I have always believed that if it is at all possible to save our planet Earth from the destruction that we have wreaked upon Her, that if it isn't already too late, then it is we - women of a certain age - who are the ones who can and will do it. These Queens have affirmed my faith.

There is hope if people will begin to awaken that spiritual part of themselves, that heartfelt knowledge that we are caretakers of this planet.  
- Brooke Medicine Eagle

  Sharon Beder, Australia (DOB?)
  Civil engineer and leader in
  environmental and water supply issues
  Professor Beder's work focuses on the 
  social, political and philosophical aspects
  of engineering and environmental
  politics, ecologically sustainable
  development, environmental principles and policies, and socio-political dimensions of environmental economics. She has been Chairperson of the Environmental Engineering Branch of the Institution of Engineers, President of the Society for Social Responsibility in Engineering, and a director of the Earth Foundation Australia. She is now the Environmental Education Coordinator at the University of Sydney.

  Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla,
  India (1960- and 1956-)
  Grassroots environmental activists
 *See The Queen's Chronicles October 2007
  Rashida Bee and Champa Devi Shukla,
  two illiterate village women, took it upon
  themselves to seek justice for the
  survivors of the poisonous gas leak from a storage tank at a Union Carbide pesticide factory into the heart of Bhopal city, which killed 8,000 people instantly. More than 20,000 deaths in the years since have been attributed to the disaster. Since 1984, the two women have tirelessly continued their efforts to exact justice from the giant chemical companies responsible. They have inspired support from all over the world.

  Erin Brockovich, United States (1960-)
  Legal clerk and environmental activist
  Erin Brockovich was instrumental in
  constructing a successful case against the
  Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E)
  of California in 1993, despite the lack of
  a formal law school education. The case
  alleged contamination of drinking water with hexavalent chromium in the southern California town of Hinkley. Brockovich went on to participate in other anti-pollution lawsuits. After experiencing problems with mold contamination in her own home in the Conejo Valley, Brockovich became a prominent activist and educator in this area as well.

  Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway (1939-)
  U.N. commissioner for sustainable
  development
  Gro Harlem Brundtland is a politician,
  diplomat, physician, and international
  leader in sustainable development and
  public health. Dr. Brundtland
  spearheaded the movement, now worldwide, to abolish cigarette smoking through education and persuasion. She was a two term Prime Minister of Norway, and has served as the Director General of the World Health Organization. She is now Special Envoy on Climate Change for the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

  Rachael Carson, United States 
  (1907-1964)
  Biologgist, ecologist and nature writer
  Rachael Carson is widely regarded to be
  the mother of the modern environmental
  movement. Her groundbreaking book,
  Silent Spring challenged the practices of
  agriculture, scientists and the government, bringing to light the environmental hazards of common post-WWII pesticides. She was attacked by the chemical industry and some in government as an alarmist, but courageously spoke out to remind us that we are a vulnerable part of the natural world, subject to the same damage as the rest of the ecosystem.

  Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Canada-Inuit
  (1953-)
  Climate change activist  
  Sheila Watt-Cloutier has worked on a
  range of social and environmental issues
  affecting Inuit, most recently focused on
  persistent organic pollutants and global
  climate change. She is the President of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, which represents the interests of Inuit in Russia, Alaska, Canada and Greenland. In 2005, she launched the world's first international legal action on climate change, alleging that unchecked emissions of greenhouse gases from the United States have violated Inuit cultural and environmental human rights as guaranteed by the 1948 American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man.

  Amrita Devi, India (17??)
  Founder of the Chipko Movement in
  defense against deforestation  
 *See The Queen's Chronicles April 2008
  Amrita Devi organized a large group of
  peasants from 84 villages in Rajasthan in
  an effort to protect the forests from
  being cut on the orders of the Maharaja of Jodhpur. In one day in 1730, 363 protestors were killed by the axes that were meant to fell the trees. This event was the inspiration of the modern Chipko Movement, a grass roots association of women peasants who act to prevent the cutting of trees and to reclaim their traditional forest rights. The movement has now spread throughout India and has had far reaching impact on the global green movement.

  Lois Marie Gbbs, United States (1951-)
  Grassroots environmental activist and
  community leader
  Lois Gibbs became involved in
  environmental causes when she learned
  that her neighborhood, Love Canal, in
  Niagara Falls, New York was built on a
  toxic waste dump. With no prior experience in community activism, Gibbs organized the Love Canal Homeowners Association, which she led in a battle against the local, state, and federal governments. After years of struggle, 833 families were eventually evacuated, and cleanup of Love Canal began. Her efforts also led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act.

  Jane Goodall, England and Tanzania
  (1934-)
  Primatologist, ethologist, 
  anthropologist and conservationist
  Jane Goodall's holistic methods of
  fieldwork transformed not only how
  chimpanzees are understood, but
  influenced scientific thinking regarding the evolution of humans. In addition to being an animal rights activist, her involvement in tropical forests has led her to be actively involved in a number of environmental issues, and to found the Roots & Shoots, an international children's environmental education program and the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research, Education, and Conservation.

  Fatima Jibrell, Somalia (1950-)
  Environmental organizer and educator
  Fatima Jibrell founded Horn of Relief to
  train young people to organize awareness
  campaigns about the irreversible damage
  of unrestricted charcoal production,
  which has deforested Somalia and led to
  widespread famine. As a charcoal alternative, she has spearheaded the development of solar cooking stoves. She teaches women and youth to build small rock dams to slow the runoff during the brief rainy season, which nourishes vegetation, crucial in slowing the growth of arid lands.

