COEJL ACTION ALERT:

Tu B'Shvat Environmental Defender Action - Protecting Human Rights and the Environment Worldwide (1/8/01)

Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), Sierra Club and COEJL join together to launch the first ever Tu B'Shvat Environmental Defender Action

YOUR VOICE NEEDED TO DEFEND HUMAN RIGHTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISTS

Dear Jewish friend of the environment:

This Tu B'Shvat (February 8), as you rejoice and celebrate the Jewish New Year of Trees, please take a few minutes to help environmentalists and indigenous communities who are not free to defend the earth. In many parts of the world, the basic human rights of environmental activists are violated as they fight to lend the earth a voice and protect their communities from environmental devastation. Environmental defenders have been subjected to harassment, persecution and have even been killed by governments and corporations colluding to silence their protests.

To mark the celebration of Tu B’Shvat, Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), Sierra Club and the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) have joined together to launch their first ever Tu B'Shvat Environmental Defender Action this February. The three organizations ask that Jewish communities and committed individuals across the country join them as they defend defenders of  the environment in Mexico, Burma, Chad and Cameroon.  These non-violent activists are battling against logging in old growth forests, oil spills, and the destruction of tropical forests by oil and gas pipeline projects.   Environmental defenders, like the ones featured in this action, have been subjected to harassment, imprisonment, persecution and have even been killed by governments and corporations colluding to silence their protests. 

This Tu B’Shvat we ask you to help take action to secure the safety of environmental activists and indigenous peoples who have been subjected to human rights violations simply for non-violent advocacy of the protection of the environment and their support for human rights.  Amnesty International USA, the Sierra Club and COEJL ask that you send postcards or letters on behalf of  these environmental defenders in Burma, Chad, Cameroon and Mexico as part of your holiday celebrations.

• CASE # 1 – UNICAL benefits from oppressive climate in Burma.  The environment and activists pay the price.

• CASE #2 – Exxon’s proposed oil pipeline in Cameroon puts communities and environment at risk.

• – Rodolfo Montiel and Teodoro Cabrera, two Mexican environmental activists and farmers protesting logging were arrested, tortured by Mexican military, and sentenced to prison.

As part of your holiday celebrations, AIUSA, the Sierra Club and COEJL ask that you send postcards or letters on behalf of these endangered environmental defenders.  Background information, the full case descriptions, and writing instructions are available on the Amnesty International USA website. Preprinted postcard versions of the action are available to Hillels and other groups planning communal Tu B’Shvat activities.  For more information or to request the preprinted postcards, please contact Josh Bloom, a member of AIUSA’s Interfaith Network for Human Rights Steering Committee, at jbloom@hsph.harvard.edu or 617-783-5946.

LOCAL COEJL TU B'SHVAT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDER ACTION PROGRAMS

Southeastern Michigan COEJL. Seder on  February 11. 248.642.5393

Greater Boston COEJL. Hike on February 11. 617.457.8670

COEJL of Southern California. Participating in a Tu B'Shvat Festival at the Shalom Institute. 818.889.5500

Bay COEJL.  TBA. 510.839.2900 x 271

Northwest Jewish Environmental Project. TBA. 206.256.0264