Julia Bonds
A coal miner’s daughter, Julia “Judy” Bonds fought to end mountaintop removal coal mining that contaminates drinking water, destroys rivers and forests, increases asthma rates, and forces families to abandon their homes.
Sarah James & Norma Kassi & Jonathan Solomon
Gwich’in tribal leaders, Sarah James, Norma Kassi and Jonathon Solomon (d. 2006) defended the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling that targets the heart of the refuge’s wildlife habitat and coastal plain.
Jean La Rose
A key leader in the Amerindian struggle for full rights to traditional lands, Jean La Rose coordinated the first indigenous land rights lawsuit in Guyana to protect streams, rainforests and endangered indigenous communities harmed by mining.
Jacqui Katona & Yvonne Margarula
Jacqui Katona and Yvonne Margarula, both Aboriginal women, stopped a damaging uranium mine at Jabiluka, land traditionally owned by the Mirrar people and at the heart of Australia’s largest national park.
Ka Hsaw Wa
Ka Hsaw Wa fled Rangoon after being tortured for opposing a brutal military government and documented thousands of criminal and human rights abuses by the government related to construction of the Yadana petroleum pipeline.
Berito Kuwaru’wa
Berito Kuwaru’wa waged a nonviolent international campaign calling on multinational oil companies not to drill in the isolated, traditional homelands of his U’wa people, who consider oil to be the blood of Mother Earth.
Ken Saro-Wiwa
Ken Saro-Wiwa led a peaceful movement for the environmental and human rights of Nigeria’s Ogoni people whose oil-rich land has been exploited by multinational oil companies. The Nigerian government executed Saro-Wiwa in 1995.
John Sinclair
John Sinclair successfully stopped sand mining and logging of the unique rainforest on Fraser Island, the world’s largest sand island, off the coast of Queensland.
Helen Slottje
Using a clause in the state constitution that gives municipalities the right to make local land use decisions, Helen Slottje provided pro-bono legal assistance, helping towns across New York defend themselves from oil and gas companies by passing local bans on fracking.
Ramesh Agrawal
With a small internet café as his headquarters, Ramesh Agrawal organized villagers to demand their right to information about industrial development projects and succeeded in shutting down one of the largest proposed coal mines in Chhattisgarh.