Margaret Atwood is an award-winning Canadian author and human rights activist. Read more

Bruce Cockburn is a world famous musician and activist on human rights and environmental issues. He is also the honorary Chair of FoE Canada. Read more

Eduardo Galeano is a Uruguayan development economist, author and journalist. He is the author of "Las venas abiertas de America Latina" (The Open Veins of Latin America), among other books, and was the 1989 recipient of the American Book Award. Read Eduardo Galeano's speech at the demonstration against Uruguayan pulp mills.

Karen Kain has been a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada for over 25 years. In 1973, she won a silver medal at the Second International Ballet Competition in Moscow.

Dr. Wangari Maathai is a Kenyan environmentalist and founder of the influential Green Belt Movement. She received the Right Livelihood Award in 1984, the 1991 Goldman Prize and the Nobel peace prize in 2004. Contact Dr Maathai at her website.

Dr. Nawal El Saadawi is from Egypt. She is a women's rights activist, teacher and author of several books.

Jonathon Porritt is a world famous environmentalist and former director of FoE England, Wales and Northern Ireland. He is the author of Save the Earth, which was published just prior to the 1992 Earth Summit.

Jakob von Uexkull, born in Sweden, is an environmentalist, writer, economist and the initiator of the Right Livelihood Award. He is also a former member of the European Parliament.

Reiko Yukawa is a Japanese musician, disc jockey and music critic. She leads the "Women 1000" environmental group and is a counsellor to the Japanese Environmental Agency.

Professor Muhammad Yunus is the initiator of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, which provides loans for predominantly low-income women on the basis of collective responsibility.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is a prominent anti-apartheid activist and advocate of social justice. He chaired the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Archbishop Tutu won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

Chrissie Hynde, from the United States, is the well-known lead singer of the rock band the Pretenders.