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 [log in to unmask] http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog