nobel Laureate

Listened to Dr. Wangari Maathai's lecture last night at the Apollo Auditorium in WSU. Professor Maathai is an environmental activist. She is the founder of the Green Belt Movement, a non-government, not-for-profit organization that aims to provide a source of income and sustenance to Kenyans (and other Africans) by means of planting trees. In addition to advocating environmental awareness, the GBM also advocates women's rights and civic empowerment. Dr. Maathai won the Nobel Peace prize in 2004 "for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace" (Nobel Prize, 2004).

Dr. Maathai didn't say anything that we don't already know but she speaks in such dynamism that you immediately wanna grab your shovel and plant a seedling.

• On planting trees - the amount of oxygen we use in our lifetime is produced by approximately 8 trees... so if you don't plant a tree, you're using somebody else's!
• On recycling - she roughly translated the Japanese word "Mottainai" to mean reduce, reuse, and recycle... which are three of the simplest things we can do to help save the environment.
• On volunteering - give back to the community even with the littlest help! Make a difference... or be the difference you wanna see [Ghandi?]
• On poverty - as individuals, how we can help solve this is to roll our sleeves up and work our asses off!
• On doing your best - she mentioned the story about a hummingbird's futile effort to put out a forest fire. Doing something though it may seem futile, is better than not doing anything at all.