Photo by Picography
The Goldman Environmental Prize is the world’s largest and most prestigious annual award for grassroots environmentalists. It is sometimes referred to as the “Green Nobel” award. This is the Prize’s 22nd year.
A description of the Prize from the Goldman Environmental
Prize website: “The Prize recognizes individuals for sustained and
significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment,
often at great personal risk. Each winner receives an award of $150,000,
the largest award in the world for grassroots environmentalists. The
Goldman Prize views ‘grassroots’ leaders as those involved in local
efforts, where positive change is created through community or citizen
participation in the issues that affect them. Through recognizing these
individual leaders, the Prize seeks to inspire other ordinary people to
take extraordinary actions to protect the natural world.”
The Goldman Prize ceremony (which is held in San Francisco) is one of
the best events I attend every year. The recipients are models of
courage, and their stories are powerful, moving, and inspiring. This year’s six
prize winners (one from each of the six inhabited continental regions)
are:
- Hilton Kelley (Port Arthur, TX, USA)
- Francisco Pineda (El Salvador)
- Ursula Sladek (Germany)
- Dmitry Lisitsyn (Russia)
- Prigi Arisandi (Indonesia)
- Raoul du Toit (Zimbabwe)
Click on each recipient’s name to read about—and watch a brief video
about—their remarkable and selfless efforts and achievements.
Last year’s recipient from the U.S. was Lynn Henning,
a family farmer in Michigan, who “exposed the egregious polluting
practices of livestock factory farms in rural Michigan, gaining the
attention of the federal EPA and prompting state regulators to issue
hundreds of citations for water quality violations.”
Miriam Landman is an accomplished writer, editor, and sustainability advisor with expertise in green living, green building, and sustainable communities. For daily links to sustainable solutions and success stories, connect to her Facebook page for The Green Spotlight.
