"It is not as if leaders do not understand the impact of the unjust political and economic systems which are promoting environmental degradation and promoting a non-sustainable development model. When will such business be considered unacceptable in the world community?…Africa’s challenges are being tackled at different levels, and some successes have been recorded. But not fast enough. The concepts of sustainable development, appropriate development models, and participatory development are not foreign. We are aware that our children and the future generations have a right to a world which will also need energy, should be free of pollution, should be rich with biological diversity and should have a climate which will sustain all forms of life."
-- Wangari Maathai, speaking in 1991. Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, the first woman from Africa to do so. Explore the amazing Green Belt Movement that she's led for decades, and check out her Nobel acceptance lecture here. Her recent column pressing for more active participation of women in the African Union's work with Sudan is also worth a read.
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