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Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, Kenya(Africa) in 1940 . She grew up in Nyeri until she went off to college. In college she was the first women in east and central Africa to receive a doctorate degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastia College in Atchison, Kansas. She got this in 1964. She also received a Master's Degree of science from the University of Pittsburgh in 1966. She pursued doctoral studies in Germany and got a PHD from the University of Nairobi in 1971. She also taught veterinary anatomy there too becoming an associate professor in 1976.  She was the first woman in her region to attain a Ph.D.. She served on the National Council of Women of Kenya . She introduced the idea of community based tree planting and she started the Green Belt Movement in the 1970's where she assisted women in planting more than 40 million trees on farms , schools , and church areas. She is recognized for her struggle for democracy ,human rights , and environmental conservation. She and the Green Belt Movement won prizes the most prestigious being the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. She was the first African woman to do so. Other awards include the Disney Conservation Award in 2006, also in 2005 she was honored by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and many more awards. She received many honorary degrees from different collages. In April 2006 she was honored by the President of France, Mr. Jacques Chirac for the award Legion d' Honneur (Legion of Honor).This took place in Paris. Thanks to Wangari our environment is a better place. If Wangari had not chosen her road of environmentalism and peace millions of people would be living a much harder life. On February17,2010 in a meeting in Japan she said" If we don't protect what we have, you never know what the scientist of tomorrow will need." |