Wangari maathai autobiography of miss universe

Kenyan environmental and political activist (1940–2011)

"Maathai" redirects here. For the Kenyan supermarket chain, see Maathai Supermarkets.

Wangarĩ Maathai (; 1 April 1940 – 25 September 2011) was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist who founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. In 2004 she became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

As a beneficiary of the Kennedy Airlift, she studied in the United States, earning a bachelor's degree from Mount St. Scholastica and a master's degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She went on to become the first woman in East and Central Africa to become a Doctor of Philosophy, receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Nairobi in Kenya. In 1984, she got the Right Livelihood Award for "converting the Kenyan ecological debate into mass action for reforestation." Wangari Maathai was an elected member of the Parliament of Kenya and, between January 2003 and November 2005, served as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources in the government of President Mwai Kibaki. She was an Honorary Councillor of the World Future Council. As an academic and the author of several books, Maathai was not only an activist but also an intellectual who has made significant contributions to thinking about ecology, development, gender, and African cultures and religions.

Maathai died of complications from ovarian cancer on 25 September 2011.

Early life and education

Maathai was born on 1 April 1940 in the village of Ihithe, Nyeri District, in the central highlands of the colony of Kenya. Her family was Kikuyu, the most populous ethnic group in Kenya, and had lived in the area for several generations. Around 1943, Maathai's family relocated to a wh

About the Author

Eucabeth Odhiambo is a professor of education at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. As a classroom teacher, she has taught every grade between kindergarten and middle school. Her first novel, Auma's Long Run, was inspired by her experience growing up in Kenya in the 80s and 90s.

Chelsea Clinton is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller She Persisted: 13 American Women Who Changed the World; She Persisted Around the World: 13 Women Who Changed History; She Persisted in Sports: American Olympians Who Changed the Game; Don't Let Them Disappear: 12 Endangered Species Across the Globe; It's Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired & Get Going!; Start Now!: You Can Make a Difference; with Hillary Clinton, Grandma's Gardens and Gutsy Women; and, with Devi Sridhar, Governing Global Health: Who Runs the World and Why? She is also the Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation, where she works on many initiatives, including those that help empower the next generation of leaders. She lives in New York City with her husband, Marc, their children and their dog, Soren. You can follow Chelsea Clinton on Twitter @ChelseaClinton or on Facebook at facebook.com/chelseaclinton.

Gillian Flint (gillianflint.com) is an illustrator who has a passion for painting in watercolors. She has been drawing and creating characters for as long as she can remember. Her work has been published in the USA, the UK and Australia. In her spare time she enjoys reading and gardening at her home in the UK. You can follow her on Instagram @gillianflint_illustration.

Alexandra Boiger (alexandraboiger.com) has illustrated nearly twenty picture books, including the She Persisted series by by Chelsea Clinton; the popular Tallulah series by Marilyn Singer; and the Max and Marla books, which she also wrote. Originally from Munich, Germany, she now lives outside of San Francisco, California, with her husband, Andrea; daughter, Vanessa; and two cats, Luiso and Winter. You can follow Alex

World Nutrition

Eulogy. Wangari Maathai

Action for Africa and the Earth

Wangari Matthai, who died in late September, will continue to speak to us. She was the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the most deserving winner since Albert Schweitzer half a century earlier. She has in her vision, work and legacy shown that health, well-being, and disorders and diseases of all types, have environmental determinants, as do food and nutrition security, and sustainable livelihoods.

Environmental factors are not only forces of nature. What happens in nature is greatly affected by human activity, which includes the despoilation of natural resources such as trees. Her struggle and her triumph have exposed social, economic and political determinants as well. As an intellectual, an academic, and a politician, she knew that the original basic causes of malnutrition, famine and starvation in Africa, are the plunder of much of the continent and its people and treasure by the slave traders and then the European Great Powers. This, as she has also emphasised, has been followed by an equally outrageous hollowing out of human and natural capital by the recent and curr