We arrived in Pittsburgh from Boston on Wednesday evening, the 25th, to news that the city had seen snow flurries only a two nights before. The weather was cooler than Boston, although the leaves were far greener. The driver who met us at the airport said that Pittsburgh is a city of rivers. It has three of them. It’s also a city of bridges: 260, according to him, more than any city in the world apart from Venice. It’s also a sports town—apparently everyone from babies to grannies wears “Steelers” sweatshirts the Friday night before a football game. We weren’t there for a Friday, but our stay was eventful nonetheless.

Thursday morning, Wangari addressed the opening session of the Society of American Foresters annual meeting in the convention center. The room was vast, tented and cool, kind of like an airplane hanger. The U.S. national anthem was sung, a brass band played and then Prof gave a terrific speech that focused on the work of the Greenbelt Movement and its creation of a cadre of “foresters without diplomas.” At one point, Prof said how humbled she was for the first time to be speaking to foresters with diplomas—nearly 1,500 of them!

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