Nobel Prize winner plants trees to sow peace

For Wangari Maathai, trees and peace go hand in hand, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner told an audience that filled Irvine Auditorium Monday night.

"Peace is not an abstract concept," Maathai said. "It is impossible to enjoy peace in a world where limited resources on our planet are not managed responsibly and shared equitably."

Maathai said people frequently use excuses such as widespread tribalism to explain conflict in Africa, but the root of the problem is "always access and control of resources."

"In Kenya it is water and grazing grounds. Who will drink and who will not? Who will get how many acres, and who will get nothing?" she said.

Maathai said because of her education as a biologist, she realized that the construction of large houses and the introduction of foreign cash crops were destroying the environment, and the government was not treating the root of the problem.

Maathai started planting trees and organized an educational movement to teach people about civic empowerment and the environment.

At the event, President Amy Gutmann presented Maathai with the Penn's Medal for Distinguished Achievement and said Maathai is "a modern emissary prophet" to whom "we must listen."

The Nobel laureate received the award and was greeted by a standing ovation from the audience. She responded with a bow and a smile, saying she was "humbled."

Maathai said she started Kenya's Green Belt Movement 30 years ago after speaking to women who did not have enough firewood, food or clean drinking water and finding their problem fascinating.

Wharton senior Muchemi Wandimi said he had witnessed Maathai's struggle firsthand as she "challenged the establishment" when he was growing up in Kenya.

Wandimi said that he realized from her speech that Maathai has "a deep scientific understanding of the issue" and that she recognized that the introduction of foreign trees would not help.

"For me, it makes a lot of sense," Wandimi said. "It's real, the stuff she was talking about, and people really fight over the most simple things."

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