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MUMBAI: CNN International‘s Going Green series returns this July for an in-depth look at Green Pioneers - individuals standing on the front lines of environmental issues - and the innovative ways they are tackling these challenges. From ground-breaking ideas in urban planning to the latest technologies advancing the green movement, ‘Going Green: Green Pioneers‘ highlights the efforts of the world‘s foremost preservers of the planet.
About the Green Pioneers:
Ma?gorzata G?rska has been battling for Poland‘s Raspuda valley for eight years. A winner of the 2010 Goldman Environmental Prize, an international conservation award, Gorka‘s leadership in the fight to stop a controversial highway project led to a significant legal precedent for the environment that resulted in the protection of one of Europe‘s last true wilderness areas, the Rospuda Valley. As conservation and environmental activism slowly grow in Poland, the female activist reflects on the importance of her mission: "On the one hand I am very happy that we managed to preserve the wetlands, but on the other hand it is quite sad that we even had to put up this fight."
As chief executive of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) for the past six years, Syeda Rizwana Hasan has struggled to improve environmental and labor regulation to Bangladesh‘s 36 ship-breaking yards, where she says, "Nobody is present" to ensure labor laws are followed or international guidelines against toxic waste-dumping are met. CNN reveals Hasan‘s pledge as she wants to make sure her countrymen and women have a job that doesn‘t represent a hazard to their health, despite the much-needed revenue and jobs brought in by the 150+ ships visiting these yards annually.
CNN then travels to Berlin, the home to one of Germany‘s top green entrepreneurs, Alexander Voigt. Voigt, who set up the first solar company to go public in Germany, and his company are developing an insular grid powered solely by renewables. This grid would improve efficiencies by allowing countries to use substantial amounts of green energy rather than relying on fossil fuel power supplies or electricity from undersea cables.
In his first television interview since being released from prison, activist Wu Lihong - once hailed as an "environmental warrior" by the Chinese government - takes CNN‘s Emily Chang to the polluted Lake Tai, the freshwater lake he has spent years trying to protect. He shares stories from prison and looks back at his legacy of environmental protection while plotting the difficult road ahead. Still under heavy government surveillance and pressure to admit wrongdoing, Wu today vows to clear his name and continue his work as a whistle-blower for Lake Tai‘s pollution.
In Brazil, CNN‘s Brian Byrnes meets with Jaime Lerner, the architect behind the transformation of Curitiba‘s public transportation system. The former mayor of Curitiba - and later governor of Paran? - talks to CNN about urban planning and how his vision for Curitiba has spread around the world influencing other countries like South Africa to adopt similar systems.
Going Green: Green Pioneers is a half-hour special hosted by CNN‘s Colleen McEdwards.
CNN International is a 24-hour news channel which reacts to live events and breaking news. Therefore, program schedules are subject to change at short notice.
