The “Green Nobel”

On Monday, in San Francisco, the annual winners of the Goldman Prize were announced.  Known as the “Green Nobel,” the Goldman Prize is awarded each year to a select group of environmental activists from disparate regions of the world who have made a profound difference in their communities by defending the environment.

This year’s awardee representing the United States is Linda Garcia of Vancouver, who successfully fought the establishment of what would have been North America’s largest oil-by-rail terminal in her neighborhood of Fruit Valley in Vancouver, Washington.  Originally touted as a means to bring jobs to the area, in the end, even the Governor of Washington agreed that the trade-offs in terms of environmental degradation and carcinogens were simply too great.

Another Goldman Prize awardee, Alfred Brownell, currently resides in the U.S. while in exile from Liberia.  A lawyer by training, Brownell has devoted his life to combating the rampant deforestation and ravaging of indigenous communities by corporations growing commercial oil palm.  

Both Garcia in the U.S. and Brownell in Liberia experienced death threats as a result of their campaigns.  For Brownell, the threats became so serious that he was forced to flee Liberia with his family.  Safety is a real issue for these human rights defenders, and all are aware that the threats are likely to increase as their success increases.  In fact, one recent Goldman Prize winner, Berta Caceres, was murdered just a year after winning the prize.

For both Garcia and Brownell, however, their environmental activism is about protecting human rights as much as the natural world — the right to fair procedures in land acquisition, the right to be consulted about development issues, and the right to live in a clean, natural environment.  At a time when so little about our US government invokes inspiration, these individuals demonstrate that a lot is happening under the surface, close to the grassroots where it may be less visible nationally or internationally. 

The Goldman Prize does us all a great service by lifting up and honoring these grassroots activists as an inspiration to all.