The Goldman Environmental Foundation has announced the seven recipients of the 2018 Goldman Environmental Prize, and six of the laureates are women.

The prestigious award for grassroots environmental activists are handed out annually to "environmental heroes" from across six continents.  They recognize significant achievements in environmental protections against government leaders and global corporations.  Activists from Colombia, France, Vietnam, the Philippines, South Africa, and the United States are being recognized this year.

Former anti-apartheid activist Makoma Lekalakala teamed with white South African environmentalist Liz McDaid to build broad coalition to stop South Africa's massive US$76 Billion nuclear deal with Russia that reached in secret in 2014 by then-president Jacob Zuma, now facing corruption charges.  

"Freedom of speech and freedom of association is something we fought for in apartheid," Lekalakala said. 

"In a world that has often been led by men, this was a space where two women could actually work together," said McDaid.

In the United States, LeeAnne Walters tested her own putrid, brown tap water to expose the ongoing water crisis in Flint, Michigan.  The crisis was caused by the conservative state government attempting to save money by switching Flint's water supply from Detroit to the corrosive Flint River, long-known as poisoned from industrial emissions.  She forced the government to undertake wider testing, and eventually to force officials to switch the water supply back to the cleaner source and replace the corroded and tainted pipelines.  She's now lobbying Washington to improve national water testing standards.

"That's my personal mission," said Walters, "So that what happened to my family and my community never happens to anyone else again." 

Colombian activist Francia Marquez rallied women in the Cauca region to pressure the Colombian government to end illegal gold mining on their indigenous land.

French journalist Claire Nouvian led an advocacy campaign to stop the destructive practice of deep-sea bottom trawling.  Her actions first secured a French and then an EU-wide ban.

Khanh Nguy Thi from Vietnam used scientific research and engaged Vietnamese state agencies to advocate for sustainable long-term energy projections in Vietnam.

And in the Philippines, Manny Calonzo advocated for his government to ban the production, use, and sale of lead paint, which has saved millions of local children from lead poisoning.