The House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources recently hosted a hearing in West Virginia to discuss the impact of coal mining regulations in Appalachia. While floor time was dominated by political supporters of the coal mining industry, environmental activists Maria Gunnoe and Bo Webb got a chance to represent the real voices of families…
We were terribly saddened to receive news this morning about the passing of Wangari Maathai. As a life so full would have it, she held numerous honors and distinctions. We were honored to recognize her with the 1991 Goldman Environmental Prize and will forever be inspired by her unwavering commitment to the environment and social…
Bruno Van Peteghem, 2001 Goldman Environmental Prize winner for Islands and Island Nations, celebrated a victory as the French government recently adopted a nation-wide ban on hydraulic fracturing, a controversial natural gas extraction method frequently known as “fracking.” Peteghem and the team at Association Toxicologie-Chime (ATC), an organization that consults businesses and citizens about toxic…
After months of consulting with the environment and finance ministries, Governor Khoroshavin recently signed an order that clears the way to develop nature preserves in the Sakhalin region. 2011 Goldman Prize winner Dmitry Lisitsyn, along with his wife Natalya and other leaders, have spent the better part of this year meeting with policymakers to develop…
Ursula Sladek will be featured on “Need to Know,” the PBS news and public affairs program. The segment is produced by investigative journalist Marjorie McAfee, who has also covered Feliciano Dos Santos for PBS Frontline and features footage from the Mill Valley Film Group. The piece will air on Friday, August 26 on various PBS…
Last night, CNN aired “Battle for Blair Mountain: Working in America,” a documentary piece on coal mining hosted by Soledad O’Brien. While the piece makes an effort to represent both sides of the issue, it leaves out a critical voice: Appalachian families whose health and livelihoods have been in steady decline because of mountaintop removal…
1994 Goldman Prize winner Laila Iskandar and her Cairo-based NGO, the Spirit of Youth Association (SYA), saw an opportunity in Egypt’s recent political uprising to raise awareness about the importance of proper waste management. They set up shop in the now infamous Tahrir Square, installing a total of 50 containers on each corner of the…
We were thrilled to hear yesterday’s announcement: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is donating $50 million to their campaign to eliminate the dirtiest coal-fired power plants. The funding will provide a huge boost to the Sierra Club’s grassroots anti-coal movement, and represents a huge victory for Judy Bond (2003) and Maria Gunnoe (2009)’s fight to…
2011 Goldman Prize winner Prigi Arisandi and his team at ECOTON have been busily casting their nets in and out of the Surabaya River to take stock of the local fish habitat. They recently released findings from this population survey and are taking them to the government to develop sustainable river management policies. The study…
Last week marked an important victory for Hilton Kelly (2011) and the fight for clean air and pollution control. On Thursday, July 7, the EPA announced new regulations known as the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that will force hundreds of power plants to reduce harmful emissions known to cause illnesses in downwind communities. Hilton Kelly…