O2 - Issue 2 - (Page 42)

[WORDS OF WISDOM] WANGARI MAATHAI WOMAN WARRIOR IN KENYA, FIGHTING DESERTS AS WELL AS SEXISM She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in all of East and Central Africa as well as the region’s first female professor and department chair (in veterinary anatomy), but Maathai hasn’t rested on her laurels. In 1976, even before global warming was rearing its ugly head, the Kenyan countryside had been overfarmed, deforested, and altogether abused, and in response Maathai introduced citizens to the concept of tree-planting to stem erosion, secure biodiversity, and preserve the water supply. Maathai’s effort soon became the Green Belt Movement, a non-profit organization that has assisted and empowered women and girls to plant as many as 30 million trees in farms, church gardens, and common spaces. Maathai also has campaigned tirelessly against theft of public lands, and her call has resonated well beyond borders. Although activists are rarely embraced by the mainstream, amazingly, this 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner has been accepted as an eco-champion and an insider: She was elected to Kenya’s parliament in 2002, and was appointed the country’s assistant minister for the environment. You can learn more about Maathai’s life story and mission in her book Unbowed. Unbowed the world to provide safe drinking water, eliminate weapons of mass destruction, and stem climate change. He’s doing good in our backyard, too, rebuilding New Orleans homes and renovating that city’s schools in an environmentally sensitive manner. The initiative, which has the public backing of Brad Pitt, works on the premise that if 50,000 Katrina-destroyed homes were rebuilt to Global Green standards, the city would reduce its annual environmental footprint by half a million tons of carbon dioxide. WILL ROGERS We’re referring to the president and CEO of the Trust for Public Land, although the cowboy comedian would appreciate what Rogers is accomplishing through TPL: securing permanent open space through hundreds of land transactions each year. Since Rogers began his tenure in 1998, TPL has conserved more than 600,000 acres. The Activists THE WORLD-CHANGERS WHO ARE MAKING GOVERNMENTS TAKE NOTICE ROBERT KENNEDY, JR. Our Riverkeeper. His work with Hudson Riverkeeper has become a lifelong mission to safeguard all aspects of the environment. Kennedy has united other water-protection groups under the Waterkeeper umbrella, teaches Pace University law students how to file suit against polluters, and compels us to tune into Air America for his regular talk program. standards simply by combining existing technologies and fuels into one package. BILL MCKIBBEN More proof that the Internet is the political activism tool of our generation: McKibben’s group Step It Up is mobilizing concerned citizens in a virtual march on Washington— specifically asking Congress to legislate an 80 percent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. AL GORE Al in 2008! We hear it all the time, but we say a term in the White House could distract America's environmentalist in chief from his Nobel Prize–winning calling. Save the presidency for someone else. MICHAEL BLOOMBERG We like this country’s mayors. They’ve banned plastic bags and bottled water, encouraged the planting of green roofs, and committed to super-sustainable construction. Bloomberg’s PlanNYC is an optimistic and comprehensive plan for turning New York into the capital of green by 2030, with initiatives starting immediately. Learn more about Mayor Mike’s vision on page 34. 42 [ ] KEVIN KNOBLOCH President of the Union of Concerned Scientists, an alliance of scientists and citizens founded in 1969 at MIT and now counting more than 200,000 supporters. What’s great about all this brainpower? The UCS will propose immediate solutions to environmental problems. Its UCS Vanguard concept minivan, for example, shows how an affordable vehicle can meet California’s strict emissions BILLY PARISH This Yalie knows that going green starts early. Parish established The Climate Challenge to coordinate the myriad student groups working to minimize the environmental footprint of their college and high school campuses. JENS STOLTENBERG Americans, take note: A government can make national-level changes to go green. Witness this prime minister’s April 2007 announcement that guaranteed that Norway would achieve a 30 percent reduction of greenhouse gases by 2020, and carbon neutrality by 2050. MATT PETERSEN The president of Global Green USA shoulders efforts around O2GREENMAGAZINE.COM WANGARI MAATHAI IMAGE COURTESY OF GREEN BELT MOVEMENT, AL GORE IMAGE BY JEAN BAPTISTE LACROIX/GETTY. http://O2GREENMAGAZINE.COM

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O2 - Issue 2

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