20 Years of Achievements

When you hear news about the International Criminal Court (ICC) bringing another tyrant to justice, you can know, as a supporter of EarthAction (EA), that you helped make this happen. Just last week, Laurent Gbagbo, ex-President of the Ivory Coast, became the first former head of state to be taken into custody by the ICC.  He is being investigated for the killings, rapes and other abuses committed during the four-month conflict triggered by his refusal to cede power after national elections when the UN and other international bodies recognized another Presidential candidate as the victor. The ICC is playing its part to show that even those at the highest levels of power cannot escape justice when implicated in grave crimes. Between 1993 and 1995, EarthAction carried out 4 global campaigns that helped create the International Criminal Court.

When you breathe easier because over 80% of the ozone-depleting substances listed in the international treaty called the Montreal Protocol have been phased out, you can know you helped make this happen. This was the focus of EarthAction’s first global campaign in 1992.

When you visit, read about, or see photos of the magnificent beauty and biodiversity in Clayoquot Clayoquot Sound
Sound, British Columbia, Canada, the Lope Forest Preserve in Gabon, or the Imataca Forest Reserve in Venezuaela, you can know you helped preserve these verdant forests. In 1993, 1996, and 1999, EarthAction’s campaigns generated the international life-saving attention that saved these forests that were slated for the chopping block.

When you hear about successful efforts to stabilize our global climate, you know you have helped. Since 1993, EarthAction has carried out 12 campaigns focusing global attention and action on this critically important issue.

In addition, with your support, EarthAction has provided the following leadership:

  • In 2010 and 2011, EarthAction’s campaigns generated global action in support of local Russian environmentalists working to preserve the Khimki Forest in Moscow, and the indigenous Kuy community to preserve the Prey Lang Forest in Cambodia. The Prey Lang forest supports the lives and livelihoods of over 200,000 people. A demonstration from the Prey Lang Network
  • In 2010, EarthAction relaunched and revitalized 2020 Action, sending out monthly Action postcards throughout the U.S on peace and the environment issues.
  • From 2009 to the present, EarthAction has sponsored The Elders Project preserving and continuing the wisdom knowledge of the indigenous peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta region of Colombia.
  • In 2009 and 2010 EarthAction sponsored the Endangered Languages Project that supported local people, primarily in Siberia, to preserve their disappearing languages and cultures. 
  • From 2008 to the present, EarthAction has been home to and provided leadership for the Alliance for Renewable Energy promoting the world’s most effective renewable policies throughout North America.
  • From 2003 to 2007 EarthAction was a Founding Partner and helped create the World Future Council, a global forum to protect the rights of future generations.
  • In 2002 and 2003 EarthAction sent out over 100,000 Action Kits as part of our four-part global campaign in support of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Worldwide, as a result of these campaigns, more children, especially girls, stay in school longer, there are fewer child soldiers, and fewer child laborers, and thereis less violence against street children.
  • In 2001 and 2002, EarthAction laid the groundwork for the e-Parliament, now the Climate Parliament, a network of the world’s national legislators that implement solutions to climate change.
  • Throughout the 1990’s, EarthAction took part in and influenced many UN conferences including the Earth Summit in Rio, the Social Summit, the Women’s Summits in Cairo and Beijing, the Habitat Conference, and the Earth Summit Plus 5.
  • In 1997, we successfully focused on getting the US Senate to ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention.
  • In 1996, we helped get 122 countries to ratify the International Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Treaty that eliminates or severely restricts production and use of the world’s most dangerous pesticides and industrial chemicals.
  • In 1994 & 1995, EA did several campaigns that helped prevent a civil war in Nigeria and return the government from military control to a democracy.
  • In 1994, we influenced the final vote that passed an amendment to the Basel Convention on toxic wastes that stopped the dumping of toxic wastes from rich to poor countries.
  • In 1993, EA was part of a global campaign that resulted in an historic opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that ruled in 1996 that the threat or use of nuclear weapons is generally illegal, and that countries have an obligation to conclude negotiations on their elimination. EarthAction Desertification Campaign
  • From 1993 to 2006, EarthAction carried out 14 campaigns and played a significant role in building
    awareness of and support for the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). In the U.S., EA spent three years working to gain support for the Treaty from then Senator Jesse Helms (R-

    SC), Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. With his Committee’s support, the U.S. Senate joined over 180 countries that ratified this treaty—the first UN treaty to be ratified by the Senate in over a decade.

EarthAction wouldn’t have existed and couldn’t have accomplished anything without the generous support of people and organizations worldwide. We are grateful to everyone who has contributed to and taken part in our work and campaigns.

“Participation, that’s what’s going to save the human race.” — Pete Seeger

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