Unbowed

Maathai employs the metaphor of a river, fed by different streams, to explain the origins of her Green Belt Movement: “A great river always begins somewhere. Often it starts as a tiny spring bubbling up from a crack in the soil […] But for a stream to grow into a river, it must meet other tributaries and join them as it heads for a lake or the sea” (119). In this case, the different streams that led to the creation of her movement are her academic work, her feminism, and her environmentalism. She has previously been involved with the National Council of Women of Kenya and the Environmental Liaison Centre, organizations focused on the needs of women and the necessity of protecting the environment.

The Green Belt Movement later becomes a stream itself, feeding the larger river of Maathai’s activism. While Maathai remains engaged in the Movement, she also involves herself in fighting for more democratic representation in Kenya and defending mothers with sons who have been imprisoned for their own political activism. Such commitments illustrate her belief that protecting the environment is inextricable from protecting human rights.