Episodes
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On January 18th of last year, a land defender protesting the razing of an urban forest to build a police training mega complex known as COP City was killed by a hail of bullets fired by police in Atlanta Georgia.
Authorities claim the had fired a weapon at police, but there is strong forensic evidence that the protester was seated with hands up and had not fired a weapon.
Many other peaceful protesters as well as those providing mutual aid and bond support have been charged in a far-reaching prosecution that has labelled many as Domestic Terrorists.
On April 5th, two organizations, including Robert F Kennedy Human Rights and Southern Center for Human Rights together with the University of Dayton Human Rights Center filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights calling for an investigation into the killing of Manuel Esteban Páez Terán, also known as Tortuguita.
On this episode of Breaking Green, we will talk with Anthony Enriqez of Robert F Kennedy Human Rights.
Anthony Enriqez is an attorney working to reduce mass incarceration in the United States by exposing and stopping human rights abuses in the criminal legal and immigration systems. As the Vice President of U.S. Advocacy and Litigation at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, he leads a team of advocates fighting for accountability for state-sponsored racial discrimination, torture, and extrajudicial killings. He has over a decade of expertise in child refugee protection, immigrants’ rights, and anti-detention advocacy and litigation.
Anthony graduated from New York University School of Law in 2013 and clerked for a federal district court judge in the Southern District of New York. He is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
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Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187 -
Christopher Nolan's movie Oppenheimer captured the imagination of the nation as it dramatized the super-secret Manhattan Project that was responsible for creating the first atomic bomb. But what about the legacy of radioactive waste that the US weapons Development Program left across the United States? According to victims whose diseases were caused by exposure to US weapons development programs, the movie's oversight of the project's toxic legacy was an insult. Now a bill in Congress may help address some illnesses caused by nuclear weapons development. It may also recognize victims exposed to radiation who have long been overlooked, but it is, according to many, not enough and only a start when it comes to addressing devastating illnesses. On this episode of Breaking Green, we will talk with Justin Ahasteen, the Executive Director of the Navajo Nation Washington Office, about the history of radiation contamination on the Navajo Nation from uranium mining, the US government's lack of transparency, its failure to remediate radiation hotspots, as well as hopes for some relief when it comes to the reauthorization of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.
Justin Ahasteen is executive director of the Navajo Nation Washington Office. He has been awarded the Presidential Volunteer Service Award with Silver Distinction. Justin was appointed as Executive Director by President Boo Nygren in 2023. Ahasteen has significantly impacted federal Indian policy and indigenous advocacy, focusing on infrastructure, veteran affairs, social services, health and public safety for the Navajo Nation. His academic credentials include an associate's in applied science and public administration, a bachelor's of arts in justice studies with a public administration minor, and he is nearing completion of a master of legal studies in indigenous law.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
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When the salmon numbers in the Klamath River dwindled, it wasn't just a loss of wildlife, it was a piece of Brook Thompson's heritage slipping away. Our latest episode of Breaking Green features Brook, a Yurok and Karuk Native American, water resource engineer, and PhD student, who unravels the deep ties between her tribe's culture and the river's salmon. Discover how she leverages her academic prowess and indigenous insight to fight against the environmental crises that threaten both her community's traditions and the planet's health.
Join us as we traverse the complex landscape of salmon conservation, where Brook illuminates the delicate balance of water flow management, the harrowing impact of the 2002 salmon kill, and the vital role of habitat restoration. Her story is one of resilience and purpose, driving home the importance of integrating indigenous knowledge with modern science. From the halls of academia to the United Nations climate conferences, Brooke's voice brings a fresh perspective to the urgent dialogue on conservation and the empowerment of indigenous leaders.
As we wrap up the conversation, Brooke doesn't shy away from the pressing issues of our times—microplastics in fish, renewable energy projects on indigenous lands, and the need for authentic representation in environmental policy-making. Her call to action is clear: to heal our planet, we must honor the wisdom of those who have cherished it for millennia. By supporting indigenous voices and practices, we're not just upholding justice; we're investing in a legacy of stewardship that could save us all.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
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Terrible forest fires that are the result of eucalyptus plantations are becoming an increasing threat. Known as green deserts, these monoculture eucalyptus tree plantations are becoming more numerous as they are built to feed ever larger pulp and paper mills. They sapwater from the environment and destroy biodiversity. But there are those who are fighting the spread of this invasive species.
