The Goldman Environmental Prize is known as the Nobel for grassroots environmental champions, for good reason. Award-winners are earth defenders, often bucking entrenched systems and powerful interests in order to protect and restore the natural environments we all depend on. This week we feature conversations with two of the 2026 Goldman Prize winners:

Iroro Tanshi, a tropical conservationist and bat ecologist who rediscovered a species that hadn't been seen in half a century. When climate-amplified wildfire threatened to destroy her new find, she built a community movement to virtually eliminate the wildfire risk.
Sarah Finch, a tireless environmental advocate who spent years in English courts using planning law as a defense against the fossil fuel industry. She won a major UK Supreme Court ruling, a ruling that is already constraining oil, gas, and coal development across the country.

What can we learn about passion, persistence, and collaboration from these two advocates?

Guests:

Iroro Tanshi, Tropical Conservationist

Sarah Finch, Environmental Campaigner

For show notes, related links, and episode transcript, visit https://climateone.org/podcasts

Highlights:

00:00 Intro

03:01 Iroro Tanshi on Warri, Nigeria and the oil industry

05:37 Iroro Tanshi on becoming interested in bats and the forest

09:24 Iroro Tanshi on finding a bat species once thought extinct

14:03 Iroro Tanshi on when a wildfire tore through the research site

19:20 Iroro Tanshi on the wildfire risks of forests in equatorial Africa

20:50 Iroro Tanshi on working with the community to address the wildfires

23:01 Iroro Tanshi how to scale what she’s learned world-wide

24:40 Iroro Tanshi on what bats can teach people about being human

27:17 Sarah Finch on realizing the far reaching implication of her work

30:49 Sarah Finch on why the legal argument finally worked

34:42 Sarah Finch on getting the confidence to go after big oil

44:43 Sarah Finch on how a group of people can make a real difference

**********

Support Climate One by going ad-free! By subscribing to Climate One on Patreon, you’ll receive exclusive access to all future episodes free of ads, opportunities to connect with fellow Climate One listeners, and access to the Climate One Discord. Sign up today at patreon.com/ClimateOne.

Ad sales by Multitude. Contact them for ad inquiries at multitude.productions/ads

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices