The North American recipient is Michigan farmer, Lynn Henning, who exposed polluting practices of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Henning, who farms with her husband in Lenawee County, lives within 10 miles of 12 CAFO facilities; her parents-in-law live within 1,000 feet of a CAFO operation and have hydrogen sulphide poisoning as a result.

Concerned about public health risks of CAFOs Henning and other concerned neighbours developed their own body of data by driving a 125 mile circuit every week to take air and water quality samples. She brought her data to state regulators, and hundreds of citations for environmental violations were served to Michigan CAFOs as a result.

Poland's Malgorzata Gorska led the fight to protect Poland's Rospuda Valley, one of Europe's last true wilderness areas, from a proposed expressway that threatened the region's sensitive ecosystems. Petitions reroute the expressway around the Rospunda Valley were adopted by the European Parliament. Polish courts and the European Court of Justice both concluded the expressway should not be built. On October 20, 2009, the Polish government agreed to reroute the expressway around all natural areas, including the Rospunda Valley.