wfn.org | ELCA Colleges Host 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 25, 2006  

ELCA Colleges Host 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai
06-011-FI

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace
Prize Laureate, will be the featured speaker during the 18th
annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum held March 10-11 at Luther
College, Decorah, Iowa.  The 2006 forum, "Striving for Peace:
Sustaining the Planet," will focus on threats to peace posed by
environmental degradation and on the importance of grassroots
development and individual efforts.
     Maathai, a former biology professor, founded the Green Belt
Movement -- a nongovernmental organization based in Kenya that
focuses on environmental conservation, community development and
capacity building -- in 1977 under the auspices of the National
Council of Women of Kenya.  Maathai is now an assistant minister
for environment and natural resources in the Kenyan government.
     "Although initially the Green Belt Movement's tree planting
activities did not address issues of democracy and peace, it soon
became clear that responsible governance of the environment was
impossible without democratic space.  Therefore, the tree became
a symbol for the democratic struggle in Kenya," Maathai said when
she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.
     "Entire communities also come to understand that while it is
necessary to hold their governments accountable, it is equally
important that, in their own relationships with each other, they
exemplify the leadership values they wish to see in their own
leaders, namely justice, integrity and trust," Maathai said.
     Maathai is to address the forum's opening plenary session.
     Christine Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey, will
also address a plenary session of the forum.  Whitman, president
of The Whitman Strategy Group, Gladstone, N.J., served as
administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, 2001-2003.
     Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious
Disease Research and Policy and professor in the School of Public
Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, will address the
forum's closing plenary session.  He served as a special advisor
to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on issues
related to bioterrorism and public health preparedness, 2001-
2005.
     The Nobel Peace Prize Forum is held in cooperation with the
Norwegian Nobel Institute and five colleges of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America (ELCA):  Augsburg College,
Minneapolis; Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D.; Concordia
College, Moorhead, Minn.; Luther College; and St. Olaf College,
Northfield, Minn.  It is the Norwegian Nobel Institute's only
such program or academic affiliation outside of Norway.
     The five colleges were founded by Norwegian immigrants.
They have sponsored the forum on their campuses since 1989 to
recognize Norway's international peace efforts and to offer the
general public opportunities to hear Nobel Peace Prize laureates,
diplomats and scholars involved in peacemaking, including, in
previous years, Jimmy Carter, Rigoberta Menchu, Oscar Arias
Sanchez and Elie Wiesel.
     The Rev. Susan R. Briehl, project associate on Education and
Formation of People in Faith, Valparaiso University, will preach
during a Saturday morning worship service.  Briehl is currently
Distinguished Professor of the Art of Ministry, Wartburg
Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, one of eight ELCA
seminaries.
     Other speakers include Robert Jacobel, chair of the Physics
Department, St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.; Frederick
Kirschenmann, distinguished fellow at the Leopold Center for
Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University, Ames; Andrea
Olsen, professor of dance and faculty member in the Environmental
Studies Program at Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vt.; Chad
Pregracke, founder and president of Living Lands & Waters, East
Moline, Ill.; and Frances Seymour, founding director of the
Institutions and Governance Program at World Resources Institute,
Washington, D.C.
     On Friday four concurrent sessions will focus on water,
climate, food security and embodiment -- "the personal
landscape."
     Thirty-one seminars will be offered twice on Saturday.
Topics include: "Global Climate Change: The Scientific Basis and
Policy Discussion," "The World Bank: Ally or Enemy in the
Struggle for Sustainability?" and "Caring for Creation: Doing
Agriculture as Conquerors or Citizens."
     A peace fair will showcase organizations involved in
peacemaking efforts around the world.  An ethnic arts festival
will celebrate the global community through music, dance, food
and displays.
     Luther College is an undergraduate liberal arts institution
of 2,600 students.  Founded in 1861, the college offers more than
60 majors and pre-professional and certificate programs leading
to the Bachelor of Arts degree.
-- -- --
     Details about the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Forum are at
http://peaceprizeforum.luther.edu/ on the Internet.  Information
about the 28 colleges and universities of the ELCA is at
http://www.ELCA.org/colleges/college.html on the ELCA Web site.
     More about Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai and the Green Belt
Movement are at http://www.wangarimaathai.com/ on the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news
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