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Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai Quotes

Political Activist

Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan political activist and environmentalist who became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Born on April 1, 1940, and passing away on September 25, 2011, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots organization dedicated to environmental conservation and women's rights.

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All People Ifs Needs Environment Government Tree Thinking World Knows Resources Kenya Want Way Children Forests Problem Protect Sometimes Important Land

Famous Wangari Maathai Quotes

“We tend to put the environment last because we think the first thing we have to do is eliminate poverty. But you can't reduce poverty in a vacuum. You are doing it in an environment.”

Thinking Firsts Lasts Poverty Environment Vacuums

Author:Wangari Maathai

“There will always be people who think that you have ambitions.”

People Thinking Ambition

Author:Wangari Maathai

“I think that for anybody who has worked in the civil society, government bureaucracy moves very very slowly.”

Thinking Government Moving Bureaucracy Civil Society Government Bureaucracy

Author:Wangari Maathai

“We tend to put the environment last because we think the first thing we have to do is eliminate poverty and send children to school and provide health.”

Thinking Firsts Children School Lasts Poverty Environment

Author:Wangari Maathai

“I'm sure the government of Qatar is not coming in to grow food for the people of Kenya; it's coming to grow food to sell. If it can also sell to the people of Kenya, well, then good. I think that the moves can be helpful, but I think that the history that Africa knows, as I say in my book, has been a history of exploitation.”

People Ifs Thinking Knows Wells Has Beens Book Government Moving Grows Sells Helpful Exploitation Kenya Qatar

Author:Wangari Maathai

“Now when Nile perch was introduced [into Lake Victoria], I don't think enough research was done; maybe it was done, maybe it was not. But Nile perch is a huge fish. So it ate all the little fish, and it grew into a monster which the local people could not fish with their little boats and their little nets.”

People Thinking Littles Done Enough Huge Grew Research Fishes Monsters Locals Boat Lakes Victoria Nile

Author:Wangari Maathai

“I think some of these solutions are prepared in an office without a full understanding of the local situation.”

Thinking Understanding Situation Office Solutions Prepared Locals

Author:Wangari Maathai

“As a scientist I cannot say we don't want to hear anything about GMOs, because these are advances in science. But I think its also important, especially when you are dealing with food, to be cautious.”

Thinking Want Important Scientist Cautious Gmos Be Cautious Advances In Science

Author:Wangari Maathai

“I think [GMO] is one area where the is a need for legal regulations to make sure that companies - because at the moment, companies are the ones that have this technology - will not use this technology in a way that could adversely affect the people.”

People Thinking Way Needs Moments Use Company Technology Areas Regulation Gmos

Author:Wangari Maathai

“Quite often when you help poor people, they don't think about the environment. They think about survival.”

People Thinking Helping Poor Environment Survival Poor People Help The Poor Help Poor People

Author:Wangari Maathai

“When you think of all the conflicts we have - whether those conflicts are local, whether they are regional or global - these conflicts are often over the management, the distribution of resources. If these resources are very valuable, if these resources are scarce, if these resources are degraded, there is going to be competition.”

Ifs Thinking Conflict Resources Management Competition Valuable Locals Distribution Scarce Scarce Resources

Author:Wangari Maathai

“I think what the Nobel committee is doing is going beyond war and looking at what humanity can do to prevent war. Sustainable management of our natural resources will promote peace.”

Thinking War Humanity Can Do Natural Resources Management Committees Nobel Natural Resources

Author:Wangari Maathai

“Recognizing that sustainable development, democracy and peace are indivisible is an idea whose time has come... Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own - indeed, to embrace the whole of creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder.”

“In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.”

Thinking Giving Humanity Courses Peace Leadership Levels Consciousness Moral Higher Judgment Shed There Comes A Time

Author:Wangari Maathai

“We think that diamonds are very important, gold is very important, all these minerals are very important. We call them precious minerals, but they are all forms of the soil. But that part of this mineral that is on top, like it is the skin of the earth, that is the most precious of the commons.”

Thinking Important Earth Form Gold Skins Soil Diamond Minerals

Author:Wangari Maathai

“I don't really know why I care so much. I just have something inside me that tells me that there is a problem, and I have got to do something about it. I think that is what I would call the God in me.”

Thinking Knows Problem Care I Care

Author:Wangari Maathai

About the Author

Born: April 1, 1940
Died: September 25, 2011
Known for: Political Activist
Quotes: 161

Related Topics

People Ifs Needs Environment Government Tree Thinking World Knows Resources Kenya Want Way Children Forests Problem Protect Sometimes Important Land

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the WorldRelated source material

The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the ExperienceRelated source material

UnbowedRelated source material

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