In the third and final part of our three part series on environmental justice and environmental racism, we hear from 2013 Goldman Prize winner Kimberly Wasserman about her successful campaign to shut down two of the country’s oldest and dirtiest coal plants that were polluting her Latino community of Little Village. She is now leading…
Last week we discussed how communities of color and low-income communities are more likely to live next to highly polluting facility and therefore bear a disproportionate burden of toxic contamination compared to whiter and more affluent communities. In the foreword written for Steve Lerner’s book on fenceline communities titled “Sacrifice Zones: The Front Lines of…
The problem of racial profiling in America relates to more than just police brutality and the senseless acts of violence that have recently captured the national spotlight. Race also plays a determining role in environmental policies regarding land use, zoning and regulations. As a result, African American, Latino, Indigenous and low-income communities are more likely…
2015 Goldman Prize winner Howard Wood spearheaded a campaign that established the first community-developed Marine Protected Area in Scotland. Just last week, Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, announced that a Marine Conservation Order (MCO) will be put before Scottish parliament setting out conservation measures that include banning the highly destructive…
As part of our pilot grant making program, the Goldman Prize recently awarded a grant to 1994 Goldman Prize winner Heffa Schucking and her organization Urgewald to support their campaign to influence European banks and government institutions to cease financing for coal related projects. Urgewald works to monitor the international environmental impacts of investments by…
A former chief of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation, 2015 Goldman Prize winner Marilyn Baptiste led her community in defeating one of the largest proposed gold and copper mines in British Columbia that would have destroyed Fish Lake—a source of spiritual identity and livelihood for the Xeni Gwet’in. In the Q&A below, we discuss the…
Goldman Prize Executive and Deputy Directors, David Gordon and Lorrae Rominger, recently attended the 4th Annual Green Asia Forum in Seoul, South Korea as part of the Goldman Prize’s pilot networking program. The annual Forum is organized by 1995 Goldman Prize winner Yul Choi and his organization the Korea Green Foundation (KGF). KGF has been…
2015 Goldman Prize winner Howard Wood spearheaded a campaign that established the first community-developed Marine Protected Area in Scotland, giving citizens a voice in a debate that has been dominated by the commercial fishing industry. On June 11, Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, announced that a Marine Conservation Order (MCO)…
Over the past two weeks we have spotlighted the growing threat of violence against environmental activists. Today we are exploring some of the recommendations put forward in Global Witness’s recent report and the steps the Goldman Prize has taken to defend Prize winners under threat. Global Witness recently stated, “The violence [against activists] is exacerbated…
After learning her own breast milk was making her baby sick—and realizing her child wasn’t the only one suffering from lead poisoning— 2015 Goldman Prize winner Phyllis Omido galvanized the community in Mombasa to shut down the smelter that was exposing people to dangerous chemicals. In this Q&A we discuss how she came to be…