On this episode of Breaking Green, we will talk with Joam Evans Pim. Pim is a commoner at the Froxan Community, located in Galicia, Spain, where he lives with his family. He is an activist in political, environmental, cultural and human rights issues, particularly focused on reinvigorating rural direct assembly democracy, defending and restoring common lands and confronting destructive mining and other environmentally degrading projects.
He serves as director of the Montescola Foundation and is adjunct professor of peace and conflict research at Abo Akademi University, Finland, where he seasonally lectures on civil disobedience and non-violent action at the master's program on peace, mediation and conflict research.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
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Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187 -
The American Chestnut Foundation has long supported a controversial plan to release genetically engineered chestnut trees into the wild.
The Tree was being developed by the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF).
But now poor performance in field trials and the revelation that researchers had even been field testing the wrong tree prompted The American Chestnut Foundation to pull its support for the GE Tree. The American Chestnut Foundation has also called for SUNY-ESF to pull its application before the United States Department of Agriculture for deregulation of the tree.On this episode of Breaking Green, we spoke with Anne Petermann. Petermann co- founded Global Justice Ecology Project in 2003.
She is the international coordinator of the Campaign to STOP GE Trees, which she also co founded. Petermann is a founding board member of the Will Miller Social Justice Lecture Series.
She has been involved in movements for forest protection and indigenous rights since 1991, and the international and national climate justice movements since 2004.She participated in the founding of the Durban group for climate justice in 2004, in Durban, South Africa, and Climate Justice Now in 2007 at the Bali Indonesia UN climate conference.
Anne Petermann was adopted as an honorary member of the St. Francis- Sokoki band of the Abenaki in 1992 for her work in support of their struggle for state recognition. In 2000, she received the wild nature award for activist of the year.
We will also talk with Dr. Donald Davis, author of the American Chestnut: an environmental history. His exhaustive book explores how the American Chestnut Tree has shaped history as well as the cultural and environmental significance of the once ubiquitous tree.
He also calls the story of the American Chestnut, a cautionary tale of unintended consequences, and criticizes plans to conduct a massive and irreversible experiment by releasing genetically engineered American chestnuts into the wild.
Davis is an independent scholar, author and former Fulbright fellow. He has authored or edited seven books. His book, Where There are Mountains: an environmental history of the southern Appalachians, won the prestigious Philip D. Reed environmental writing award. Davis was also the founding member of the Georgia Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation, serving as its president from 2005 to 2006. He is currently employed by the Harvard forest as a research scholar and lives in Washington DC.Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
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Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187 -
On February 3rd 2023, a Norfolk Southern train carrying thousands of gallons of hazardous chemicals derailed. It was later set on fire in part to clear the tracks.
Residents have reported illnesses that they believe are the result of exposure to the chemicals. Now complaints are growing that the government’s and EPA’s response has failed them.
An independent testing expert who has been helping residents of East Palestine, Ohio better understand what they have been exposed to is being subpoenaed by Norfolk Southern in what has been described as an attempt to intimidate him.
Also the Government Accountability Project, a storied whistleblower organization, has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to shed light on what it believes could be censorship of citizen groups and residents attempting to share information on the East Palestine disaster.
In this episode of Breaking Green, we will talk with Scott Smith, an independent testing expert and CEO of US BioSolutions LLC. He frequently works on the ground in contamination events to help affected communities by investigating and bringing people together to diagnose and solve water contamination events. Smith has been to more than 60 oil and chemical disasters in the US and abroad.
He is a graduate of Baylor and Harvard business school. He was recently subpoenaed by Norfolk Southern regarding his work in East Palestine.
