This year's Peace Nobel

There's been some criticism of the Nobel committee for picking "an environmentalist" for this politically charged prize. But it seems that such criticism is misplaced, for Wangari Maathai is really an "ecofeminist" who has been motivated by the plight of women in Kenya and its relationship to deforestation there. She's the kind of trouble-maker working for huge systemic change that is exactly up the alley of Peace Prizes to date. Alas has a nice summary of her work compiled from several sources -- it's hard to pick an excerpt, but this one is pretty sweet:

I'm sick and tired of men who are so incompetent that every time they feel the heat because women are challenging them, they have to check their genitalia to reassure themselves. I'm not interested in that part of the anatomy. The issues I'm dealing with require the utilisation of what's above the neck. If you don't have anything there, leave me alone.'