We provide refuge to whistleblowers who bring accounts of abuse of the environment and give these stories exposure. We also assist organizations who work alongside whistleblowers during their harrying time.
The on-going difficulty in standing up against environmental abuse
‘While society depends upon courageous individuals to alert the public to… environmental disasters, whistleblowers should be prepared to be ostracised and even hated by society not ready for their revelations.’
‘We found whistleblowers were often some of the most loyal staff, with extremely high ethics…They just couldn’t understand why they then found themselves threatened and retaliated against. Ultimately words cannot do justice to what many whistleblowers go through. For the whistleblowers they suddenly found their lives in limbo, their world destroyed, no job and virtually unwanted by other employers.’
‘Year after year it is responsible for saving countless lives, yet its occurrence is as rare as public understanding and appreciation of it. The popular misconception sees whistleblowers as malingerers, malcontents or incompetents, who invent tales of wrongdoing or grossly exaggerate in order to protect their jobs or to get revenge against their employer. In reality, most whistleblowers are overachievers with excellent histories of performance before they felt compelled to blow the whistle.’
Each day more and more environmental abuse takes place in new and different ways. When you are agonizing about witnessing abuse of the environment, whatever the nature of the abuse is, we encourage you to inform us of your findings. We’ll contribute to the whistle blowing by exposing the environmental abuse via our channels, so it gets the coverage it deserves. We’re your voice to arrest such environmental abuse.
Such abuse, for the most part, is about greed and not understanding our impact on the environment.
Peace Evolution is adding its voice to that of eco-friendly organizations lobbying for living in harmony with the environment. And importantly, we’re the safe haven for whistle blowers. Here you’ll find other whistle blowers. A sanctuary where you’re able to meet, discuss and ultimately become part of an extended support system. All communication and discussions take place privately and confidentially.
Environmental Abuse
‘Our Mother Earth is currently facing lots of environmental concerns. The environmental problems like global warming, acid rain, air pollution, urban sprawl, waste disposal, ozone layer depletion, water pollution, climate change and many more affect every human, animal and nation on this planet. Over the last few decades, the exploitation of our planet and degradation of our environment have gone up at an alarming rate. As our actions have not been in favor of protecting this planet, we have seen natural disasters striking us more often in the form of flash floods, tsunamis and cyclones.’
‘A decade or two from now, I predict that we will look back and view plastic bags as one of the greater environmental abuses of our time.’
These need our attention to protect the Planet we inhabit. Our participation and each contribution help. After all, do we want our stay and our children’s and our grandchildren’s stay here in a pleasant and comfortable environment – or do we want to submit to the greed of inconsiderate people, even though they might intentionally or unintentionally, be aware or unaware of their impact. Keeping in mind those perpetrating the destruction are not necessarily consciously behaving as they are. We are fortunate to have become aware. And by standing together we spread the awareness.
This is our way to counteract destruction. No one else would carry this light as we would. It is not up to anyone or any organization or any government: “If they aren’t aware, if they do not see, then, how can they?” Those that see, those that are aware, instead of getting angry, irritable, frustrated, join in, participate, contribute, we all have the temperament and talents to contribute. This is easily achieved – many hands make light work.
Creating awareness, one slow and intentional step at a time, though it seems impossible, and that the perpetrators are too many, have too much money, have too many resources: As the masses grow, one person at a time, the awareness evolution would reach a tipping point and those who don’t care or are unaware, would merely dissipate. The sea and rain eventually erode the hardest rock and mountain sides. Gracefully and peacefully, anything and everything is possible!
Beverly Paigen and Love Canal
‘In Niagara Falls, New York in 1978, controversy was raging over the Love Canal. Countless tons of toxic, chemical wastes had been dumped years before in the abandoned canal… A school had been built alongside the dump site and housing developments had been built around it. Chemicals from the canal had leached into lawns, playgrounds, and even into the basements of houses in the neighborhood which was, in the words of New York State’s commissioner of health, “a great and imminent peril to the general public residing at or near the site.” Frightened citizens were demanding government action while the government… procrastinated- asking for more time and more studies.
Into this scene stepped Dr. Beverly Paigen, a biologist, geneticist, and cancer research scientist at the Roswell Park Memorial Institute, a world-famous research hospital in Buffalo and part of the New York State Department of Health (DOH). The health concerns of the Love Canal citizens were the very subject of her research interests, which were to study family patterns of genetic reaction to chemicals and to develop easy, efficient methods of assessing health hazards from environmental chemical exposure.
The Love Canal homeowners, for their part, needed scientific expertise to give them credibility in pursuing their case with the government’s scientific bureaucracy. As a result, a close working relationship developed between the homeowners and Dr. Paigen. She became their scientific advisor and consultant and the homeowners in turn became the source of data, as well as data gatherers, for her research. This… did not sit well with government authorities, who were trying to keep the lid on all scientific data and analysis.
Soon, Dr. Paigen found herself being subjected to petty harassments. Since she was a senior scientist engaged in basic research at the institute, she alone decided the areas of her research and the government could not call her off, but they could make her life miserable in many other ways including a state tax audit and the denial of a research grant which she would have normally received. Nevertheless, she persisted in her mission and freely expressed her findings and expert opinion to the health bureaucracy as well as to the public, the press, the governor, and the U.S. Congress.
Eventually, the state followed Dr. Paigen’s recommendations and relocated all the Love Canal residents. Moreover, although the state health bureaucracy had criticized her research, they ended up adopting its results as their own. Her larger contributions, however, were to focus national attention on the health hazards of toxic waste… Along with the persistent citizens of Love Canal, we owe her our deepest gratitude.’
Organizations that work with and assist in social disclosure
National Whistleblower Center
The National Whistleblower Center (NWC) – A non-profit, tax-exempt, non-partisan organization, is the leading whistleblower legal advocacy organization with an almost 30-year history of protecting the right of individuals to report wrongdoing without fear of retaliation.
Workplacefairness.org
There are many federal environmental laws regulating the activity of public and private companies for the protection of the environment. These laws are far more effective when employees report the violations of their employers, so the laws have provisions to protect those employees from retaliation.
Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency has specifically identified (these) laws, along with the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2012 which broadly protects government employee whistleblowers, as available to protect environmental whistleblowers from any kind of retaliation or discrimination.
Greenpeace European Unit
This is part of the international Greenpeace network, active in over 55 countries worldwide and with more than three million supporters. Based in Brussels, we monitor and analyse the work of the EU institutions, expose deficient EU policies and laws, and challenge EU decision-makers to implement progressive solutions.
Environmental Organizations
The UN Environment’s mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
It all comes down to this: Without our living world, our lives aren’t possible. Yet we continue to blow past its physical limits. The Wilderness Society is here to change the system. Are you with us?
The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), champion of conservation in Africa, has worked tirelessly for over 45 years to save wildlife and habitats, with our vision being a world in which both humans and wildlife prosper in harmony with nature. From the smallest frog, to the majestic rhino; from sweeping grasslands to arid drylands; from our shorelines to winding rivers: the EWT is working with you, to protect our world.
Norges Naturvernforbund (Friends of the Earth Norway) is Norway’s oldest environmental and nature protection organisation. Norges Naturvernforbund is membership based and democratic and consists of over 24,000 members divided between approximatley 100 local groups across the country, working to solve environmental issues both local and global.
