The Birth of the Chipko Movement by Valeria Yraita-Zevallos The abundance of resources in one’s land does not always equate to having abundant  access  to said resources. The villagers and natives of the Himalayan regions in India felt what restricted access and privatization of their resources is like. Despite villagers depending on forests for “food, fuel, water purification, soil stabilization” [1] , and lumber in general, the government of India took ownership of this land and limited its accessibility to the villagers. Thus, although the end of the Sino-Indian conflict in 1963 brought growth in development across the Himalayas, the predominant beneficiaries became government entities and private companies [2] . Leaving villagers of these regions isolated from their own resources and shut off from conversations on how to protect the forests. However, as the government continued to overstep its control over these regions by advancing government-backed logging, the local vil...

  Lois Gibbs, Love Canal, and the Make Polluters Pay Principle by Giovanna Rudis In 1978, a working-class mother named Lois Gibbs uncovered one of the most devastating environmental disasters in U.S. history. Her neighborhood, Love Canal, was built atop 22,000 tons of toxic waste, silently poisoning families with chemicals dumped decades earlier by Hooker Chemical Corporation. Leaks from this buried waste led to widespread contamination, causing severe health issues among residents, including birth defects, cancers, and other chronic illnesses. Despite initial governmental inaction, Gibbs mobilized affected families and spearheaded a grassroots movement that pressured federal authorities to intervene, ultimately leading to the creation of the Superfund Act. This legislation aimed to facilitate the cleanup of hazardous waste sites and hold responsible parties accountable for environmental damage. However, in the decades since its passage, the effectiveness of the Superfund has been ...