We will also talk with Lesley Pacey, who is an environmental investigator with the Government Accountability Project. Her daughter Sarah was diagnosed with leukemia at age 4 in 2004. She is a cancer survivor, now 23 years old. While living on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay, Lesley noticed several other children who had Leukemia. Lesley demanded a study by the Alabama Department of Health that eventually identified a cancer cluster.
Recently she has focused on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, helping chemically exposed workers, residents and tourists with chronic health issues seek justice in the mass tort related to the disaster.
She works with the Government Accountability Project to educate lawmakers and propose measures that will protect coastal communities from toxic chemical dispersants.
Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
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Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187
Marilyn Leistner, who is mentioned in this episode was the last mayor of Times Beach Missouri, a town wiped off the map by dioxin contamination.
FOR BACKGROUND ON TIMES BEACH VISIT: TimesBeachMissouri.Com -
The 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), was held from November 30 to December 12 2023 in Dubai. Described by some as the "Blood Carbon COP", COP 28 paved the way for a massive expansion of carbon credits.
The carbon credit market is disastrous for Indigenous Peoples and represents a major new way for governments, corporations and conservation NGOs to profit from the theft of Indigenous lands.
On this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with Fiore Longo of Survival International- an organization formed in 1969 to promote the rights of Indigenous Peoples as contemporary societies with a right to self-determination.Fiore Longo is a campaigner at Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples and is the director of Survival International France and Spain. She also coordinates Survival’s conservation campaign, and has visited many communities in Africa and Asia that face human rights abuses in the name of conservation.
Survival International's Blood Carbon Report
Orin Langelle's Portraits of Struggle
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This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
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Soon the attention of many environmentalists will be focused on the most recent UN Climate Conference in Dubai. But this in the 28th such conference and the climate crisis continues to worsen. What if Climate Collapse is inevitable?
In this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with long-time global and climate justice activist Dr. Tadzio Mueller. Dr. Mueller is a political scientist and activist who runs the blog Peaceful Sabotage.He believes that there is no longer the possiblitly to avoid significant global warming benchmarks and that the physical and political realities necessitate a collapse of social systems in our not so distant future.
Dr. Mueller claims we cannot abandon this unfortunate future to the fascist powers that will rise as world systems degrade.He has come under fire from fellow activists who claim his focus on prepping for a future of climate catastrophe is depressing and defeatist.
But he argues that there can be hope and meaning as we find a way to advance our own values and bring light, hope and love into the darkening landscape. He has recently traveled to Sweden to study the Prepping Together movement which he says can be a model for how we chose to respond.
Dr. Mueller's blog is friedlicheSabotage.net
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This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
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The Pruitt Igoe housing complex in St. Louis that was built in the 1950s and infamously demolished in the 1970s has been touted by many as a cautionary tale against public housing projects. But its history is complex. In 2012 it was reported that Pruitt Igoe was in a region targeted by the Military for secret tests that were part of a radiological weapons development program. According to government documents obtained by sociologist and researcher Dr. Lisa Martino-Taylor, the Army referred to the test area a “Densely Populated Slum District.”
Now Pruitt Igoe is back in national headlines. Ben Phillips and Chester Deans, both former residents of the Pruitt Igoe housing complex, are spearheading efforts to have the government recognize its wrong doing, release more information about the its covert actions, and compensate residents of Pruitt-Igoe and surrounding areas. They hope to have residents of the area added to a bill working its way through congress that seeks to compensate residents that were exposed to radiation during cold war era production of nuclear weapons in St. louis.
In this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with Dr. Lisa Martino-Taylor, the sociologist and researcher who examined the St. Louis open-air experiments for her doctoral dissertation at the University of Missouri Columbia, and after more than a decade of research wrote a book called Behind the Fog: How the US Cold War Radiological Weapons Program Exposed Innocent Americans.
We will also talk with Ben Phillips who prior to spearheading the recent push for justice for former residents of Pruitt Igoe, received a degree in sociology from the University of Missouri at St. Louis.
Phillips had a distinguished career in public service as well as St. Louis and Missouri politics.
Ben Phillip's accomplishments include a gubernatorial appointee to the St. Louis City board of elections commission, a Mayoral appointment to the City of St. Louis Employees Retirement Board and serving as Presiding of the Missouri State President of the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice (NABCJ).
