"I want to prioritize the climate agenda and have it as the first point of discussion before someone speaks about poverty eradication. I want to ensure we have discussions about how climate change is affecting other spheres, including water shortage or lack of access to clean and safe water, food insecurity, health and more. I believe the environment is at the center of economic development and social issues. I will not rest until these conversations are had in political spaces and the work is done."

"Pick what you are passionate about, read about it online, engage people in the same space and always know that the problem is that challenge you want to solve and it’s not a competition."

"She took to the 48-hours tree hugging marathon to raise awareness about the profound impact of tree hugging on mental and emotional wellbeing."

"We must come back to nature.Conservation begins with love. We must nurture a million people who care before we plant a million trees."

""I want to inspire people to fall in love with nature and treat it with care. Conservation begins with love. Nowadays, there are many tree-planting initiatives, but people often replace indigenous forests with saplings, believing that is mitigation, yet it is not. We must first protect what we already have."

"African entrepreneurs thrive when communities grow more resilient, and ecosystems are restored... Let's empower youth for climate action."

"Youth empowerment is more than a passion—it's a lever for lifting communities out of poverty."

"If you're bringing value to the table, anyone will listen to you. Competency is critical—young people must be empowered to present themselves and pitch their ideas, not just do the research."

"Collaboration is everything. The answers and solutions to our problems lie in the people next to us. The only difference between stagnation and progress is our willingness to collaborate."

"We have the solutions to our African problems."

"Service to environment and community is a calling—one I do wholeheartedly."

"Turning environmental liabilities into livelihoods—that's the heart of innovation. Every challenge is an opportunity to empower communities."

"Plastics. We can't live with them, can't live without them… it's a tough relationship. That's the challenge HyaPak is taking on."

"We hope that we can create a solution right here in Kenya that can be replicated across the world and simultaneously create ripple benefits for other countries faced by similar problems."

"One of Kenya's green heroes, turning environmental problems into opportunities for community empowerment."

"A leader committed to empowering communities through climate action and sustainable entrepreneurship."

"Joseph Nguthiru is transforming invasive water hyacinth into biodegradable packaging, demonstrating how innovation can simultaneously address environmental and socioeconomic challenges."

"Circular Economy Advocate - Developed scalable models for waste-to-value systems across East Africa"

"Green Jobs Creator - Established training programs and employment opportunities in the green economy for Kenyan youth"

"HyaPak Innovation - Pioneered biodegradable plastics from water hyacinth, transforming an environmental liability into sustainable packaging"

"Obama Foundation Leader (2023) - Selected as an emerging leader in Africa"

"UNEP Young Champion of the Earth (2025) - Recognized by the United Nations Environment Programme for innovative climate solutions"

"Sustainability is not just about protecting the environment but transforming livelihoods and building a future where opportunities are created for all."

"Mountains reveal our strength, and the view reminds us the journey matters."

"We asked for growth, so life gave discomfort. We begged for success, so it demanded we sacrifice. Can't have one without the other."

"You cannot employ people without skills, so you train people on green economy skills and then take them up."

"If you start talking about climate change, your average viewer will only think about planting trees, but there is so much more. Let's learn new models, apply technology, and reimagine what's possible."

"Anybody who's working with these issues — biodiversity, climate change, and the underlying drivers of it — realize the interconnectedness of it,"

"If you look at the way the world operates, it’s almost blind to the fact that women bear the biggest burden and brunt of climate change."

"If we really care about biodiversity, if we really care about carbon that is in the peatlands, if we really care about the Indigenous people, why are we not putting our money where our mouths are?"

"It's never a bad thing to fight for what is right."

"Being an environmental activist is a lifetime commitment, that requires resilience and a strong support system. Right Livelihood Award"

"Our goal is to challenge the state to enforce the Constitution and the private actors to respect their business and human rights responsibilities, but also to give a voice to those who are systematically not listened to."

"Plastic waste is not just a Kenya problem, but it's a worldwide problem."

"I feel so proud knowing I am building something useful out of waste."

"It is absurd that we still have this problem of providing decent shelter – a basic human need,plastic is a material that is misused and misunderstood. the potential is enormous, but its after life can be disastrous."

"What if we could turn this plastic waste into something useful?"

"Plastic waste is everywhere and it’s not going anywhere. The question is what we do with it. What you see as waste, I see as the foundation for something greater."

"I was tired of being on the sidelines."

"For me, I was just tired of being on the sidelines of seeing plastic. I really jumped in, off a cliff without a parachute. I was building it as I was falling down but isn't that how great things are done? So act for nature."

"We decided what more can we do instead of just sitting in the sidelines and complaining. Essentially, companies have to pay to dispose the waste, so we solved their problem."

"The same [threat] exists in Ethiopia — we cannot ignore that this is an area where communities are also struggling for resources. The communities live a way of life that is like a typical African three-legged stool. They depend on subsistence farming; they depend on fishing; and they depend on pastoralism. If you reduce the floods, it damages their subsistence farming, which is very key to their normal way of life… If you remove one leg, the stool really cannot balance."

"There’s conflict between the Turkana and Dassanach in Kenya, and the Turkana and the Dassanach across the border… People used to talk about traditional raids. It’s no longer that. People are now well armed and it depends on who has more bullets than the other.There’s absolutely no way that dam can go on and the people in Turkana will survive."

"You cannot say ‘development’ is telling people that your way of life doesn’t work anymore,Yes, I think it is a human rights abuse and an environmental abuse."

"People always say, “Oh, we are controlling the flooding.” But you cannot alter nature; you cannot fight nature… Lake Turkana doesn’t have an outlet; it is a closed lake. So it depends on that balance of inflow versus evaporation. If you reduce that inflow, the level of evaporation increases. Once you have altered the balance of the lake, you have damaged the ecosystem completely."

"I found it curiously exciting to hear an account of the Benin massacre of 1897 and its sequel from one who had taken part. It is a story that still has power to amaze and horrify, as well as to remind us that the British had motives for pushing into Africa other than the intention to exploit the natives and glorify themselves."

"How much does one imagine, how much observe? One can no more separate those functions than divide light from air, or wetness from water."

"Nothing happened — and that's the way to tell a true story from a made-up one. A made-up story always has a neat and tidy end. But true stories don't end, at least until their heroes and heroines die, and not then really because the things they did and didn't do, sometimes live on."