The Goldman Environmental Prize, awarded to six grassroots environmental leaders from the six inhabited continents, was given to four women recipients on April 20th, 2009. The awards commend the women for their outstanding work in environmental activism, giving them not only recognition, but $150,000 to pursue their visions, the largest prize for environmental grassroots work. The female winners are:
North America: Maria Gunnoe of Bob White, West Virginia, activist against mountaintop removal mining and valley fill mining in Appalachia.
Asia: Rizwana Hasan of Dhaka, Bangladesh, fighting against Bangladesh's ship breaking industry.
Europe: Olga Speranskaya of Moscow Russia, leading a transformation of nongovernmental organizations into a force to address the issues of toxic chemicals in the region.
Islands: Yunyun Ismawati of Denpasar, Bali, creator of waste management programs that employ and empower the poor and protect the environment.
Past recipients of the prize, such as Wangari Maathai, have used the recognition and support to achieve great ends, in her case, creating the Green Belt movement which would eventually result in the ultimate recognition: the Nobel Peace Prize. Many others like Maathai are working to help the environment, the majority at a grassroot level.Richard Goldman, founder of the Goldman Environmental Prize, the environmental movement sees this situation like this: "By looking to the grassroots, where small-scale community and economic development is flourishing and networks of like-minded organisations are building real infrastructure, we may be able to find a new way forward built on community involvement and stability instead of a financial house of cards. " The 2009 recipients of the Goldman Environmental award indicate the immense passion and dedication that individuals have for the environmental cause as well as the female leaders that embody these traits and values.
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