Link to Post-Dispatch story on documentary base on Pruitt Igoe experiments.
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This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
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New Zealand is a "GE Free zone" meaning that all produce grown in New Zealand can be guaranteed free of genetic engineering (GE) and GMO traits.
Companies are allowed to do research with genetically modified organisms but according to current New Zealand law such organisms must be proven safe before they are allowed for use for farming.
Yet as New Zealand heads into its 2023 election, several national political parties are threatening New Zealand's GE free status by suggesting the revocation of its precautionary legislation.In this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with Claire Bleakley, president of GE Free New Zealand about this push for the dropping of this long cherished GE free status and what and who is behind it.
Claire Bleakley is the president of GE Free New Zealand. GE Free NZ has been active in raising awareness around the dangers of genetic engineering and gene editing over the last 20 years.
Claire and her husband live on a small organic farm in New Zealand. She became actively involved in the GE Free movement when genetically engineered animals and crops, designed to withstand a cocktail of herbicides and insecticidal toxins, were developed.
Claire and GE Free NZ have successfully challenged in court the safety of GE animals and crops.Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
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Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187 -
Marginalized communities are frequently targeted for the placement of toxic projects. Protest and community organizing has been an indispensable strategy in seeking environmental justice and fighting for those living in minority, poor and indigenous communities.
But now, so-called critical infrastructure laws are springing up around the United States in what appears to be a coordinated effort by corporate interests to muzzle protest. These laws seek to criminalize dissent and characterize peaceful protest as acts of terrorism.
On this episode of Breaking Green, we will talk with Basav Sen and Gabrielle Colchete who together authored a July article in In These Times titled, "Cop City and the Escalating War on Environmental Defenders." The story was based on a report they coauthored for the Institute for Policy Studies on the increased criminalization of protest activities.
Basav Sen joined the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), as the Climatic Justice Project Director in February 2017. Prior to joining IPS, Basav worked for about 11 years as a strategic corporate campaign researcher fo the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). He also had experience as a campaigner against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Gabrielle Colchete is a Next Leaders Alum from the Institute for Policy Studies 2020 Fellowship Cohort, where she researched frontline community resistance against fossil fuel projects and the role of corporate interests in increasing state criminalization of protest activities.
Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
Donate securely online hereOr simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187
Photo of Tortuguita Memorial by Don Kimball -
Deforestation of Brazil's Amazon rainforest is a well-known threat to the world's environment, but the loss of natural biodiversity to so-called "green deserts" resulting from expanding non-native eucalyptus plantations for pulp and paper production, is a lesser known ecological and social disaster that is likely to worsen if genetically engineered trees are used.
Spearheaded by Global Justice Ecology Project, the Campaign to STOP GE Trees brought together members from the United States, New Zealand, Ireland, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada in Brazil to document the impacts and meet with communities on the front lines.
The group also met to develop plans for the international campaign to stop the commercial development of genetically engineered trees and to support and highlight opposition to pulp company Suzano's rapid expansion of industrial eucalyptus plantations, and potential use of genetically engineered (GE) eucalyptus trees modified to tolerate toxic herbicides.
GJEP and the Campaign met with Brazilian NGOs, indigenous and Quilombola communities and Landless Worker Movement members in order to document and amplify the voices and concerns of rural communities on the frontlines of resisting the devastating social and ecological impacts of industrial eucalyptus plantations.
On this episode of Breaking Green, we spoke with Anne Petermann. Petermann co- founded Global Justice Ecology Project in 2003. She is the international coordinator of the Campaign to STOP GE Trees, which she also co founded. Petermann is a founding board member of the Will Miller Social Justice Lecture Series. She has been involved in movements for forest protection and indigenous rights since 1991, and the international and national climate justice movements since 2004. She participated in the founding of the Durban group for climate justice in 2004, in Durban, South Africa, and Climate Justice Now in 2007 at the Bali Indonesia UN climate conference. She was adopted as an honorary member of the St. Francis- Sokoki band of the Abenaki in 1992 for her work in support of their struggle for state recognition. In 2000, she received the wild nature award for activist of the year.
