25 Years of Grassroots Environmentalism

April 28, 2014 2:46 PM

The 2014 Goldman Environmental Prize winners were announced today. Known as the "Green Nobel", the Goldman Prize this year highlights grassroots champions working against industrial pollution, deforestation, dam-building, and legal land use. The awards ceremony will be streamed live on YouTube at 5:30 p.m. PDT.

The profile pages of each of this year's recipients include videos about their work.

Africa
Desmond D'Sa | South Africa

Asia
Ramesh Agrawal | India

Europe
Suren Gazaryan | Russia

Islands & Island Nations
Rudi Putra | Indonesia

North America
Helen Slottje | USA

South & Central America
Ruth Buendía | Peru

posted by HE Amb. T. S. L. DuVal (2 comments total)

I went down a rabbit hole yesterday trying to figure out who Richard and Rhoda Goldman were. There's not a lot of info out there but it sounds like he made his money in insurance and she was an (the?) heir to the Levi Strauss fortune. In this day and age it's really hard to imagine two rich people putting up who knows how much money to maintain an annual prize that gives so much for environmental work.

The Helen Slottje story is really great, and I had previously heard how local authorities realized they could successfully restrict fraking through zoning and land use back east but had never heard the back story. Lots of interesting historical stories here too, like Ken Saro-Wiwa who was framed for the murders of Ogoni chiefs (the tribe he had been mobilizing non-violently to stand up to Shell Oil) and was hanged in 1995, shortly after winning the prize.

As someone who works in the Environmental Field it's wierd that I've never heard of this. Thanks for posting it.
posted by Big_B at 9:07 AM on April 29, 2014

The Woman Who Breaks Mega-Dams: How to stop 7,200 megawatts of power with the force of law.
posted by homunculus at 12:14 AM on May 1, 2014