Goldman Environmental Prize Blog

A federal district court in Washington state has found a CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) in violation of the Clean Water Act and is forcing it to implement stricter pollution monitoring programs. Manure (mixed with other waste) from CAFOs is often used as “fertilizers” on agricultural fields or stored in “manure lagoons.” These lagoons often…

Manana Kochladze, founder of Georgia’s largest environmental NGO, Green Alternative, won the Goldman Prize in 2004 for her precedent setting campaign against the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline. Today she celebrates a victory as Turkish investors pull out of the massive Namakhvan Cascade dam project. The project seeks to build three separate hydroelectric stations along the Rioni…

Honor and recognition keep pouring in for the late environmental hero Wangari Maathai. The 18th annual African Union Summit officially changed the name of “African Environment Day” to “Wangari Maathai Day.” The AU also created a new continental prize, the “Wangari Maathai Award for Outstanding Achievements in Environment and Biodiversity Conservation,” to promote conservation efforts…

As the global community gears up for the 2012 Olympic Games in London this summer, at least one country is struggling with the decision to participate amid news that Dow Chemical will be one of the Games’ main sponsors. In 1984, Union Carbide (now Dow Chemical) was responsible for a horrific gas leak at a…

In 2003 Von Hernandez won the Goldman Prize for his activism against toxic waste incineration in the Philippines. Thanks in part to his efforts, the Philippines became the first country ever to pass a nationwide ban on waste incineration with the Clean Air Act in 1999, followed shortly thereafter by the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act in…