EarthAction

In the 11th Hour Court Halts Copper Mine From Desecrating Native American Tribes' Ancestral Grounds

 

An elder of the Tohono O’odham Nation speaks out against Hudbay Minerals’ proposed copper mine.

 

Tucson, AZ — Last night a judge ruled in favor of three Native American Tribes’ challenge to the U.S. Forest Service’s approval of Hudbay Minerals’ plan to raze the Tribes’ ancestral lands to construct a mile-wide open-pit copper mine in Arizona’s Santa Rita Mountains. These public lands hold thousands of years of the Tribes’ cultural heritage, including ancestral burial grounds, ancient village sites, and sacred springs. The Forest Service assumed Hudbay had a right to obliterate these public lands to pave the way for what would be the third largest copper mine in the United States — and quick profits for the company. The court fundamentally disagreed, holding that the Forest Service’s assumption was a “crucial error” that “tainted the Forest Service’s evaluation of the Rosemont Mine from the start.” Accordingly, the court threw out the Forest Service’s decision, preventing Hudbay from moving forward. Earthjustice is representing the Tohono O’odham Nation, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, and the Hopi Tribe in court.

“This is a victory for the Nation and all of Southern Arizona,” said Ned Norris Jr., Chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation. “The devastation that the Rosemont mine would bring to our land, water, and cultural resources is well-documented and cannot be allowed to happen. The Nation will continue to fight to ensure that our sacred lands and the region’s water are protected.”

Hudbay Minerals’ plans — now stopped in their tracks by the court’s ruling — included clearing dozens of known archeological sites in the Santa Ritas that include ancestral burial sites. The company planned to target Gaylor Ranch, a historic Hokokam village, proposing to completely excavate this site and remove the remains of the Tribes’ ancestors within the first few months of construction. Hudbay Minerals intended to remove human remains, funerary objects, sacred items, and objects of cultural patrimony by digging backhoe trenches, mechanically stripping the site, and shovel stripping the land.

“The Pascua Yaqui Tribe is pleased with Judge Soto’s decision to protect the cultural and environmental resources that are so sacred to our people. We are stewards of the land, air, and water and must continue to protect our environment not only for our tribal members but for the community-at-large,” said Robert Valencia, Chairman of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe. “We are grateful to our partners in this effort — the Center for Biological Diversity, Save the Scenic Santa Ritas, Arizona Mining Reform Coalition, and the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter as well as the Tribal leadership from the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Hopi Tribe — who have stood side-by-side with us to ensure that these sacred sites are protected for us, for our children, and for generations to come.”

The Tribes were again facing the threat of irreversible cultural destruction after suffering similar abuse in the 1980s, when the Anamax Mining Company proposed to mine the same site. The company mishandled the burial grounds, and while they removed some of the ancestral remains, they left graves and the village grounds open to the elements when the company went bankrupt and abandoned the site a few years later. The Tribes’ ancestral remains were shipped to the University of Arizona, where they were warehoused for thirty years while the Tribes fought to repatriate them. They were only returned to the Tohono O’odham Nation several years ago.

Trump administration greased the wheels for the massive mine, disregarding environmental laws and the unacceptable cultural destruction. The Forest Service assumed, without any basis in fact or law, that Hudbay had a right to destroy these public lands to construct its copper mine. Several months ago, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers abruptly granted a critical Clean Water Act permit for the mine, ignoring over eight years of opposition from the Environmental Protection Agency, Native American Tribes, and the Corps’ own Los Angeles District (which recommended denial of the permit in 2016).

Hudbay Minerals has a track record of trampling indigenous and tribal rights. The company has been accused of profound human rights abuses at their Fenix nickel mine in Guatemala.

“This ruling affirms the fundamental principle that nobody gets a free pass to destroy our public lands,” said Stu Gillespie, staff attorney with Earthjustice. “As the Court explained, the Forest Service provided no basis for assuming Hudbay had a right to destroy thousands of years of the Tribes’ cultural heritage. Because this crucial error tainted the entire process, the Court threw out the Forest Service’s decision and stopped Rosemont from destroying these sacred public lands.”

A MINE SO MASSIVE IT WOULD PIERCE THE AQUIFER

The Rosemont Copper Mine is slated for public and private lands in Arizona’s Santa Rita Mountains. The mine is so colossal it would entail dumping 1.9 billion tons of toxic mining waste on public lands, burying over 3,500 acres of National Forest System lands that contain dozens of prehistoric tribal sites.

Rosemont would also excavate a half-mile deep pit that would puncture the regional aquifer, reversing groundwater flows and depleting surface flows at multiple springs, seeps, and streams into perpetuity. These impacts would be felt as far away as Tucson, Arizona.

