By Kelly Matheson | May 8th, 2012 In 533 A.D., Roman Emperor Justinian asked his top legal scholars to write the most important laws of the Empire. They deemed,
By the law of nature these things are common to all mankind; the air, running water, the sea, and consequently the shores of the sea.
Justinian concluded that these essential, common, natural resources belong to everyone and not just the Emperor or the privileged. Consequently, the Roman Empire protected these resources in trust, for the public. The King of England was the next to adopt this wisdom. Then, at the turn of the 19th century, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed Justinian’s wisdom to protect, by law, our essential common natural resources for the present, as well as future, generations of Americans.
This hallowed legal principle, referred to as the Public Trust Doctrine, is perhaps most simply explained by 11-year-old Xiuhtezcatl Martinez:
Federal agencies understand that public trust [...]
Continue reading TRUST Colorado: Understanding What It Means to Protect Our Atmosphere
By Kelly Matheson | April 20th, 2012 If we think about it, we can all remember a moment when we realized something was fundamentally wrong with our environment. For me, it was late spring and I was in my front yard in our middle-class neighborhood, in middle America, in the full mid-morning sun. I think I was about nine years old. While I don’t remember precisely what triggered my thoughts it was likely my science class where we were learning about pollution.
Glori Dei Filippone, Des Moines, Iowa. Glori is suing the State of Iowa to protect the atmosphere we all share.
While laying on my back on my sloping front lawn, I was staring at the soaring blue sky. I looked and looked and then closed my eyes tight to ensure I would always remember the deep blue color that I saw that day. I did this over and over again because I was scared that [...]
Continue reading Stories of TRUST: Celebrating Earth Day with Two Women From Iowa
By Guest Blogger | April 11th, 2012 By Achungmei Kamei
Since independence in 1947, tens of milions of Indians have been displaced in the name of development. They have been forcibly uprooted from their homes, farmlands, fishing areas and forests to make way for dam reservoirs, irrigation projects, mines, plantations, highways, and tourist resorts. Reportedly less than 20% have ever been rehabilitated.
The forced eviction of communities from their homes and habitat which is often accompanied by violence and intimidation is a phenomenon that has reached an unprecedented scale and continues to accelerate across India and in particular in my home region in the north-east. In many instances these forced evictions are initiated by the government – often in collusion with landowners, land mafia, businesses and others and without the appropriate consultation with the communities affected. Most in fact do not receive compensation, alternate land and housing sites, and livelihood opportunities.
This is the second of [...]
Continue reading Airport Expansion in North-East India Forcibly Evicts 17 Families
By Bukeni Waruzi | March 8th, 2012 Today the world celebrates the 101st International Women’s Day (begun in 1911). This year’s theme, declared by the United Nations, is “Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and Poverty,” as highlighted in this message from the UN Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon.
In countries around the world, rural women and girls are the main breadwinners in their families, in addition to being the main agricultural workforce in their communities. Yet their work is unpaid and they endure immeasurable sacrifice for their community and their families.
Rural Women and Girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The situation of rural women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is very challenging as they don’t have regular access to health and maternal care. Customary laws and practices are very discriminatory towards women, for example, women don’t have the right to inherit properties, and access to education is mostly limited [...]
Continue reading Rural Women and Girls of Eastern Congo Seek Justice as World Celebrates International Women’s Day
By Priscila Néri | March 5th, 2012 In December, we brought you a Video the Government of Rio de Janeiro Didn’t Want You To See and showed you how our partner activists in Rio were confronting Olympics organizers on the forced evictions of poor communities in Rio ahead of the 2016 Olympics.
Today, what the Rio government didn’t (and still doesn’t) want you to see became a frontpage story (and video) on the The New York Times. Noting the roughly 170,000 people at risk of forced evictions throughout Brazil due to upcoming major sporting events, the Times highlighted the resistance by affected communities and their use of “handheld video cameras and social media to get their messages across” in an environment where “favela residents often do not learn their homes could be razed until they are literally marked for removal.”
This article is an important spotlight for the communities fighting evictions on the ground, many of whom have [...]
Continue reading NYTimes Reports on Forced Evictions in Rio, But Serious Questions Remain
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