Wangari Maathai (1940–2011)

Mia MacDonald and Brighter Green were honored to have worked with the 2004 Nobel Peace laureate and Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, before her untimely death in September 2011. Mia was with Wangari Maathai when she was told she had been awarded the Nobel in October 2004. She helped the founder of the Green Belt Movement write her autobiography, Unbowed (Knopf, 2006), and two subsequent volumes: The Challenge for Africa (Knopf, 2008), and Replenishing the Earth (Doubleday Image, 2010). Mia also joined the board of Green Belt Movement International—USA, first as a board member, then as President, and then as Treasurer. Wangari Maathai also presented with Brighter Green at COP 15 in Copenhagen.

Mia’s reflections on the life and legacy of Wangari Maathai are at the following sites:

• “Wangari Maathai: Colleague, Friend, Inspiration,” Huffington Post, September 29, 2011
• “Kenya Mourns the Death of Nobel Peace Laureate Wangari Maathai at 71,” by Daniel Howden, Independent (UK), September 27, 2011

Other reflections on Wangari Maathai’s legacy that Brighter Green was involved with include, a video memory in 2012 by Vertistine Mbaya, for the twentieth anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit.