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The Sierra Club believes that in order to protect the environment worldwide, the public must be involved. The Club's International Program seeks to insure that individuals' rights to speak out on behalf of the environment are recognized and respected, and to help environmental advocates organize in an effective manner to petition their government. This is possible in two ways: by educating Americans about the link between human rights and environmental issues; and by assisting citizens of other nations to protect the natural environment for the benefit of everyone. The Sierra Club's strategy is to focus on nations where human rights abuses are being committed against environmental activists and to inform the public about these abuses in order to expose the guilty parties. Human rights violations are less likely to occur in the broad daylight of international attention. We are leading efforts to encourage international criticism of the offending nations and corporations, and to urge the U.S. State Department to include environmental protection in the mainstream of American foreign policy. The convergence of human rights and environmental abuse may indeed be a crossroad for the environmental movement. It provides the opportunity for two formidable activist coalitions, human rights advocates and environmentalists, to successfully pool their experience for a common purpose--protecting the environmental health of the planet by protecting the civil rights of its inhabitants. Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use |
