While taking this Earth Day to punctuate our appreciation for the our entire planet may seem a stingy expression of gratitude for Mother Earth that sustains all life, it is a great day to take a pause and honor those people who have dedicated their lives to honor Her – every day. In this we had a great opportunity on Monday, at the Goldman Environmental Prize. This prize culminates in annual event – which has been celebrating it for the last 37 years. Each year the Goldman Family recognizes six environmental activists – one from each continent, who have gone to extraordinary lengths to organize their communities, and turned the tides on what had seemed like inevitable resource-extraction-caused environmental destruction.
Saving rivers, rain forests, lakes, mountains, and the ocean from mining, clear-cutting, polluting factories, industrial farming, and so many other misguided attempts to grind up our planet and turn it into money. These environmental heroes, in addition to often facing “purchased” governmental indifference, often also risk facing corporate violence.
This year was a Goldman “first:” It was the first ceremony in 37 years that all of the recipients were women(!).
Sarah Finch from England, organized her community toward prevailing in a Supreme Court ruling that requires fossil fuel companies to account for all of their environmental damages – not just the operational damages. The resulting “Finch Ruling” states that “authorities must consider the downstream impacts that fossil fuels will have on the global climate before granting permission to extract them.”
Borim Kim from Korea, organized “기후를 위한 ì²ë…„” (Youth for Climate) in which the Constitutional Court “found the government’s climate policy to be in violation of the constitutional rights of future generations, mandating the creation of legally binding emissions reduction targets…”
Yuvelis Morales Blanco mobilized her community in Puerto Wilches, Colombia, preventing the introduction of fracking in the nation. Iroro Tanshi from Nigeria set up a citizen and community infrastructure to address, prevent, and abate human-induced wildfires that have been exacerbated by climate change.
(Do you perceive a fossil-fueled theme here?)
Iroro Tanshi’s work compelled Rio Tinto – the world’s second largest mining company (ironic name, BTW), to clean up the toxic wastes they left behind when they abandoned their operations in Papua New Guinea 35 years ago.
All of these women’s work teared me up. People showing their deep love for our planet, and dedicaing their lives to making it better – always shining light into the shadow of those who have focused their businesses into making it worse.
But I was most moved to tears by the work of Yup’ik leader Alannah Acaq Hurley, of Bristol Bay, Alaska, who, acting on behalf of the 15 area tribes, halted the development of the Pebble Mine. Seeking copper and gold, this proposed mine would be the largest open-pit mine on the planet.
(For those not familiar with mining; desired metals are not extracted as nuggets out of the earth; rather they come up as ore, which is then drenched in acids to extract the desired metals. The biproduct of this are acidic “mine tailings” which end up in “tailing ponds” which will sooner or later find their way into flowing water – destroying over time all of the relationships that these tribes have had with life on the land and in the sea since the beginning of time. Their salmon relatives would be the first to go, cascading into Bristol Bay becoming industrial waste-waters.)
All for what?
(Pebble Mine permits are still “live” so she is seeking signatures in support of her work letting regulators and administrators know how many people object to the mine, and support what they are doing:
So this Earth Day, let us honor those who have dedicated their lives to our beautiful planet.
Earth from Artemis II