When I first started, it was really an innocent response to the needs of women in rural areas. When we started planting trees to meet their needs, there was nothing beyond that. I did not see all the issues that I have to come to deal with. Wangari Maathai More Quotes by Wangari Maathai More Quotes From Wangari Maathai Nile perch is a fish that was introduced into Lake Victoria. The reason that fish was introduced into Lake Victoria was because it was decided that the people living near the lake needed more proteins than they were getting. Wangari Maathai reason lakes people There are certain areas where foreign investors can help the local people to generate wealth, and improve their quality of life. Some companies, for example, Del Monte, which produces pineapples in Kenya, pay a huge amount of taxes, I am sure, to the Kenyan government, and they do create jobs for thousands of locals. Wangari Maathai government jobs people Do not be naive. AIDS is not a curse from God to Africans or the black people. It is a tool to control them designed by some evil-minded scientists, but we may not know who particularly did it. Wangari Maathai black evil people Why has there been so much secrecy about AIDS? When you ask where did the virus come from, it raises a lot of flags. That makes me suspicious. Wangari Maathai viruses aids flags As long as there is no trust and confidence that there will be justice and fairness in resource distribution, political positioning will remain more important than service Wangari Maathai future justice long The people are starving. They need food; they need medicine; they need education. They do not need a skyscraper to house the ruling party and a 24-hour TV station. Wangari Maathai medicine party people Culture defines who we are and how we see ourselves. A new attitude toward nature provides space for a new attitude toward culture and the role it plays in sustainable development Wangari Maathai space play attitude Women are responsible for their children, they cannot sit back, waste time and see them starve. Wangari Maathai wasting-time waste children All through the ages the African people have made efforts to deliver themselves from oppressive forces. Wangari Maathai effort age people You cannot blame the mismanagement of the economy or the fact that we have not invested adequately in education in order to give our people the knowledge, the skills and the technology that they need in order to be able to use the resources that Africa has to gain wealth Wangari Maathai technology skills order Sometimes I feel frustration at the bureaucracy for not moving fast enough to deliver in the way that I would prefer. But that is probably because I have worked for many years in the civil society, which tends to move much faster than government. Wangari Maathai frustration government moving As long as we have all these conflicts, it is the women who will continue to suffer, so that is one reason why I guess as women we should really work for peace, because we know how painful wars can be to us and our daughters. Wangari Maathai daughter war long The planet needs trees. If there is indeed that carbon dioxide out there in the atmosphere, the only species on the planet that can actually trap it for us in a natural process of photosynthesis are the trees. Wangari Maathai atmosphere tree needs I think that for anybody who has worked in the civil society, government bureaucracy moves very very slowly. Wangari Maathai government moving thinking There will always be people who think that you have ambitions. Wangari Maathai ambition people thinking It's very important to remain optimistic and to see the silver lining in everything you do. Because no matter how sometimes things look difficult, and look like there is no hope, there is always a small glimmering of silver lining that is in everything, and I always look for that, and hang on that, and before I know it, another day comes and is gone. Wangari Maathai optimistic important looks
