Jane Goodall - studied chimpanzees and has created community-centered conservation programs that not only protect chimpanzees of Gombe National Park in Tanzania, but also take into account the needs of the people crucial to their protection
Hayat Sindi - created low-tech diagnostic tools to aid in the improvement of healthcare in the world’s poorest communities, has a Cambridge University Ph.D. in biotechnology
Kakenya Ntaiya - teacher building the first school for girls in her rural Kenyan village, refuses to accept Maasai woman’s traditionally subservient role, hopes that expanding education and leadership opportunities for girls will also improve life for the entire village
Nalini Nadkarni - uses mountain climbing gear to climb into the rainforest canopies of Costa Rica and researches the threats of global warming
Sarah McNair-Landry - youngest person to ski to the South Pole, sledged to the North Pole, and crossed ~1,400 miles of the Greenland ice cap to draw attention to the dangers of global warming
Dian Fossey - studied endangered gorillas in the Virunga Volcanoes of Rwanda, her devotion to their care and protection cost her her life and she was probably murdered by poachers who she fought relentlessly.
I hope that one day I can be added to this list of incredible and inspiring women.
Photographs by Hugo Van Lawick, Kris Krug, Philip Scott Andrews, Michael and Patricia Fogden, John Stetson, Robert I. M. Campbell