Read more about the American environmental activist, winner of the Goldman Prize

An American champion for better air quality just received significant recognition for her work.

This week it was announced that Southern California-based activist Andrea Vidaurre was named as the winner of the 2024 Goldman Prize.

The Goldman Prize is intended to, as officials put it, “celebrate the grassroots environmental leaders who are taking important action for our planet.” Vidaurre earned the award through her work as the founder and leader of the People’s Collective for Environmental Justice, which serves California’s southern Inland Empire. In particular, she organized local residents and worked with members of the California Air Resources Board to pass regulations designed to significantly reduce truck and train emissions.

One of those measures is historic – it is the first train emissions rule ever implemented across the US. But both policies have the potential to “substantially improve air quality for millions of Californians while accelerating the nation’s transition to zero-emission vehicles,” Goldman Awards officials say.

The policy was formally adopted last year after a years-long effort by Vidaurre, which had seen the region suffer from widespread, persistent air pollution problems. “This (problem) is very profit-driven and targets communities of color,” Vidaurre told The Guardian, adding that the area’s Latino population has suffered disproportionately.

She also got officials to deal directly with the issue. “It was hugely impressive that the decision makers came to the communities – to see how close the warehouses are to schools, to feel the ground moving on the trains and to see the pile of asthma medicine some children are taking.”

That is critical, she adds, because “we cannot continue to create regulations based on the status quo and what industry lobbyists say is economically viable – we need solutions that address the problems.”

And those problems are significant. Research shows that by 2023, only 10% of vehicles on U.S. roads will be medium- or heavy-duty trucks, but they will ultimately emit 25% of the greenhouse gases from all modes of transportation. Meanwhile, trains produce 640 tons of toxic particles into the air every year.

Vidaurre noted: “We need to create a better system for moving goods that protects our air, communities and the planet from freight. There is no more time to lose.”

In addition to the 29-year-old organiser, the jury that selected the winners also named South Africa’s indigenous activist duo Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu, who together secured a halt to seismic testing for oil and gas near the country’s Eastern Cape. and Teresa Vicente, who saved Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon from destruction with a grassroots campaign. A total of seven winners have been selected this year.

To date, 226 individuals from 95 countries have received the prestigious honor since its founding in 1989 by billionaire philanthropists Richard and Rhoda Goldman.