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Eight activists - including two crusading American journalists - were awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize at a ceremony in San Francisco, Calif., in April.
Grassroots environmentalists from six geographical categories each receive a no-strings award of $125,000.
The winners are as follows:
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Jane Akre and Steve Wilson, two television journalists in Florida, researched the potential health risks of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), the genetically modified hormone injected into U.S. dairy cows to stimulate milk production. The Fox network dropped their story - and ultimately fired them - when corporate ag giant Monsanto made threats.
African conservationist Eugene Rutagrama risked his life to save Rwanda's last 355 mountain gorillas. Forced to flee the country during the massacres of the 1990s, during which most of his family was killed, he returned to rebuild the national park system and protect the gorilla habitat.
Oscar Olivera is a Bolivian labor leader who fought for affordable, clean water when a consortium led by Italian-owned International Water Limited and U.S.-based Bechtel Enterprise Holdings bought his city's water system and raised rates. His actions forced the city to cancel the sale.
An indigenous woman of West Papua, Indonesia, Yosepha Alomang organized resistance to the destruction of the world's largest gold mining operations, set amidst rainforests. She has been detained and tortured for her activities.
Greek biologists Myrsini Malakou and Giorgos Catsadorakis led the charge to create a crucial wetlands conservation area adjacent to the borders of Albania and Macedonia. The three countries created the first trans-boundary protected area in the Balkans, better known for conflict than cooperation.
Bruno Van Peteghem of New Caledonia in the South Pacific is leading a campaign to place a large coral reef on the World's Heritage List to protect it from mining companies and their highly toxic practices.
For more about the winners, check www.goldmanprize.org.
Photo courtesy Goldman Prize.
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