Goldman Environmental Prize Blog

Dear friends, A challenging and unprecedented year, 2020 has dramatically highlighted our planet’s fragility and humans’ deep connection to nature. This year, more than ever, there is a great need to recognize our greatest environmental champions. I would like to invite you to join me and thousands of others in celebrating this year’s recipients of…

With the COVID-19 pandemic, political mayhem, and natural disasters, the US media has had its hands full with rapidly evolving events. Whereas last year, fires in the Amazon dominated headlines, in 2020 they have been one item on a long list of crises. I was starkly reminded of the Amazonian fires when indigenous Asháninka leader…

By Ellen Lomonico This Indigenous Peoples’ Day, learn how these five organizations are making a direct and positive impact on indigenous communities through grassroots activism. Located around the world, the following NGOs are either run or advised by past recipients of the Goldman Environmental Prize. 1. Central Asháninka del Río Ene (CARE) Led by Goldman Prize…

The Birth of a Movement “A march is not a movement.” “It’s just a point in time when people come together. Movements are everyday lived realities and processes. They are about change over time and not change through one moment.” Equating the development of a social movement to a tree’s strengthening roots (slow, sustained, and…

Despite dramatic differences in focus, tactics, and location (one in Germany and one in India), two Goldman Prize winners are united in their ongoing fight against a common enemy––coal. In 2019, the Goldman Environmental Foundation’s grantmaking program was thrilled to support the organizations of Heffa Schucking (Germany, 1994) and Ramesh Agrawal (India, 2014) in their…

Life on a Factory Farm “It’s like putting your head in a sewer pit.” 15 minutes into an interview with Lynn Henning (United States, 2010) this June, this statement stopped me in my tracks. Lynn described the stench that emanates from neighboring concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and wafts over to her backyard. There are…

Earlier this year, we made the extraordinary decision to postpone the announcement of the 2020 Goldman Environmental Prize. This unprecedented decision was not taken lightly; in our 30-year history, the Prize has been awarded each April, timed to coincide with Earth Day. 2020 has clearly been a year of firsts for all of us. We…

Eco-literacy books are on the rise for young readers, and it’s no wonder. With youth leaders like Greta Thunberg at the forefront of the climate change conversation, youths are becoming an increasingly outspoken and respected voice in the environmental moment. Riding this wave of awareness and eco-consciousness, publishers are seeing a rise in environmental children’s…

We are thrilled to launch our Prize Winners Today series, beginning this month with Eugène Rutagarama. Eugène won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2001 for helping to rebuild Rwanda’s national parks system and protecting gorilla habitat in the wake of war and genocide in his country. Today, Eugène serves as a senior conservation advisor to the…

From the remote Cook Islands to the lush rainforests of Brazil to the great cities of China, the geographic and cultural diversity of Goldman Environmental Prize winners is profound. All 194 recipients, who hail from 89 different countries, are united by their character: courage, persistence, compassion, love for community, and deep passion for the natural…