Ann Arbor Times

Nnimmo Bassey, executive director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation and a global environmental activist, will receive the 2024 Wallenberg Medal from the University of Michigan. The ceremony is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 10, at the Ross School of Business Robertson Auditorium.

Bassey will deliver the 29th Wallenberg Lecture titled “We Are Relatives,” focusing on love, humility, dignity, and respect in his vision for a livable future for all beings. Urban Ahlin, ambassador of Sweden to the United States, will discuss Raoul Wallenberg's life during the event. Wallenberg was a U-M alumnus and Swedish diplomat whose legacy is commemorated by this medal honoring humanitarians across generations.

The Wallenberg Medal and Lecture ceremony is free and open to the public without ticket requirements. Parking will be available in the Hill Street Parking Structure with valet service provided.

Bassey is an architect and director of HOMEF, a Nigeria-based ecological think-tank. He also serves on the steering committee of Oilwatch International, which opposes fossil fuel extraction in the Global South. Bassey chaired Friends of the Earth International from 2008 to 2012 and was co-recipient of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award, also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” He received the Rafto Human Rights Prize in 2012.

He holds honorary doctorate degrees from the University of York (U.K.) awarded in 2019 and from York University (Canada) awarded in 2023. His books include “To Cook a Continent: Destructive Extraction” and “The Climate Crisis in Africa and Oil Politics: Echoes of Ecological War.” His poetry collections feature titles such as “We Thought It Was Oil But It Was Blood,” “I Will Not Dance to Your Beat,” and “I See the Invisible.”

The Wallenberg Medal and Lecture honors Raoul Wallenberg's legacy. A graduate from U-M College of Architecture in 1935, Wallenberg saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews near World War II's end. In 1944, he was sent by Jewish organizations and the American War Refugee Board on a rescue mission to Budapest under Swedish Foreign Ministry orders.

Wallenberg issued thousands of protective passports over six months and placed many Jews in safe houses throughout Budapest. He confronted Hungarian and German forces to secure Jewish releases under Swedish protection, saving more than 80,000 lives.

For inquiries or event accessibility accommodations, contact [email protected] or call 734-936-3973.