I am reminded of a story told by Professor Wangari Maathai of a hummingbird trying to save a burning forest with drops of water carried on its beak, as larger animal forests watched. Bewildered at the hummingbird’s clearly futile efforts, the other animals ask the humming bird what she thought she was doing. Without stopping, the hummingbird says, “I am doing the best I can.”
And this is the way the Professor lived. She called herself a hummingbird, doing the...