Maathai closed her address with her beloved parable of the hummingbird and the forest fire — a story she told at graduations, conferences, and to world leaders throughout her career. In the story, a great forest catches fire and all the animals flee to the edge to watch in despair. Only the hummingbird acts, carrying tiny drops of water from a stream to the blaze while the other animals — some with much bigger beaks — stand on the sidelines discouraging it. When the other animals ask the hummingbird what it thinks it's doing, it replies without pausing: 'I'm doing the best I can.' For Maathai, this story captured the essence of her life's work. She had spent decades being told that one woman planting trees couldn't change anything — that deforestation was too vast, poverty too deep, corruption too entrenched. Her answer was always the same: do the best you can. That is all anyone can do.