  Winona LaDuke, United States-
  Anishinaabeg  (1959-)
  Activist, environmentalist, economist,
  and writer  
  Winona LaDuke is an ardent
  representative of indigenous
  perspectives. At the age of seventeen she
  spoke at the UN on behalf of Native Americans. She is a founding member of Women of All Red Nations and director of the Land Recovery Project on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota. An inspiring speaker, she was the 1996 and 2000 vice-presidential candidate of the Green Party, the first Native American to run for national office. The author of All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life, she is currently the Executive Director of Honor the Earth, an organization she co-founded with the Indigo Girls in 1993.

  Wangari Maathai, Kenya (1940-)
  Environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize
  laureate
 *See The Queen's Chronicles April 2008
  Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt
  Movement in Kenya In 1977, in response
  to the serious problems caused by
  deforestation: soil runoff, water pollution, difficulty finding firewood, lack of animal nutrition, and poverty. The Green Belt program has planted more than 30 million trees to prevent soil erosion and to provide firewood for cooking fires. In recognition of her monumental efforts, she served both in Parliament and in prison. In November 2006, she spearheaded the United Nations Billion Tree Campaign.

  Olya Melen, Ukraine (1980-)   
  Environmental attorney
  Olya Melen is a firebrand attorney who
  used legal channels to halt construction
  of a massive canal that would have cut
  through the heart of the Danube Delta,
  one of the world's most valuable
  wetlands, a World Heritage Site, and biosphere reserve. The organization Environment-People-Law (EPL) filed lawsuits to prevent construction and Melen tried the case. She was denounced by the notoriously corrupt and lawless pre-Orange Revolution government, but the judge ruled that the canal development flouted environmental laws and could adversely affect the Danube Delta's biodiversity.
 
  Satomi Oba, Japan (1951-2005)
  Anti-nuclear activist
  Satomi Oba was long-time campaigner
  against nuclear proliferation with
  particular concerns for human rights and
  justice. After the Chernobyl accident in
  1986, she fought against nuclear power
  plants. She was the Director of Plutonium Action Hiroshima, and an active participant in the Rainbow Serpent Network of women throughout Asia and the Pacific working to end nuclear weapons and power. She also worked for the No Nukes Asia Forum, the Abolition 2000 Global Council, and  the Global Network for Peace in Spacer.

  Dai Qing, China (1941-)
  Journalist and environmental activist
  Dai Qing reported on a conference in  
  1989 about the impending Three Gorges
  Dam on the Yangtze River. Her
  subsequent research led to the
  publication of the book Yangtze! Yangtze!
  in which she denounced the dam as "the most environmentally and socially destructive project in the world." Dai claimed that there was a potential risk for the Yangtze River and the Yellow River to dry up, leading to sandstorms in Inner Mongolia and environmental influence on Korea, Japan, and even the west coast of the United States. After Tiananmen Square, the book was banned and she was jailed.
 
  Dame Anita Roddick, England
  (1943-2007)
  Entrepeneur and environmental
  visionary
 *See The Queen's Chronicles October 2007
  Anita Roddick was the founder of the now
  world famous Body Shop boutiques in
  1976 in Brighton, England, long before fair trade and Earth-friendly businesses were fashionable. The Body Shop opposed product testing on animals and tried to encourage development by purchasing materials from small communities in the Third World. She also invested in a wind farm in Wales as part of her campaign to support renewable energy, and the Body Shop set up its own human rights award. Roddick's last struggles were against globalization and sweatshop economies.
 
  Vandana Shiva, India (1952-)
  Physicist, eco-feminist, and author
  Vandana Shiva is a champion for women's
  rights and the global food supply. She
  fights for intellectual property rights,
  biodiversity, biotechnology, and
  bioethics through her intellectual
  contributions and her activist campaigns. She got her start as an environmentalist by participating in the nonviolent Chipko movement during the 1970s. The movement, whose main participants were women, adopted the tactic of hugging trees to prevent their felling. She is one of the leaders of the International Forum on Globalization and a spokesperson for the global solidarity movement.

  Marina Silva, Brazil (1958-)
  Defender of Brazilian rain forests and
  human rights
  Marina Silva, a former rubber tapper was
  frequently at odds with development
  interests, including powerful farmers and
  ranchers who are seeking to turn the
  Amazon into Brazil's agricultural breadbasket. In 1994 she was the first rubber tapper ever elected to Brazil's federal senate. There she built support for environmental protection of the reserves as well as for social justice and sustainable development in the Amazon region. Deforestation decreased by 59% from 2004 to 2007, during her implementation of an integrated government policy. In May 2008 she was forced to resign due to her oppositional views on hydroelectric dams, biofuels, and genetically modified crops.

  Celsa Valdovinos, Mexico (DOB?)
  Rural environmental activist
  Celsa Valdovinos began her
  environmentalist career by organizing
  youths and women for clean-up efforts to
  remove the garbage that their neighbors
  dumped in the fields, and she continued
  her work from there. Because of Valdovinos's efforts, some rural communities in the impoverished state of Guerrero have recovered forests, obtained water services and developed gardens, but these advances were paid for with military harassment, forced displacement, threats, and the imprisonment of her husband, who, like her, is a local environmental leader. Today Amnesty International fears for her safety.
 
We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road - the one less traveled by - offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.
 - Rachel Carson

NEW HAMPSHIRE