The world lost a remarkable person when Wangari Maathai, 71, died of ovarian cancer on Sunday. Wangari founded the Green Belt Movement, an effort to reforest her native Kenya by paying poor women to plant trees. In 2004, she became the first African woman in history to win the Nobel Peace Prize. On the international stage, she helped cement the connection between environmental protection and peace-making, human rights and security.

Today we revisit a conversation we had four years ago with Wangari. In this interview, she talks to Jerome about her autobiography Unbowed, which recounts her string of triumphs and periods of struggle.

Listen to Wangari Maathai’s entire interview from November 26, 2007: