Goldman Environmental Prize Blog

This year has been one of the most painful years for environmental activists, not least of all due to the devastating loss of Berta Cáceres and the terrible attacks on Máxima Acuña. Fellow Prize winners have stood behind and rallied to the defense of these women while making significant advances in their own work this…

Just before winning the Goldman Environmental Prize in April, we spoke to student activist Destiny Watford to learn how – together with student group Free Your Voice – she united her community to stop the nation’s largest incinerator from breaking ground near her high school in Curtis Bay, Baltimore. Building on her victory that has ended…

Program Officer Ryan looks back on his first encounter with 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize winner and undergraduate student Destiny Watford earlier this year.  I traveled to Baltimore, Maryland to meet Destiny who was born and raised in Curtis Bay, a highly industrialized community in south Baltimore. I caught up with Destiny on a brisk winter day outside of Benjamin Franklin High…

A few months before the Prize announcement in April, we got the chance to speak with environmental attorney Zuzana Čaputová who, for over a decade, fought to stop the illegal dumping of hazardous waste in her community. Zuzana not only succeeded in repealing a permit for a proposed landfill, but closed another that had been operating…

As you know, a large part of our mission at the Prize is to inspire others through celebrating and amplifying the voices of exceptional grassroots environmental activists around the world. Being part of our community and by sharing their stories via our blog and social media, you have been instrumental in bringing these activists to…

“I have ideas that I would like to see change the world.”  Here at the Prize, we are committed to honoring unsung heroes and marine biologist Bill Ballantine is no exception. On the anniversary of his passing, we celebrate this pioneer of marine conservation, whose legacy of marine reserves continues to protect much of our…

Program officer Lindsey Freedman looks back on her first meeting with 2016 Goldman Prize winner Zuzana Čaputová earlier this year. Zuzana is a public interest lawyer who mobilized the largest citizen’s campaign in her country in almost 30 years, stopping their home from being used as a dumping ground for much of Europe’s waste. It…

The Goldman Prize winner community has joined together to issue the following statement in solidarity with fellow Prize recipient Máxima Acuña, following an attack on her earlier this month, allegedly by security forces of the mining company that she is bravely standing up to: We demand respect and the safety of Máxima Acuña, a Member of our Family. We…

Six months ago, the inspirational Lenca leader Berta Cáceres was assassinated by armed intruders in her home in Honduras. Since then, five people have been detained for her murder, with no trial date yet set. Despite this, her family has been advocating for an independent investigation into her death which her daughter, Berta Zúñiga Cáceres, believes was orchestrated by the company that planned to build…

The Goldman Environmental Foundation is gravely concerned by yesterday’s reports about an attack against 2016 Goldman Prize winner Máxima Acuña and her husband. While the details are not clear, we know that Ms. Acuña sustained injuries that required hospitalization. We wish her a speedy and full recovery. We denounce any acts of violence that were…