I attended a lecture by Dr. Wangari Maathai this evening. Dr. Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work on the environment and human rights in Africa. She is an amazing speaker and has a great way of making very complex issues very accessible, often with a little humor. Her talk covered everything from water challenges to women in development. A common theme was how people need to work together as communities to solve problems. She also emphasized the importance of education often. She ended by reading several passages from her recent book "Unbowed" which again as both touching and humorous. I was honored to attend a reception for Dr. Maathai last night at the offices of NBBJ where I had an opportunity to chat with Cecile Hansen, Chairperson of the Duwamish Tribe. She too has an amazing outlook on the challenges facing our world and also employs a lot of humor when discussing how we can work together to improve the world. I've heard Ms. Hansen speak and lead ceremonies many times so it was wonderful to be able to sit down and chat with her.
