Behold the 2004 GOLDMAN ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE WINNERS

A former middle school teacher who fought for environmental justice from Shell Chemical in her hometown of Norco, Louisiana, has been named the first African-American to receive the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. She joins two grassroots activists from Bhopal, India who have rallied the world in solidarity around Dow Chemical’s accountability for the world’s worst industrial disaster, and a brave Ghanaian public interest lawyer fighting the World Bank’s plan to privatize his country’s water supply. These activists are among the seven extraordinary recipients of the 15th annual Goldman Environmental Prize presented in San Francisco on April 19, 2004 and in Washington, D.C., on April 21, 2004.

The Goldman Environmental Prize, considered the “Nobel Prize for the Environment,” is given annually to grassroots environmental heroes from six geographic areas: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. (Two winners will share the Asia award this year.) The Prize includes a no-strings-attached award of $125,000, the largest of its kind. The Goldman Environmental Prize is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, and a survey of past recipients for the occasion revealed that their combined work has positively affected an estimated 102 million people worldwide.