In her native Kenya, Wangari Maathai has been arrested, beaten unconscious and called subversive. Last week, her fortunes took a different turn when she became the first environmental campaigner and the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On Saturday, Maathai talked with TIME's Stephan Faris under a tree outside the offices of her Green Belt Movement in Nairobi.
KOFI ANNAN, NELSON MANDELA, MOTHER TERESA, AND NOW YOU. HOW DOES IT FEEL?
It is the kind of...