Happy Thought for 1 May 2026

Have a Happy Thought:

For Earth Day (March 22^nd) this year, six women were awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, long called the “Green Nobel Prize”.

The Goldman Environmental Prize honors the achievements and leadership of grassroots environmental activists from around the world, inspiring all of us to take action to protect our planet.

The prize goes to six people each year, representing the six inhabited regions:

Image: representation of the six regions for prize consideration: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands & Island Nations, North America, South & Central America. Source: Overview of the Prize - Goldman Environmental Prize

While this is the first time that all six winners are women, this prize has a much more equal gender ratio than the Nobel Prize:

Goldman (Green Nobel): 112 women out of 239 total

Nobel Prize (all fields): 64 women out of 967 total

 

All that aside, the real story is the amazing work that these humans have led:

·      Iroro Tanshi of Nigeria built a community-led wildfire prevention system to protect rainforest, and the only habitat of the endangered short-tailed roundleaf bat.

Image: Iroro Tanshi and team members set a trap at a bat survey site in Odukpani, Cross River State (Photo: Etinosa Yvonne for the Goldman Environmental Prize)

·      Borim Kim of South Korea channelled the voice of a generation through the Youth 4 Climate Action movement… securing Asia’s first youth-led constitutional climate victory

·      Sarah Finch of England helped secure an historic UK Supreme Court ruling, requiring fossil fuel projects to account for their full climate impact – a ruling that will reverberate in environmental law around the world

·      Theonilia Roka Matbob of Papua New Guinea compelled mining giant Rio Tinto to acknowledge responsibility for decades of environmental and social harm, launching the clean-up of its abandoned copper mine.

Image: https://youtu.be/NNIIZFi0SLY / Goldman Environmental Prize

·      Alanna Acaq Hurley of the United States and the Yup’ik Nation helped mobilise 15 Indigenous nations, Alaskans and NGOs to defeat what would have been North America’s largest open-pit mine – securing an historic EPA veto that protects 25 million acres of salmon-rich wilderness.

Image: Alanna Acaq Hurley in Bristol Bay, Alaska (Photo: Goldman Environmental Prize)

·      Yvelis Morales Blanco of Columbia helped prevent fracking and defended the venerated Magdalena River

Image: Yuvelis Morales Blanco along the Magdalena River (Photo: Christian EscobarMora for the Goldman Environmental Prize)

It is very worth clicking on any of the links above to read more and be inspired by these women and the movements they represent.