The Santa Ritas are home to the last jaguar population in the United States. The iconic “El Jefe” jaguar has been caught on film over the years in these mountains.

 

From EarthJustice. Learn more here.

Protect Our Species

“In nature, nothing exists alone.”
— Rachel Carson, 1962

Nature’s gifts to our planet are the millions of species that we know and love, and many more that remain to be discovered. Unfortunately, human beings have irrevocably upset the balance of nature and, as a result, the world is facing the greatest rate of extinction since we lost the dinosaurs more than 60 million years ago. But unlike the fate of the dinosaurs, the rapid extinction of species in our world today is the result of human activity.

The unprecedented global destruction and rapid reduction of plant and wildlife populations are directly linked to causes driven by human activity: climate change, deforestation, habitat loss, trafficking and poaching, unsustainable agriculture, pollution and pesticides to name a few. The impacts are far reaching.

If we do not act now, extinction may be humanity’s most enduring legacy. Here are some quick facts on the current wave of extinction and additional information about this problem here.

All living things have an intrinsic value, and each plays a unique role in the complex web of life. We must work together to protect endangered and threatened species: bees, coral reefs, elephants, giraffes, insects, whales and more.

The good news is that the rate of extinctions can still be slowed, and many of our declining, threatened and endangered species can still recover if we work together now to build a united global movement of consumers, voters, educators, faith leaders, and scientists to demand immediate action.

Earth Day Network is asking people to join our Protect our Species campaign. Our goals are to:

• Educate and raise awareness about the accelerating rate of extinction of millions of species and the causes and consequences of this phenomenon.
• Achieve major policy victories that protect broad groups of species as well as individual species and their habitats.
• Build and activate a global movement that embraces nature and its values.
• Encourage individual actions such as adopting plant based diet and stopping pesticide and herbicide use.

Click here to view our library of resources

Click here to view our partners

Sign up here to receive updates on how to Protect Our Species and new ways to get involved. Please donate to support our campaign.

Taken from Earth Day Network. Learn more here

Ethiopia plants 350m trees in a day to help tackle climate crisis

National ‘green legacy’ initiative aims to reduce environmental degradation

About 350m trees have been planted in a single day in Ethiopia, according to a government minister.

The planting is part of a national “green legacy” initiative to grow 4bn trees in the country this summer by encouraging every citizen to plant at least 40 seedlings. Public offices have reportedly been shut down in order for civil servants to take part.

The project aims to tackle the effects of deforestation and climate change in the drought-prone country. According to the UN, Ethiopia’s forest coverage was just 4% in the 2000s, down from 35% a century earlier.

 

Ethiopia’s minister of innovation and technology, Dr Getahun Mekuria, tweeted estimates of the number of trees planted throughout the day. By early evening on Monday, he put the number at 353m.

The previous world record for the most trees planted in one day stood at 50m, held by India since 2016.

Lord of the Rain: one man's fight against climate catastrophe – video

Dr Dan Ridley-Ellis, the head of the centre for wood science and technology at Edinburgh Napier University, said: “Trees not only help mitigate climate change by absorbing the carbon dioxide in the air, but they also have huge benefits in combating desertification and land degradation, particularly in arid countries. They also provide food, shelter, fuel, fodder, medicine, materials and protection of the water supply.

“This truly impressive feat is not just the simple planting of trees, but part of a huge and complicated challenge to take account of the short- and long-term needs of both the trees and the people. The forester’s mantra ‘the right tree in the right place’ increasingly needs to consider the effects of climate change, as well as the ecological, social, cultural and economic dimension.”

Written by Anna Ploszajski. Originally appeared in The Guardian on 7/29/2019

Want to be Part of the International Children's Peace Prize?

Nominate a young changemaker for the Children's Peace Prize 2019!

The International Children's Peace Prize is awarded annually to a child who fights courageously for children's rights. Winning the International Children's Peace Prize puts your changemaker in news headlines around the world. Last year, the winners' message reached more than 1.2 billion people!

Nominate your changemaking candidate now! Last year we received 121 nominations from 45 countries around the world. We are looking for young changemakers between 12 and 17 around the world. The nomination process is simple, but please make sure to check the requirements beforehand.

Download the nomination form here (Download 2019-nomination-form-en-1)), upload it on the website or send to nominations@childrenspeaceprize.org. The deadline for entries is March 15th 2019. 

We encourage you to share this message with your network!

If you have any questions or comments, please reach out here.

2018 EarthAction Report & Request

December 2018

 

Dear Friend of EarthAction,

Our current President and his allies, with their domestic and foreign policies, judicial appointments, rhetoric, insults, and name-calling have set our country and the world on a very dangerous course.