Photo by Orin Langelle.
For more information visit: https://globaljusticeecology.org/brazil-2023/
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
Donate securely online hereOr simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187
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On February 3, 2023 a train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, causing an environmental disaster of historic proportions. It was a Norfolk Southern train, which was over a mile long and carrying hazardous materials, including over 100,000 gallons of vinyl chloride. Three days later, a so-called control to burn toxic materials from the crash released an unknown chemical soup into the atmosphere, which continues to affect communities for miles around. Since the derailment, many in East Palestine and neighboring communities have been struggling with the toxic impacts of the chemical contamination as well as a lack of transparency from federal and state agencies.
Background Information on Amanda Kiger
Amanda Kiger is the director of River Valley Organizing a citizens based community organization that works for a safer, cleaner and more community oriented environment in the Appalachian river valley, a region long challenged by environmental degradation. Amanda Kiger has been featured prominently in the media as her organization and members of the East Palestine community seek a meaningful response from state and federal agencies that seem more concerned with the financial well being of Norfolk Southern than the residents.
Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
Donate securely online hereOr simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187
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Ahead of a meeting of African Union Heads of States in Addis Ababa Ethiopia, numerous civil society organizations called on the African Union not to Geoengineer the African Continent.
The organizations noted that geoengineering is a false techno-fix that can only provide an excuse for the Global North to continue relying on fossil-fuel based energy generation in light of the ongoing climate emergency.
The organizations stated that advancing geoengineering technologies distracts countries from their commitments to large emission cuts, responsible consumption and delivering over-due climate finance.
On this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with Dr. Mfoniso Antia of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation.
Dr. Antia is an environmental scientist, researcher and climate justice advocate – She holds a Master of Science Degree in Aquatic Pollution and Toxicology, and a PhD in Environmental Toxicology from the World Bank Africa Centre of Excellence in Public Health and Toxicological Research hosted by University of Port Harcourt.
She works with Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) as a Program Manager and the Project Lead, overseeing Health of Mother Earth Foundation’s learning spaces. Dr. Antia is also the Anglophone coordinator of Africa Technology Assessment Platform, a network to which Health of Mother Earth Foundation is a founding member.
She is also co-leading the Hands Off Mother Earth Africa Working Group on Geoengineering.
Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
Donate securely online hereOr simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187
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It is 90 seconds to midnight on the Doomsday Clock. In large part due to developments in the war in Ukraine, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of the infamous timepiece forward.
Just weeks earlier the Department of Energy announced the first reported controlled fusion reaction that was touted as a breakthrough for national defense and the future of clean energy.
Given the history of The Lawrence Livermore lab that conducted the experiment, there is reason for skepticism.In this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with Dr. Helen Caldicott.
Born in Melbourne, Australia in 1938, Dr Caldicott received her medical degree from the University of Adelaide Medical School in 1961. She founded the Cystic Fibrosis Clinic at the Adelaide Children’s Hospital in 1975 and subsequently was an instructor in pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and on the staff of the Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Boston, Mass., until 1980 when she resigned to work full time on the prevention of nuclear war.In 1971, Dr Caldicott played a major role in Australia’s opposition to French atmospheric nuclear testing in the Pacific; in 1975 she worked with the Australian trade unions to educate their members about the medical dangers of the nuclear fuel cycle, with particular reference to uranium mining.
While living in the United States from 1977 to 1986, she played a major role in re-invigorating as President, Physicians for Social Responsibility, an organization of 23,000 doctors committed to educating their colleagues about the dangers of nuclear power, nuclear weapons and nuclear war. On trips abroad she helped start similar medical organizations in many other countries. The international umbrella group (International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War) won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985.
Dr Caldicott has received many prizes and awards for her work, including the Lannan Foundation’s 2003 Prize for Cultural Freedom and twenty one honorary doctoral degrees. She was personally nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Linus Pauling – himself a Nobel Laureate. The Smithsonian has named Dr Caldicott as one of the most influential women of the 20th Century.
Video of Caldicott's description the effects of Nuclear War.
Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
Donate securely online hereOr simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187
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In December 2022, at the 15th Conference of the Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, 188 countries adopted a new Global Biodiversity Framework to supposedly create strategies to halt biodiversity loss.
The framework has been touted as a sweeping agreement to protect biodiversity by turning 30 percent of the planet’s land and oceans into protected areas by 2030.
While the agreement mentions partnerships with indigenous peoples, however, numerous environmental and human rights groups have criticized it for placing the greatest burden on indigenous peoples, least responsible for biodiversity loss, instead of addressing the real cause of the crisis.
Pointing to research that shows that 80 percent of biodiversity is found on indigenous lands, Survival International criticized the agreement arguing that the best way to protect biodiversity is to protect the land rights of indigenous peoples instead of removing these communities from these new protected areas and banning those who have historically lived in harmony with the land from their ancestral homes and livelihoods.On this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with Fiore Longo of Survival International- an organization formed in 1969 to promote the rights of indigenous peoples as contemporary societies with a right to self-determination.
Fiore Longo is a campaigner at Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples and is the director of Survival International France and Spain. She also coordinates Survival’s conservation campaign, and has visited many communities in Africa and Asia that face human rights abuses in the name of conservation.
Don't miss an episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
Donate securely online here
Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187 -
Founded in 2003, Global Justice Ecology Project believes in the fundamental equality of all peoples and the intrinsic value of the natural world. Global Justice Ecology Project's mission is to identify, expose and address the intertwined root causes of social injustice, ecological destruction, and economic domination.
In this episode of Breaking Green, we talk with Anne Petermann, Executive Director of Global Justice Ecology Project, about current threats to forests and indigenous peoples from attempts to genetically engineer trees for use in plantations and release into the wild. Anne Petermann co-founded Global Justice Ecology Project in 2003. She is the international coordinator of the Campaign to STOP GE trees, which she also co founded. Petermann is also a founding board member of the Will Miller Social Justice Lecture Series.
Petermann has been involved in movements for forest protection and indigenous rights since 1991, and the international and national climate justice movements since 2004. She participated in the founding of the Durban group for climate justice in 2004, in Durban, South Africa, and Climate Justice Now! in 2007, at the Bali Indonesia UN climate conference. She is the author of several reports and numerous articles detailing the dangers of genetically engineered trees, and is a contributor to Truthout, Z Magazine Counterpunch, and numerous others.
She was adopted as an honorary member of the St. Francis-Sokoki band of the Abenaki in 1992 for her work in support of their struggle for state recognition. In 2000, she received the Wild Nature Award for Activist of the Year.
Link to public comment on GE American chestnut
Link to GJEP Press Conference and UN Conference on Biodiversity
The Global Status of Genetically Engineered Tree Development: A Growing Threat
CBAN information on FSC
Stop GE Tree Petition to FSC
Stop GE Tree American Chestnut petition
Don't miss this episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by tax deductible donations from people like you. Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions.
Donate securely online here
Or simply text GIVE to 716-257-4187 -
For decades, the Forest Stewardship Council also known as the FSC has had a core policy of prohibiting the commercial use of genetically engineered or genetically modified trees in its certification program. But that ban is currently under threat as commercial interests push for a plan that would have the FSC overseeing test plots of GE trees in what has euphemistically been called a learning project.
Currently the US government is also considering allowing the release of genetically engineered American chestnut trees into US forests. Along with opponents in North America, Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (also known as CBAN) has noted that this dangerous experiment threatens a spread of GE trees into Canadian forests as well.CBAN has recently released a report The Global Status of Genetically Engineered Tree Development: A Growing Threat, which sheds light on the current status of efforts to genetically engineer trees for release into the wild and use on plantations.
In this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with Lucy Sharratt of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network.
