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The Honorable Wangari Maathai, PhD, Honorary ASLA
The
Olmsted Medal was instituted in 1990 to recognize individuals,
organizations, agencies, or programs outside the profession of landscape
architecture for environmental leadership, vision, and stewardship.
The Honorable Wangari Maathai, PhD, Honorary
ASLA, is Kenya’s Assistant Secretary of Environment,
Wildlife and Natural Resources and the 2004 Nobel
Peace Prize Laureate. Born in Kenya in 1940, she fought
to be educated, eventually becoming head of the veterinary medical
faculty at the University of Nairobi. When she noticed her country’s
deforestation and increasing desertification, she decided to take
action by teaching women to plant trees. Her organization, The
Green Belt Movement, has assisted women in planting over
20 million trees in Kenya and all over East Africa. In 2003 she
was elected to Kenya’s Parliament, and last year she was recognized
with the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Maathai says, “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. . . so, protecting the global environment
is directly related to securing peace.”
Read the nomination letter from Susan
L.B. Jacobson, FASLA, and support letters from Kenneth
R. Brooks, ASLA, Sandra
J. Gonzalez, ASLA, and Patrick
A. Miller, FASLA.
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