Goldman Environmental Prize Blog

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a new report detailing the significant impact climate change is already having on the Earth’s continents and ocean systems and warns that things are going to get worse unless greenhouse gas emissions are quickly brought under control. The report warned that poor and marginalized communities…

1997 Goldman Prize winner Alexander Nikitin was awarded the Prize for revealing the potential for a nuclear catastrophe due to Russia’s aging nuclear submarines based near the Norwegian border. Until 1985 Alexander Nikitin was a naval captain in the Soviet Northern Fleet, where he served as chief engineer on nuclear powered submarines. From 1987 to…

In a recent article from the Guardian, 2006 Goldman Prize winner Silas Siakor called on the EU to take action against member states that have not yet implemented a law designed to curb illegal logging. New research from the environmental group Client Earth reveals that only ten EU member states (Austria, Denmark, Croatia, Germany, Cyprus,…

When Rwanda’s bloody civil war broke out in the 1990’s, conservationist Eugène Rutagarama risked his life to ensure the safety of the world’s last remaining mountain gorillas. At that time, only about 650 mountain gorillas existed worldwide, over half of which lived in the Volcano National Park in the Virungas mountains straddling Rwanda, Uganda, and…

Goldman Prize winners Jonathan Deal (2013) and Ikal Angelei (2012) recently attended the Climate Reality Project training program in Johannesburg, South Africa as guest speakers. The three-day intensive training program, held March 12-14, was designed to “equip individuals from Africa and around the globe with the communications skills, knowledge, tools and drive to educate and…

Olya Melen, an environmental lawyer, was awarded the Goldman Prize in 2006 for using legal channels to temporarily halt construction on a deep-water shipping channel that would have destroyed fragile ecosystems in the heart of the Danube Delta, one of the most valuable wetlands in the world. At the time, Melen was working at for…

Last week, Goldman Prize winners Kimberly Wasserman (2013) and Maria Gunnoe (2009) joined Goldman Prize Board members John and Doug Goldman for “The Goldman Prize at 25,” a public event at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco. In the first half of the two part program, John and Doug Goldman discussed the history…

Maria Gunnoe was awarded the Goldman Prize in 2009 for leading a campaign against the environmentally devastating practice of mountaintop removal coal mining (MTR). In the five years since winning the Prize, Gunnoe’s fight has continued to gain momentum, resulting in regional mine closures and stricter regulations for the industry. In the excerpts below, Gunnoe…

The Goldman Prize recently had the opportunity to engage with local students from Creative Arts Charter School in San Francisco. Liz Means, Communications Coordinator at the Prize, was invited to the school to give a presentation about the history of the Goldman Prize, grassroots environmental activism and the work of the Prize winners. Means introduced students…

1995 Goldman Prize winner Noah Idechong, hailing from the island nation of Palau, recently stopped by the Goldman Prize office in San Francisco, where he gave us a great update on his work and what he has been up to since winning the Prize almost 20 years ago. Palau is an archipelago of 340 islands…