Wangari Maathai Quotes About Environment
-
You can't reduce poverty in a vacuum. You are doing it in an environment.
→ -
We owe it to ourselves and to the next generation to conserve the environment so that we can bequeath our children a sustainable world that benefits all.
→ -
The living conditions of the poor must be improved if we really want to save our environment
→ -
In a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy and peace.
→ -
It gradually became clear that the Green Belt Movement's work with communities to repair the degraded environment could not be done effectively without participants embracing a set of core spiritual values.
→ -
It is evident that many wars are fought over resources which are now becoming increasingly scarce. If we conserved our resources better, fighting over them would not occur ... protecting the global environment is directly related to securing peace. Those of us who understand the complex concept of the environment have the burden to act. We must not tire, we must not give up, we must persist.
→ -
The essential role of the environment is still marginal in discussions about poverty. While we continue to debate these initiatives, environmental degradation, including the loss of biodiversity and topsoil, accelerates, causing development efforts to falter.
→ -
Education, if it means anything, should not take people away from the land, but instill in them even more respect for it, because educated people are in a position to understand what is being lost. The future of the planet concerns all of us, and all of us should do what we can to protect it. As I told the foresters, and the women, you don't need a diploma to plant a tree.
→ -
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.
→ -
People need open space. People need to bring their children into an area where they can play without restriction." And I was told, "This is development." And I said, "That is not development, definitely not sustainable development, definitely not responsible development. People need fresh air. They can do without buildings. They can do without concrete. But they cannot do without fresh air.
→ -
Sometimes when I talk to little children I remind them of the fact that when I was growing up myself, I used to play with frog eggs and tadpoles and I used to walk in the field, I used to literally copy whatever my mother was doing on the land. And that may be the reason why I eventually developed the passion for green and for the Earth. So it is extremely important for adults and especially those who are in charge of cities to make sure that we do not lose touch with the land and with the environment. And especially our children.
→ -
Quite often when you help poor people, they don't think about the environment. They think about survival.
→ -
Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven't done a thing. You are just talking.
→ -
You cannot protect the environment unless you empower people, you inform them, and you help them understand that these resources are their own, that they must protect them.
→ -
We refuse to share resources; we govern irresponsibly. If we are confident, if we have some of our cultural values, then we would be more committed to assisting our people out of poverty and creating an environment that can make it possible for our friends to assist us.
→ -
The women of the Green Belt Movement have learned about the causes and the symptoms of environmental degradation. They have begun to appreciate that they, rather than their government, ought to be the custodians of the environment.
→ -
I am working to make sure we don't only protect the environment, we also improve governance.
→ -
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.
→ -
We see that the environment is something to exploit, because we see the environment in terms of minerals for example, or forests, or even raw materials that we produce on our land, or even land itself. We see it in terms of what we can exploit rather than the medium in which all of these activities have to take place.
→ -
If Africa is left behind, she is going to continue pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, especially carbon. She's going to continue logging the forests, she's going to continue burning charcoal, she is going to continue practicing agricultural activities that destroy the environment, and sooner or later Africa's problem will become a global problem.
→ -
Those of us who witness the degraded state of the environment and the suffering that comes with it cannot afford to be complacent. We continue to be restless. If we really carry the burden, we are driven to action. We cannot tire or give up. We owe it to the present and future generations of all species to rise up and walk!
→ -
We are very fond of blaming the poor for destroying the environment. But often it is the powerful, including governments, that are responsible.
→ -
We need to promote development that does not destroy our environment.
→
Wangari Maathai
- Born: April 1, 1940
- Died: September 25, 2011
- Occupation: Political Activist
Related Authors
-
Mohamed ElBaradei Diplomat -
Jane Addams Sociologist -
Shirin Ebadi Lawyer -
Malala Yousafzai Journalist -
Rachel Carson Marine biologist -
Aung San Suu Kyi Burmese Politician -
Jane Goodall Primatologist -
Vandana Shiva Author -
Rigoberta Menchu Author -
Ngugi wa Thiong'o Writer -
Jody Williams Political activist -
Jomo Kenyatta Former Prime Minister of Kenya -
Tawakkol Karman Journalist -
Leymah Gbowee Peace activist -
Muhammad Yunus Entrepreneur -
Betty Williams Nobel laureate -
Mairead Corrigan Activist -
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf President of Liberia -
Kofi Annan Diplomat