Lucy Sharratt works in Halifax as the Coordinator of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, also known as CBAN. CBAN brings together 16 groups to research, monitor and raise awareness about issues relating to genetic engineering in food and farming. CBAN members include farmer associations, environmental and social justice organizations, and regional coalitions of grassroots groups. Lucy previously worked as a campaigner and researcher on this issue at the Sierra Club of Canada and the Polaris Institute in Ottawa. Lucy also coordinated the International Ban Terminator Campaign which secured a strengthened global moratorium on genetically engineered sterile seed technology.Lucy has a Master’s degree from the Institute of Political Economy at Carleton University and has authored numerous articles in various books on the subject of genetic engineering.
Don't miss this episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.
Report The Global Status of Genetically Engineered Tree Development: A Growing Threat
CBAN information on FSC
Stop GE Tree Petition to FSC
Stop GE Tree American Chestnut petition
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by donations from people like you.
Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions. Simply click here to send a donation or text GIVE to 1 716 257 4187. -
As oil dependent nations seek to shore up their supply while the war between Russia and Ukraine rages, some African Nations seem eager to provide more access to fossil fuels. This was evidenced during the September minister’s meeting in Egypt, when representatives from various African nations called on world leaders to “avoid approaches that encourage abrupt disinvestments from fossil fuels.”
But many in Africa have been fighting for justice in the face of abuses by companies that damage the environment and make the continent second only to Russia when it comes to the hazardous practice of gas flaring.
In this episode of Breaking Green we will talk with renowned Nigerian architect , author and activist Nnimmo Bassey, about what it really means for the health of Africans and the planet when it comes to the exploitation of the so-called resource rich continent. We will also discuss the history of colonialism’s impact on Africa and how the 27th Conference of Parties, that will be held this November in Egypt, is likely to promote false solutions to climate change and refuse to deal in a meaningful way with the climate debt owed to the global south in general, and Africa in particular.
Nnimmo Bassey is a Nigerian architect, environmental activist, author and poet, who chaired Friends of the Earth International from 2008 through 2012 and was executive director of Environmental Rights Action for two decades. His is director of the ecological think-tank, Health of Mother Earth as well as a board member of Global Justice Ecology Project. Nnimmo Bassey was a co-recipient of the 2010 Right Livelihood Award also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” In 2012 he received the Rafto Human Rights Award. He was also one of Time magazine's Heroes of the Environment in 2009.Don't miss this episode and subscribe to Breaking Green wherever you get your podcasts.
Listen to previous Breaking Green episodes critiquing false solutions to climate change promoted by the UN Climate COP and various corporate actors:
• False Solutions to Climate Change
• Carbon Colonialism and REDD
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by donations from people like you.
Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions. Simply click here to send a donation or text GIVE to 1 716 257 4187.
Photo of Nnimmo Bassey by Anne Petermann/GJEP -
During the cold war, the united states military conducted covert weapons development testing in what the Army identified as a "densely populated slum district". The spraying of zinc cadmium sulfide along with what evidence suggests was a radiative substance centered on a region that included the Pruitt Igoe housing complex. The film Target St. Louis, which has won the Urban World Best Documentary award in New York was directed by actor and film maker Damien D. Smith. On this episode of Breaking Green we will talk to Damien, about the film, the research it is based on and the importance of film in shinning a light on such a difficult subject.
Damien was born in St. Louis and now lives as an actor, screen writer and prodcer in Los Angeles. Smith’s stage and television credits include the NAACP Theater Award-winning production of “12×9,” and most recently the television series “Snowfall” on Fx Networks and “The Purge”on USA networks. His directorial debut short narrative film entitled ABOUT THAT…, a powerful look at love through the eyes of a mentally disturbed young man won the Arts with Impact film Award. Smith’s last short film Daddy’s Big Girl won the Gentleman Jack Daniel’s Reel to Real Filmmaker of the Year Award.
This podcast is produced by Global Justice Ecology Project.
Breaking Green is made possible by donations from people like you.
Please help us lift up the voices of those working to protect forests, defend human rights and expose false solutions. Simply click here to send a donation or text GIVE to 1 716 257 4187.
Target St. Louis Vol 1 Trailer
Damien Smith IMDb
IPA press release on St. Louis weapons test
Behind the Fog book by Dr. Lisa Martino-Taylor
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Disclosure: Steve Taylor is married to the author of Behind the Fog. - Show more
