Grassroots environmental heroes too often go unrecognized. Yet their efforts to protect the world’s natural resources are increasingly critical to the well-being of the planet we all share. Thus, in 1990 San Francisco civic leaders and philanthropists Richard N. Goldman and his late wife, Rhoda H. Goldman (1924-1996) created the Goldman Environmental Prize. The Goldman Prize continues today with its original mission to annually honor grassroots environmental heroes from the six inhabited continental regions: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. The Prize recognizes individuals for sustained and significant efforts to protect and enhance the natural environment, often at great personal risk.

The work of Goldman Prize winners often focuses on protecting endangered ecosystems and species, combating destructive development projects, promoting sustainability, influencing environmental policies and striving for environmental justice. Prize winners are often women and men from isolated villages or inner cities who chose to take great personal risks to safeguard the environment.

Announced every April to coincide with Earth Day, the Goldman Environmental Prize winners are selected by an international jury from confidential nominations submitted by a worldwide group of environmental organizations and individuals. Prize winners participate in a 10-day tour of San Francisco and Washington D.C.—highlighted by award ceremonies in San Francisco and Washington D.C.—including news conferences, media briefings and meetings with political and environmental leaders.

The carbon footprint of the event was conformed of the electricity used during the 2009 ceremony at the War Memorial Opera House, the historic and beautiful home to the San Francisco Opera and Ballet, and the carbon impact resulting from air travel of key personnel. The scope covered considers the San Francisco ceremony exclusively.

The carbon impact of the Goldman Prize Ceremony 2009 was neutralized by PlanetUp and The Pacific Forest Trust using certified carbon offsets from the Van Eck Forest Project.

The certified emissions reductions from the Van Eck Forest Project are derived from the sustainable management of roughly 2,200 acres of working redwood forest in Humboldt County, California.

Forests provide climate benefits by absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it as carbon in trees for hundreds to thousands of years. California’s forests – which grow the fastest, largest and for the longest period of time – are especially vital as they are among the most productive forest carbon “sinks” in the world.

In addition to helping cool the climate, the Van Eck Forest Project helps protect wildlife habitat, safeguard clean water supplies and restore biodiversity.

Aligned to national standards of education and California standards of education for grades 9-12, Environmental Ethics was developed by the Goldman Prize and includes a video series and written curriculum filled with activities and suggestions for communtity projects to help students think more critically about the environment. The curriculum provides students with contextual scientific understanding while challenging them to form ethical opinions about how to manage our most important environmental resources.

The written curriculum was developed by the Goldman Environmental Prize and the Yale University Department of Forestry and Environmental Studies. The video profiles featuring Goldman Prize winners from around the world are developed annually by the Goldman Prize and serve as a centerpiece of each prize ceremony. The curriculum uses these grassroots environmental heroes to illustrate why and how individuals decide to act in their communities.