NEW YORK – Nobel Peace Laureate, Dr. Wangari Maathai will tour the East Coast of the United States from September 22 to October 8, 2008. The tour will take her from the country’s largest metropolis to the core of America’s heartland.

Dr. Maathai, founder of Nairobi-based non-profit organization Green Belt Movement (GBM), will spend her first two days in New York City at a roundtable discussion by Avoided Deforestation Partners with fellow Nobel Peace Laureate and former Vice President, Al Gore.

Dr. Maathai will also speak at the annual meeting of the Synergos Institute and participate in workshops on poverty reduction strategies in Africa.

From September 24-26, Dr. Maathai will participate in the Clinton Global Initiative’s 3rd Annual Meeting. The meeting will bring together a diverse group of world leaders to examine today’s most pressing global challenges and transform that awareness into tangible commitments to action. The program will concentrate on four focus areas: education, energy & climate change, global health, and poverty alleviation. Maathai will be part of a panel on the Global Impact of Rural Innovation.

On September 30, Dr. Maathai will address students and faculty at St. John’s School of Theology (Collegeville, MN) where she will receive the Dignitas Humana Award. Dr. Maathai will also address students at Oklahoma City University on Oct 1.

In Washington, DC on October 6, Dr. Maathai will attend a public viewing of a new award-winning documentary (Marlboro Productions, Vermont) about her life and work entitled Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai (takingrootfilm.org). The documentary will be followed by a question & answer session with Prof. Maathai and filmmakers Alan Dater & Lisa Merton.