ATLANTA, March 14, 2006— She is an international figure who has spread her green thumb across the globe. On Friday, March 24, Dr. Wangari Maathai, who is a visiting fellow at Yale University’s Global Institute for Sustainable Forestry, will share her message of global environmentalism during a special convocation at Morehouse College. She also will receive the prestigious honorary Doctor of Science degree.

Maathai, who is the founder of The Green Belt Movement in Kenya, has worked tirelessly over the past three decades to educate and encourage reforestation and environmental awareness through community organizations.
Since its inception, The Green Belt Movement has planted more than 30 million trees, protected parks and green spaces in Nairobi and established numerous tree nurseries throughout the continent of Africa.

Maathai is the first woman from Africa to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. As the Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources for Kenya and member of the Kenyan Parliament, Maathai has championed moving people into action to protect the environment.

In 2004, a group of Morehouse faculty and students, conscious of the devastation wrought by hurricanes in Haiti, began collaborating with the G.E.N.E.S.I.S. Project of Atlanta’s North Scale Institute. The project’s main focus is to promote agri-business as a foundation for African societies. During a United Nations meeting in September of 2005, the Morehouse group shared the G.E.N.E.S.I.S. Project goals with Maathai who, in turn, agreed to come to Atlanta to help inspire the Atlanta community to pick up their shovels to help nature restore our environment.

During her time in Atlanta, Maathai will participate in the following events:

Friday, March 24
Nurturing and Ensuring Our Future in Africa and Globally
Benefit Luncheon (by invitation only)
12:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Fernbank Museum of Natural Sciences
(Hosted by GoodWorks International Foundation and The Andrew Young Center for International Affairs at Morehouse College and Spelman College Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement)

Special Convocation
Morehouse College
Sale Hall Chapel for the Inward Journey (on the campus of Morehouse College)
4 p.m. (free and open to public)

Media Contact: Elise Durham, edurham@morehouse.edu

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