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Village Earth

Defender of the Amazon Wins 2011 Maury Albertson Medal

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Environmental and Indigenous Rights Activist, Author and Attorney Judith Kimerling to receive 4th Annual Maury Albertson Medal for excellence in sustainability, social justice and empowerment. Kimerling will receive the medal for her defense of the Amazon rainforest and the human communities that depend on it for their culture and survival. According to David Bartecchi, Executive Director of Village Earth, “Kimerling’s research in the 1990s first blew the whistle on the devastating impacts that oil companies are having on the Amazon’s ecosystem. She has continued to this day to defend the rights of indigenous communities living in the Amazon and for remediation of their natural resources.” Judith Kimerling is a Professor at The City University of New York  (CUNY) Queens College.  After graduating from the University of Michigan and Yale Law School, she worked for seven years as an environmental litigator, including five years as an Assistant Attorney General for New York State, where she worked on the Love Canal litigation and other hazardous waste cleanup litigation and negotiations.  In 1989, she moved to Ecuador and worked with indigenous organizations in the Amazon Rainforest to document the environmental and social impacts of oil development there.  Her findings and photographs first placed concerns about the impact of oil production on indigenous peoples and the environment in tropical forests on the international environmental and human rights policy agendas.  Her book Amazon Crude was called “the Silent Spring of Ecuador” by The New York Times.  In the U.S., it prompted a prominent class action lawsuit, Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc. Professor Kimerling currently serves as international counsel for Ome Gompote Kiwigimoni Huaorani (Defendemos Nuestro Territorio Huaorani), an alliance of indigenous Huaorani communities who came together to protect a 758,051-hectare area of rainforest known as “The Intangible Zone.”  Located in traditional Huaorani territory and the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve, The Intangible Zone is also home to the last known group of people still living in voluntary isolation in Ecuador’s Amazon region.  Professor Kimerling also serves on the Technical Advisory Committee of REDOIL, a network of Alaska Natives of seven tribes who joined forces to address the impact of the oil industry in Alaska and promote sustainable development on Native lands. Village Earth is currently developing a partnership with Ms. Kimerling to provide ongoing  support for her efforts with the Huaorani. Ticket sales have now been closed.

Upcoming Courses in the Village Earth/CSU Online Certificate Program in Community-Based Development

Winter II Session

GSLL 1501 – Approaches to Community Development

This course provides a framework for community development based on a participatory, bottom-up, multi-sector model. Various approaches have been used in community development with varying degrees of success. One approach that has consistently demonstrated effectiveness is the Village Earth model based on participatory practices.

Through personal and structural empowerment, the objectives of economic well-being, environmental sustainability, and socio-cultural vitalization can be met. By looking at an overview of the entire development process and using case studies, this course will prepare participants to work in the field of community development and illuminate how all of the development efforts fit together to support the overall goal of sustainability.

Upon completion of this course participants will be able to:

Compare different development approaches and evaluate their effectiveness.
Understand the basic principles that underlie sustainable development.
Incorporate participatory practices into community development activities
Design a development project based on the Village Earth model
Who should take this course? This course is suited for people who are interested in community development and work or plan to work in this field. This includes people working or volunteering at NGOs, NPOs, governmental organizations, without border organizations, or missionary organizations. In addition, people involved in funding community development projects benefit from this course.

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