About Us

What differentiates Global Justice Ecology Project from most groups is our holistic approach to organizing. We believe that the compartmentalization of issues is enabling corporations and conservative forces to keep movements for change divided and powerless. GJEP's mission is to explore and expose the intertwined root causes of social injustice, ecological destruction and economic domination with the aim of building bridges between social justice, environmental justice and ecological justice groups to strengthen their collective efforts. Within this framework, our programs focus on Indigenous Peoples' rights, protection of native forests and climate justice. We use the issue of climate change to demonstrate these interconnections.

Our Programs:

Future of Forests Initiative: For details about this global initiative to protect forests and defend the rights of forest dependent peoples, click here

STOP GE Trees Campaign: The goal of this campaign is a global ban on the release of genetically engineered trees (also called GM trees or GMO trees) into the environment. For more information about the dangers of GE trees and about the campaign, click here

Climate Connections Program and Strategic Media: To read our statement on climate change and climate justice, click here.

For more information on our Media Programs, click here

Rebel Eyes Book Project: GJEP Co-Director/Strategist Orin Langelle is producing a book chronicling four decades of his concerned photography. To view some of Orin's photos, go to the photo gallery on this website, and visit his photo essays on our Climate Connections blog.

Chiapas-California Climate Justice Program: The U.S. state of California is attempting to purchase forest carbon offsets from the Mexican state of Chiapas. This plan is threatening the well-being of some of the Indigenous communities that live in the Lacandon Jungle.

The Goal of our Chiapas-California Climate Justice Program is to initiate a bi-national organizing effort between impacted communities in Chiapas, Mexico and California to successfully challenge the unjust, market-based California-Chiapas REDD deal (signed in November 2010), and other unjust climate policies in California.

The carbon offset provisions of this REDD deal (touted as a model for climate legislation worldwide) will allow ongoing industrial pollution of poor California communities, and are already causing forced relocations of Indigenous communities in Chiapas for expansion of "protected areas" and agrofuel plantations.

Our project started in Chiapas where we interviewed human rights activists, officials, Indigenous leaders, and Zapatista communities.. We are using this documentation to write articles and produce print, radio and online media to expose the problem; and to inform and mobilize impacted communities in Chiapas and California. To read more, click here.

Fiscally Sponsored Projects:

Global Justice Ecology Project is also the fiscal sponsor of BiofuelWatch, an organization with offices in the U.S. and the UK that is dedicated to exposing the social and ecological impacts of bioenergy schemes including agrofuels (industrial-scale biofuels), biomass-based electricity generation and biochar.

We also fiscally sponsor Cool Ground, formerly, Native Solutions to Conservation Refugees (NSCoRe). The mission of Native Solutions to Conservation Refugees is to respond to Indigenous and local communities' wishes when conservation and environmental factors threaten to displace them. NSCoRe is committed to empowering local communities to provide the solutions, when possible.