You cannot protect the environment unless you empower people, you inform them, and you help them understand that these resources are their own, that they must protect them.

When people can't use you, they ridicule what you represent. I was lucky that I understood that, because when one does not understand that, it is very easy to be broken and to be subdued.

No matter who or where we are, or what our capabilities, we are called to do the best we can.

We can love ourselves by loving the earth.

It's very important to remain optimistic and to see the silver lining in everything you do. Because no matter how sometimes things look difficult, and look like there is no hope, there is always a small glimmering of silver lining that is in everything, and I always look for that, and hang on that, and before I know it, another day comes and is gone.

Education, if it means anything, should not take people away from the land, but instill in them even more respect for it, because educated people are in a position to understand what is being lost. The future of the planet concerns all of us, and all of us should do what we can to protect it. As I told the foresters, and the women, you don't need a diploma to plant a tree.

It is important to nurture any new ideas and initiatives which can make a difference for Africa.