EarthAction has a key role to play in limiting the damage and getting the world back on track to a more just, sustainable, and peaceful world. That's why we need your support now, more than ever.

With your contributions over these last 26 years, EarthAction has made real progress in finding solutions to many of the world’s most pressing issues. Our work has helped to educate children around the world, provide health care to women, protect the lives of indigenous peoples and immigrants, stabilize our climate, and reduce the risk of chemical, biological and nuclear wars.

As one of our generous friends, you have—and will continue to play—a critical role in changing our national and global political landscape forever. I urge you to make a donation that will enable us to continue and expand our work in 2019.

There is so much more we can do, with your help. This is the time of year when many of us make our most meaningful donations to help change the world. I hope you’ll include EarthAction on your list of causes to support. Click here to contribute on our website, or send a check to EarthAction, PO Box 63, Amherst, MA 01004. Please make the most generous gift you can.

EarthAction remains unique in its ability to build global political will and create positive solutions on such a wide diversity of issues. Whenever there are opportunities to make change towards a world with more peace, justice, and environmental protection, we are at work making sure people understand the issues, appreciate what’s at stake, and know how to add their voice for change.

Your support is what makes it possible.

With gratitude for your generosity,

Lois Barber
Co-Founder & Executive Director

 

P.S.  Can't help spilling the beans a little … as you'll read in our EarthAction 2018 Campaign Report, Best Climate Solutions has given its 2018 International Award to our Climate Scorecard Spotlight Project for our “effectiveness in Communicating Climate Change Threats and Opportunities.” I'm very proud and very grateful for your help to make this possible. This is one more example of what we're doing together for democracy, peace, and the environment. Your donation today will help us continue that critical work in 2019. Click here to donate. Many thanks.

Strengthen local forest rights for best climate solutions

A group of tribal voluntary forest guards in Thengapalli forest in Odisha (Photo by Ranjan K Panda)

India needs to proactively include indigenous communities and forest dwellers in its efforts to restore and expand forest cover to sequester carbon, and not exclude them from forestry management

In India, a new wave of admiration about our traditional knowledge has emerged in public discourse, but it is not reflected in the ways the State wants to manage our forests. Politicians, bureaucrats and intellectuals are holding forth on importance of indigenous knowledge and practices. For instance, the Indian government has been championing the cause of Yoga in the international arena, and has successfully put it on the global map by pushing for an International Yoga Day. Similarly, traditional medicines including Ayurveda have become a buzzword among policymakers.

In this rush to promote India’s traditional knowledge and practices, policymakers have seemingly forgotten another longstanding, rich tradition of India. Indians, especially the indigenous communities living in and around forests, have been living with and protecting India’s biodiversity-rich forests for thousands of years, with a vast repository of lived and traditional knowledge about forest ecosystems.

Most importantly, many of them have demonstrated scientific methods of conservation much before modern forest science emerged. Thousands of villages across India have been protecting natural forests for decades. For example, over 10,000 communities in Odisha have been protecting state-owned forests, often through voluntary labour, and have a deep understanding and commitment to conservation. The vast number of scared groves across the country remains a living testimony to the traditional conservation ethics of Indian tribal communities and forest dwellers.

Ranjan K. Panda, from India Climate Dialogue

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IPHRDs Are Not Terrorists

The Cordillera Peoples Alliance in cooperation with the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club held a press conference last March 31st to condemn the DOJ's terrorist proscription of past and present CPA leaders, environment defenders, indigenous rights activists and human rights advocates.

Members of the Baguio City Council also presented the resolution expressing their support for the 7 Baguio activists saying that they are actually fighting for noble causes that benefit the people.

The CPA also announced the upcoming celebration of the 34th Cordillera Day in Baguio City that aims to spread awareness of issues that affect the region. Specifically, they aim to highlight the issue of government's tyranny against the people. #IPHRDsNotTerrorists

Sign the Petition

Philippine President seeks to have 600 Indigenous leaders "tagged" as terrorists! Emergency Response Needed!

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz. Image Credit: Eco-Business

The human rights situation in the Philippines is deteriorating with the widespread cases of extrajudicial killings and ongoing attacks against voices critical to the government.

A petition was recently filed in court by the Philippine State Prosecutor of the Department of Justice (DOJ), that seeks to have a number of indigenous peoples' leaders and human rights defenders declared as terrorists and outlaws pursuant to the National Security Act of 2007.

