Feminist Task Force:   US Series: Women’s Tribunals on Gender and Climate Justice

Chicago Women’s Tribunal on Climate Justice

The Feminist Task Force, together with Eco-Justice Collaborative, Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (P.E.R.R.O.), Citizens Against Ruining the Environment (CARE) and the Loretto Community at the United Nations, organized the second gender and climate justice tribunal taking place in the United States, the Chicago Women’s Tribunal on Climate Justice.The tribunal took place in the Chicago neighborhood of Joliet, and featured the testimony of women from Chicago neighborhoods of Romeoville, Lockport, Little Village and Pilsen. During the Tribunal it was reported that Fisk and Crawford, the local coal plant was attributed in 41 deaths 550 ER visits 2800 asthma attacks.

Women from the Joliet and Lockport areas have been working for 20 years to stop the pollution from two area coal plans and quarry waste disposal site. They have been breathing harmful emissions from two polluting coal fired power plants from Romeoville and Joliet. Women from Pilsen and Little Village, a predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood, have been breathing air from two of the oldest and dirtiest coal plants in the nation.

These Chicago women from different backgrounds and neighborhoods, have all been witnesses to the harmful impacts of coal on their lives, their communities and their neighborhood. The Chicago Women’s Tribunal on Climate Justice will ensure the voices of urban grassroots women will reach the corridors of power at the local, national and global levels.

The tribunal follows a long line of women’s tribunals spearheaded by the Feminist Task Force and organized around the world since 2007. The Tribunals have been used to create a public space for women to draw attention to critical issues at the local, national and global levels.

They provide an opportunity for women directly affected by poverty, climate change and gender inequality to raise their voices and present testimony, bring awareness and advocate for fundamental human rights.

For complete information on the FTF Women’s Tribunals on Gender and Climate Justice, go to http://www.climatejusticetribunals.blogspot.com/.