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Wanjira Maathai, the daughter of Kenyan environmental and political activist Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai had some strong words for the USA this week. In an interview with Democracy.org, she states that the USA should “Shape up or get out”. This was in reference to the current climate change conference going on in South Africa where the USA is thought to be stalling on signing a new climate change agreement to tackle global warming.

Africa has contributed least to the buildup of greenhouse gases globally, but will be in the frontline of the adverse effects of climate change.

AMY GOODMAN: And so, what do you say to the United States here?

WANJIRA MAATHAI: Shape up or get out. I mean, honestly. It’s just, the stalling of the negotiations is extremely depressing, because we—the United States should be providing the leadership, Canada, yet they’re really putting blocks on what would be for African nations a really life and death situation. And so, we really appeal to them. And yet—they never listen anyway, but we appeal to them to really look beyond their own selfish gains. They’re going to probably have to come to the rescue, if we get more famines of the scale that is in the Horn of Africa. So the devastation is not worth waiting for. Let’s act now.