GLOBAL JUSTICE ECOLOGY PROJECT INC

Global Justice Ecology Project (GJEP) explores and exposes the intertwined root causes of social injustice, ecological destruction, and economic domination.

GJEP envisions a world in which all societies are justly and equitably governed with full participation by an engaged and informed populace living in harmony with the natural world and one another.

We work toward the fundamental equality of all peoples and the intrinsic value of the natural world. Our program work is guided by these principles:
• Confronting oppression, challenging power elites, and amplifying the voices of the least powerful among us.
• Championing diversity and equal rights to break down barriers and open doors to common goals and ideas.
• Working in cooperation, not competition, to build grassroots power.

We accomplish our mission by:

• Prioritizing campaigns that are key leverage points for advancing systemic change.
• Linking struggles and strengthening diverse movements with strategic action, information, and analysis.

Strategies:

• Maintain an uncompromising stance and keep the bar high.
• Make systemic connections through a holistic analysis.
• Build strong bonds of trust with Indigenous Peoples and their organizations.
• Be accountable to grassroots organizations and communities.
• Use direct action as a strategic tool to leverage power.
• Be efficient and effective.
• Win.

GJEP was founded in 2003 by Anne Petermann and Orin Langelle, activists with decades of experience in the environmental and social justice movements, on local, national and international fronts. They saw the need for a project grounded in an understanding that environmental degradation, war, the destruction of civil rights and liberties, and economic and social injustice were not isolated issues, and needed to be addressed at their common root causes.

Our programs:

Campaign to STOP GE Trees: We founded the first campaign against GE trees in 2000 with the goal of protecting forests, biodiversity and rural communities from the potentially catastrophic impacts of GE trees. We use the cross-cutting issue of GE trees to support and build power on related issues ranging from the rights and autonomy of Indigenous Peoples, forest restoration, to challenging false solutions to climate change such as bioenergy from GE trees.

Strategic Media: Climate change links many social and ecological injustice issues. It also offers clear opportunities to expose the intertwined root causes of these issues. We strategically use mainstream and alternative media to expose the root causes of social and ecological injustice. We amplify the voices of front line communities fighting the impacts of climate change, the fossil fuels industry and land grabs linked to false solutions to climate change such as industrial biofuels.

We partner with Margaret Prescod's Sojourner Truth show on KPFK Pacifica Radio (Los Angeles) since November 2009, producing weekly "Earth Segments," as well as weekly interviews on important environmental news. We also host a New Voices on Climate Change Speakers Bureau. Finally, Langelle Photography uses the power of photojournalism to expose social and ecological injustice. The point of Langelle Photography is to place photographs into the context of social struggle; the struggle for societal transformation toward justice, equity and ecological balance. PhotoLangelle.org

Key Accomplishments

Stop GE Trees Campaign:
• Created and led a major international campaign against GE trees, which has successfully prevented their large-scale commercial release since 2000.
• Organized the largest ever protest against GE trees at the international Tree Biotechnology 2013 conference in Asheville, NC in May 2013
• Won a decision from the UN Convention on Biological Diversity warning countries of the social and ecological dangers of GE trees
• Assembled a legal team to challenge USDA approval of GE eucalyptus trees, which discouraged investment and prevented GE tree company ArborGen from going public on the NASDAQ in 2011. All but one co-owner of ArborGen have since divested their holdings.
• Consulted on the creation of an award-winning documentary “A Silent Forest:The Growing Threat, Genetically Engineered Trees,” narrated by internationally renowned geneticist Dr. David Suzuki; and the updated Synthetic Forests.
• Brought major media attention to the dangers of GE trees, including a front-page story in the Washington Post, and articles/features in the New York Times, Bloomberg News, Christian Science Monitor, Charlotte Observer, Memphis Appeal, NPR’s Living on Earth program, and Jim Hightower Radio, among numerous others
• Cited frequently by industry leaders as a major obstacle to GE tree research and development
• Published scientific white paper on the risks and threats from GE trees called "Biotechnology for Forest Health? The Test Case of the Genetically Engineered American Chestnut"

Global Justice Media Project, Climate Justice and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights:
• Worked with media to amplify voices of impacted communities, social movements and grassroots groups. Since 2004 took part in international fora, including the UN Climate Convention, Biodiversity Convention, UN Forum on Indigenous Issues, the World Social Forum and others where we succeeded in featuring these voices in hundreds of newswires and media outlets around the world, reaching millions.
• Co-founded Durban Group for Climate Justice in 2004; Climate Justice Now! in 2007; Climate Justice Action in 2008.
• Used the power of photojournalism to help prevent the forced relocation of Amador Hernandez, an Indigenous community in the Lacandon Jungle of Chiapas, Mexico in 2011.
• Produced the film “A Darker Shade of Green,” in 2012 to showcase Indigenous Peoples’ resistance to UN REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
• Helped organize the historic Peoples’ Assembly and Reclaim Power march out at the 2009 UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen.
• Exposed corporate influence on UN climate and biodiversity negotiations. Highlighted the exclusion of Indigenous Peoples, social movements and other stakeholders from UN decision-making.
• Organized the North American Forest & Climate Movement Convergence in 2019.
• Documented Mapuche Peoples re-occupation of their ancestral lands in Chile in 2019.