Ordinary People, Extraordinary Heroes

The Fight for Justice
Around the globe, ordinary citizens like Yosepha Alomang (right) are going to extraordinary measures to preserve the environment, to uncover the truth about harmful business practices, and to protect the health of their neighbors, sometimes at great risk to themselves.

Alomang spent a month in jail in 1994 for allegedly aiding government separatists. A tribal matriarch of the Amungme people of West Papua, Indonesia, Alomang continues to seek redress for the damage inflicted on her indigenous culture by the world's largest gold mining company, U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan. In 20 years, the mining operations have devastated the region's rainforest and chiseled 400 feet off the top of a mountain revered as sacred by the Amungme. Each day the mine dumps 200,000 tons of waste into the surrounding rivers.

The sacrifices of Alomang, as well as other grassroots activists, have not gone unrewarded. This year she and seven others from the continents of North America, Africa, South/Central America, Asia, Europe, and the Island Nations were awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize along with $125,000 each. The activists were nominated by a panel of environmental experts and organizations, including the National Geographic Society.

"The world is getting smaller, and the need is growing for everyone to take responsibility for keeping our planet healthy," said Richard N. Goldman, founder of the prize. "The winners this year illustrate how the environment is affected by wars, international business, economic policies, and the tendency to put short-term gains ahead of long-term solutions. They also illustrate how the courage and commitment of a single visionary individual can make a difference for generations to come."

Grassroots Heroes
Learn about each of the 2001 Goldman Environmental Prize recipients:

• North America: Jane Akre and Steve Wilson Meet the husband-and-wife team (right) who lost their TV reporting jobs because of their efforts to expose the potential health risks of rBGH (recombinant bovine growth hormone). rBGH, injected into dairy cows to increase milk output, has been linked to various forms of cancer by some scientists and is banned in Canada and the European Union. The genetically engineered drug is made by Monsanto, the same chemical company responsible for Agent Orange. Watch video clips of Akre and Wilson.
  
  
• Africa: Eugene Rutagarama This Rwandan biologist and conservationist repeatedly risked his life during his country's violent conflicts to save the endangered mountain gorillas who live there. Of the approximately 650 mountain gorillas still in existence, half of them live in Rwanda. With a human population of 8 million, Rwanda is the most populated country of Africa. "Because of that, the range of the gorilla is getting smaller and smaller," says Rutagarama. Watch video clips of Rutagarama.
  
  
• South America: Oscar Olivera This Bolivian labor leader worked to wrest control of the local water supply from a private international company that set the price of water beyond the means of the average citizen. Watch video clips of Olivera.
  
  
• Asia: Yosepha Alomang Learn more about this Indonesian woman who says her only weapons are words. Watch video clips of Alomang.
  
  
• Europe: Myrsini Malakou and Giorgos Catsadorakis These two Greek biologists created an important wetlands conservation area in the Balkans, an area better known for conflict than cooperation. Watch video clips of Malakou and Catsadorakis.
  
  
• Island Nations: Bruno Van Peteghem This New Caledonia (in the South Pacific east of Australia) resident is leading an international campaign to place one of the world's largest coral reefs on the UNESCO World Heritage List, which will protect it from future harm. The reef is currently being endangered because the island's nickel mining industry wants to use the coral's calcium carbonate to neutralize its toxic mining wastes. Watch video clips of Van Peteghem.

What You Can Do

Riverdeep offers a wide range of environmental Xcursions, which are teacher-created virtual field trips to the Web. Those with asterisks beside them include activities that focus on actions that students can take to conserve and protect natural resources. Each Xcursion includes standards and assessment information.

• Investigate the solid and hazardous waste humans produce and the impact it has on the environment in the *A City Full of Garbage Xcursion.
  
  
• Explore the greenhouse effect in the *Global Warming Plan Xcursion.
  
  
• Research the issue of wetland preservation to tailor three separate arguments addressing the specific values, concerns, and interests of certain audiences in the *Advocating for Wetland Preservation Xcursion. This is a middle school level Xcursion designed to complement Riverdeep's Write for Your Life Persuasive Essay product. A high school level version of the *Advocating for Wetland Preservation Xcursion is also available.
  
  
• Learn about global warming, the Kyoto agreement, and President Bush's decision to withdraw the United States from the agreement in the Kyoto Agreement and Global Warming Xcursion.
  
  
• Learn about the process and importance of recycling in the Recycle, Reuse, Reduce Xcursion.
  
  
• Read about two types of energy (potential and kinetic) in the Reducing Electricity Use to Conserve Energy Xcursion. To help students grasp terms such as power, kilowatt-hours, and the costs of using various electrical appliances, have them work the Middle School Gateways activity, Electric Power. (This activity requires Logal Express. Get a free trial subscription.)

Learn More

• Read the following Riverdeep stories: "Extinction of a Species," "The Wide World of Jane Goodall," and "Remnants of a Rainforest".
  
  
• Younger students can create their own interactive stories in Edmark's Destination Rain Forest, available on CD-ROM.
  
  
• Students can explore many aspects of global warming with EarthScience Center's Global Warming Lab. (Requires the SimPlayer plugin. Download now.)

• The Sierra Club is an environmental organization that monitors human rights violations of environmental activists around the globe. Read its reports on Rodolfo Montiel Flores, the jailed Mexican activist who received the 2000 Goldman Environmental Prize.
  
  
• See photos of mountain gorillas and learn how to protect them at the Kilimanjaro Adventure Travel site.
  
  
• Visit the Gorilla Foundation and watch Koko the gorilla communicate in sign language.