Wangari Maathai

"Let us be our ancestors' proud descendants and our descendants' proud ancestors."

"If you are willing to be healed, then you can help heal others."

"The environment is not separate from humanity. It is a part of us."

"I believe that we must be honest about our responsibility to future generations."

"When we clear-cut forests or create wastelands, we are cutting down our own future."

"You have to be interested in life and stay involved and curious and engaged."

"I think it is important to understand that you cannot divorce the pursuit of peace from justice."

"Every individual has a role to play in the healing of the Earth."

"We as human beings need to celebrate the diversity that is in our world."

"It is the little things citizens do. If they do nothing, we will lose our freedoms."

"Passion is really important when you are involved in social change and environmental issues."

"You place your feet above all the possible distractions and confusions of the world and you move forward."

"I realized that if we were to achieve real change, we had to work with communities, not for them."

"There is no shortcut to peace. Peace is not an accident; it is a creation."

"We cannot waste time in despair about what might happen. We must focus our energy on action."

"When you understand your connection to everything, you understand your responsibility to everything."

"The woman who plants a tree knowing she will never sit under its shade has faith in the future."

"You must seek justice in a manner that does not replicate the injustice that you are fighting against."

"Our ability to negotiate the complexities of the world is linked directly to our relationship with the natural world."

"We need to free ourselves from the tyranny of materialism and consumption."

"The Earth weeps when she sees that the people who are best positioned to heal her have been distracted."

"I came to understand that what looks like a hopeless situation is often an opportunity to begin."

"If we do not do something, we will have failed our ancestors and future generations."

"The path to freedom is found through responsibility and service."

"We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims."

"Every person, every community has the power to create change. You just have to believe it."

"The more we consume, the more we destroy the very systems that support our lives."

"You cannot divorce human rights from environmental protection."

"I have learned that we must nurture the seeds of democracy in the hearts and minds of our people."

"The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it."