Every sentient being on the planet, with the dubious exception of the MAGA cult —are they sentient? — knows our earth is in crisis. The Christofascists appear to believe that they have dominion over every other species on the planet, just as they somehow believe that they can rule and abuse all of the people. Combined with the endless greed and destruction of late capitalism, we face huge storms, flooding, heat waves, and terribly damaging overproduction of plastics and other toxins, among other issues. And we have a truly insane Dear Leader, who has some of the stupidest and strangest notions about the environment imaginable: wind turbines cause cancer, Canada has a huge faucet they can turn to send water to a parched California during droughts, but those meanie Canadians have not sent the big strong men to turn the faucet.

However, we the people are not without resources, and we are not going to cede an inch of our precious planet without a fight — pretty much the fight of our lifetimes. One organization, out of the many amazing and hard working environmental advocacy groups that award activists for courage, is the Goldman Prize. Since 1989, the Goldman Prize has rewarded exclusively tireless, unsung heroes of the environment. Rhonda and Richard Goldman created an award that honors the global nature of the environmental movement. They reward only grassroots activists: no professors, no writers, no NGO higher ups. The awards are given to one or two persons who have worked in each geographical area that the prize has designated: one for each of six inhabited regions of the world.

Jennifer Goldman Wallis, vice president of the foundation:

“It’s been a tough year for both people and the planet. There’s so much that worries us, stresses us, and keeps us divided. However, for me, these environmental leaders and teachers- and the global community that supports them – are the antidote.”

And the stories of these prize winners, as with those from the past decades of awards, are truly inspiring.

The 2025 Goldman Prize winners:

In 2019, Tunisian businesses agreed to a massive shipment of recyclables from Italy. Oops, it was actually 282 containers full of household garbage. Semia Gharbi, the founder of Green Tunisia Network, was not having it. He worked tirelessly, and actually got the trash sent back to Italy, helped in the firing of 40 corrupt officials in the EU and in Tunisia, and pushed the EU to better regulate shipments of waste to poorer countries.

Mongolia has some amazing nature and Batmunkh Luvsandash, an 81-year-old electrical engineer from a family of nomadic herders was concerned with the growing mining interests in his very wild area of the Eastern Gobi. Luvsandash was able to spearhead a movement to protect a 66,000 acre area from extractive industries, and link it to an large area he and his group had already preserved.

Besjana Guri and Olsi Nika led the fight to protect a natural river from plans to build 45 dams, endangering much of the aquatic life. They managed to preserve the river, making it the first in not only Albania, but in Europe, to be allowed to run in its wild state, helping to create the Vjosa Wild River National Park.

Carlos Mallo Molina was working as a civil engineer on a large road project in Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, when he learned about the environmental destruction his project would have cost the island and changed teams. He began an environmental nonprofit, Innoceana, and then worked to successfully get the project canceled.

Laurene Allen is a New Hampshire social worker who took on the plastics industry. If you live in New England or upstate New York, you might not know Laurene Allen, but you have heard of her work? She formed Merrimack Citizens for Clean Water, and has worked tirelessly to regulate PFAS and to successfully shut down the Saint Gobain Performance Plastics plant in 2024. Now she will work to get them to pay for their damages.

In the Americas, indigenous people have often been the leaders in environmental struggles, and Peru’s Mari Luz Canaquiri is a Kukama Kukamiria activist who grew up along the Maranon River, home to a plethora of amazing species including pink dolphins. She challenged Petroperu in court over the damage from extraction and was able to win a decision granting the river’s inherent value and right to run free.

Please, read more about each of these amazing people. Their courage should inspire all of us to fight for the planet even in the face of the threats and attempts to scare us.

Nancy Braus is a long-time political activist who writes from Guilford. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of Vermont News & Media.