The list of alleged terrorists includes the following renowned indigenous leaders and human rights defenders from the Cordillera Region:

1. Ms. Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, former Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues;
2. Ms. Joan Carling, Co-convener of the Indigenous Peoples Major Group on the Sustainable Development Goals, former Secretary General of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) and member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues;
3. Ms. Joanna Cariño, member of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) Advisory Council and SANDUGO co-chairperson
4. Mr. Windel Bolinget, Chairperson of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA);
5. Atty. Jose Molintas, human rights lawyer and former member of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP);
6. Ms. Beverly Longid, global coordinator for the Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation;
7. Ms. Jeanette Ribaya Cawiding, Regional Coordinator of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers - Cordillera; and
8. Mr. Sherwin De Vera, Regional Coordinator of DEFEND- Ilocos and member of the Save The Abra River Movement (STARM)

An estimate of around ten (10) indigenous peoples' leaders and human right advocates from Mindanao are also included in this list.

TAKE ACTION:

ORGANIZATIONS: Add your name to a letter to President Duterte (see below). Email your organization's name and country to: communications@indigenouspeoples-sdg.org and to robie@indigenouspeoples-sdg.org. The deadline for endorsements is MARCH 18, 2018.

INDIVIDUALS: Sign on to this letter at Change.Org using this link: 1. H.E. Rodrigo Duterte President of the Republic Malacañang Palace, JP Laurel St., San Miguel : STOP THE HARASSMENT & INTIMIDATION OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES' LEADERS / HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS.

EVERYONE: Send letters of concern to the Philippine Embassies in your respective countries and the government officials listed in the letter of concern below. 

Kindly inform the Indigenous group <communications@indigenouspeoples-sdg.org> of any actions you have undertaken so they can share this as part of their campaign.

Thank you!

Download FINAL Letter of Concern Phils-March12-2

7 Days in the Life of Avaaz...

Colombian Deputy Minister receives Avaaz petition delivery last week :)

We may have won our campaign to stop Colombia’s massive deforestation!

The team and members brought a million-strong petition (and several cute kids) to a key minister this week, and got 42 election candidates signed on to our 5-point forest pledge! After satellite pictures we obtained showed massive deforestation in Colombia, the President flew over the land we were campaigning for, and it looks like we’re going to win! Here's an update (in Spanish) from Ana Sofia.

Who wouldn't want to protect this?

We might help win the largest ocean reserve in the Atlantic!

Last week we met with the key official pushing this ocean-saving plan at the Ministry of Environment in Brazil. As we entered the room, they were looking at the final draft of the project and the official told us: “We need Avaaz to win this! When are you launching this campaign?!” The minister actually wanted our help to win over the rest of the Cabinet and the President! Video update from Diego (in Portuguese) here.

Our fake far-right leader on his fake tour of southern Italy got over 100 media hits!

We worked our hearts out to stop a far-right win in Italy!

With a fascist-led coalition close to winning the election on Sunday, we were flat-out for a month -- reaching millions of voters in close races over email, on Facebook, and in the media, asking them to cooperate across a splintered opposition, and vote for the candidate most likely to defeat the far-right. Our polling showed our impact, and Avaaz was constantly attacked in the right-wing press (e.g. here and here) and our Senior Campaigner Luca got threatening phone calls.

The election largely turned on the South, so last week we also staged a hilarious fake tour of the South by the far-right leader -- who once said Southerners smelled worse than dogs -- that generated over 100 media articles! Examples here, here and here, and here’s an update from Luca (in Italian). The media likes to hype the fascists, but the result was a clean sweep of the south and the far-right coalition is FAR short of the majority we feared!

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Handcarts vs. Drudgery

Photo from KoruCarts Facebook Page

Some 40 million people (mostly women and children) frequently carry heavy loads, often to the detriment of their health, security, education and development (UNDP). 37% of Africa's population is at least 30 minutes away from a water source (WEDO).

Many organisations are drilling for water, and providing pumps closer to communities, though this can produce mechanical and social problems of its own. The water must still be contained and carried, often more frequently than before.

What can we do to reduce the load-carrying drudgery that is impeding progress for so many?

Supermarkets provide us with shopping carts so we can easily gather and carry our goods. Would it not be reasonable and appropriate, if the load-carriers were provided with their own form of shopping cart, a durable handcart?

Unfortunately, such handcarts are rarely available in areas where they are most needed, and wheelbarrows make a poor substitute.

Non-profit KoruCarts were created to - 

• Design and test a range of suitable and acceptable handcarts.
• Provide handcart-related advise and technical services.
• Promote the concept of handcart distribution for developmental purposes.
• Establish partnerships with governments and humanitarian organisations.

We now offer a range of handcart designs that you can import or have made locally.

This is the steel KoruCart Alpha model, which can be made in four capacities and wheel sizes -

Other styles and materials are available, including sheet-metal and wickerwork.

Please consider how EarthAction and KoruCarts could defeat drudgery, using handcarts.

You can contact KoruCarts at korucarts@gmail.

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