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Nobel Peace Prize, Right Livelihood Winner Wangari Maathai (1940-2011)

The Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, died on Sunday at the age of 71 after a battle with cancer. In 1977, she spearheaded the struggle against state-backed deforestation in Kenya and founded the Green Belt Movement, which has planted tens of millions of trees in the country. She has also been an outspoken advocate for women’s rights and democratic development. In 1984 ,she won the Right Livelihood Award. Twenty years later, she won the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first African woman to do so. We air excerpts of her 2009 interview on Democracy Now! and of her 2004 speech when accepting the Nobel Peace Prize. [includes rush transcript]

Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai: If US Moves Forward on Climate Change, Rest of World Will Follow

A new overview of research on global warming has found climate change is happening faster and on a broader scale than scientists projected in 2007. The new findings come in a week where the issue of global warming is at the fore with a one-day UN summit on climate change and the G-20 in Pittsburgh. We speak with the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, who was chosen to speak on behalf of international civil society at the UN summit. [includes rush transcript]

The Challenge for Africa: Kenyan Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai on Obama, Climate Change and War

We turn now to the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Kenyan environmentalist, lawmaker and civil society activist, Wangari Maathai. Her latest book, The Challenge for Africa, tackles the broad obstacles to living in peace, justice, environmental and economic security for the one billion people across the continent of Africa. [includes rush transcript]

Unbowed: Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai on Climate Change, Wars for Resources, the Greenbelt Movement and More

As President Bush convenes a special meeting on climate change, we speak to a woman who has been on the frontlines of the popular struggle for the environment long before the current global warming crisis: Kenyan ecologist and Green Belt Movement founder, Wangari Maathai. "I would wish, especially with respect to climate change, that America would provide the leadership that is needed and not be the one that is falling behind," Maathai said. [includes rush transcript]

The View from Nairobi: Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai Reacts to State of the Union from the World Social Forum in Kenya

While President Bush delivered his State of the Union address, more than eighty thousand people have been gathering in Kenya this week for the seventh annual World Social Forum. The theme of the meeting is "People’s Struggles, People’s Alternatives — Another World is Possible." Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai joins us from Nairobi. [includes rush transcript]

Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai and Son of Executed Nigerian Activist Ken Wiwa Discuss Oil and the Environment

We take a look at oil and the environment with Ken Wiwa–the son of Ken Saro Wiwa who was executed in 1995 by the Nigerian military dictatorship and Nobel Peace prize-winner and leading environmentalist Wangari Maathai. [includes rush transcript]

Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai on the Environment, the War in Iraq, Debt and Women’s Equality

Today on this International Women’s Day, we spend the hour with Wangari Maathai, the first African woman and first environmentalist to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Her life story is a remarkable one. Wangari Maathai grew up in a rural village in Kenya. She excelled at school and eventually won a scholarship to attend university in the United States. After graduating with a degree in biological sciences she went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh. In 1971, she received her PhD from the University of Nairobi, making her the first woman in eastern and central Africa to earn a doctorate.

She then embarked on what would become a life-long campaign against the government-backed forest clearances in Kenya. In 1977, she founded the Green Belt Movement when she planted nine tree seeds in the yard of her house. In the following years, she succeeded in persuading women across Africa to do the same. Today, about 30 million trees have been planted across the continent to fight deforestation.

Throughout her life, Wangari Maathai has campaigned on issues such as poverty, malnutrition, corruption, women’s low economic status and the lack of media freedom in Kenya. She has also criticized the negative images of Africa in the Western media and the reluctance of rich countries to relieve Africa’s debt. [includes rush transcript]

African Ecologist & Activist Wangari Maathai Awarded 2004 Nobel Peace Prize

Wangari Maathai is the first African woman and first environmentalist to receive the prestigious award. We’ll hear an excerpt from her acceptance speech delivered today on International Human Rights Day. [includes rush transcript]

Daughter of 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Wangari Maathai Discusses her Mother, Kenya and the Environment

We speak with the Wanjira Maathai, daughter of Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai who was recently awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. Wanjira is the international liaison for the world-renowned Green Belt Movement which was founded by her mother. [includes rush transcript]

Kenyan Environmentalist Wangari Maathai Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Kenyan environmentalist and zoology professor Wangari Maathai bcame the first woman from Africa to win the Nobel Peace Prize Friday. We hear Wangari Maathai speaking earlier about the violence she faces in Kenya and we speak with her colleague Terry Tempest Williams. [includes rush transcript]