KY Activist to Speak at
Harvard's JFK School of Government
CHEMICAL
WEAPONS WORKING GROUP
128 Main
St. Berea KY 40403
859-986-9868
859-986-2695 (F)
www.cwwg.org kefcwwg@cwwg.org
for
more information contact:
Lois Kleffman (859) 986-0868
Craig Williams, Director of the Berea, Kentucky-based Chemical Weapons Working Group, will speak at Harvard University Tuesday, 3 October on his organization's 20-year effort to ensure safe disposal of the chemical weapons stockpiled in the United States.
Williams, who additionally co-founded and sits on the Board of Directors of the 1997 Nobel Prize-winning organization, Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, will address the interconnectedness of environmental issues, the legacy of war and human rights.
"Most people don't realize that there are currently more refugees across the globe due to environmental problems than all conflicts occurring world-wide," said Williams. "The number one issue is clean water, or the lack thereof, to be specific," he said.
According to Andrew Simms, Policy Director of the UK's New Economics Foundation, 50 million people worldwide will be displaced by 2010 because of rising sea levels, desertification, dried up aquifers, weather-induced flooding and other serious environmental changes.
"Add to that, the millions unable to return to their land due to contamination and other results of regional conflicts, such as the widespread use of landmines, and the picture begins to take an ominous shape," said Williams.
"People's fundamental need for clean air and water and the accompanying need to plant crops on land free of contamination and unexploded ordinance are basic to their entitlement as human beings," he said. "As students and teachers in the areas of government studies and public policy in particular we must focus on environmental degradation and how it violates basic human rights. That's what we'll be talking about in Boston."
In April, Williams' acceptance speech for the 2006 Goldman Prize, which also emphasized the intrinsic rights of all peoples in relationship to the world's ecology, was warmly received in both San Francisco and Washington D.C. and provided the impetus for his invitation from Harvard's JFK School of Government.
"This is quite an honor for me," Williams said. "It's gratifying to know people were listening."
Lois Kleffman (859) 986-0868
for
immediate release: Monday, October 2, 2006
KENTUCKY ACTIVIST TO
SPEAK AT HARVARD'S JFK SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT
Carr Center for Human Rights Policy to Hear Chemical Weapons Working Group Director
Carr Center for Human Rights Policy to Hear Chemical Weapons Working Group Director
Craig Williams, Director of the Berea, Kentucky-based Chemical Weapons Working Group, will speak at Harvard University Tuesday, 3 October on his organization's 20-year effort to ensure safe disposal of the chemical weapons stockpiled in the United States.
Williams, who additionally co-founded and sits on the Board of Directors of the 1997 Nobel Prize-winning organization, Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, will address the interconnectedness of environmental issues, the legacy of war and human rights.
"Most people don't realize that there are currently more refugees across the globe due to environmental problems than all conflicts occurring world-wide," said Williams. "The number one issue is clean water, or the lack thereof, to be specific," he said.
According to Andrew Simms, Policy Director of the UK's New Economics Foundation, 50 million people worldwide will be displaced by 2010 because of rising sea levels, desertification, dried up aquifers, weather-induced flooding and other serious environmental changes.
"Add to that, the millions unable to return to their land due to contamination and other results of regional conflicts, such as the widespread use of landmines, and the picture begins to take an ominous shape," said Williams.
"People's fundamental need for clean air and water and the accompanying need to plant crops on land free of contamination and unexploded ordinance are basic to their entitlement as human beings," he said. "As students and teachers in the areas of government studies and public policy in particular we must focus on environmental degradation and how it violates basic human rights. That's what we'll be talking about in Boston."
In April, Williams' acceptance speech for the 2006 Goldman Prize, which also emphasized the intrinsic rights of all peoples in relationship to the world's ecology, was warmly received in both San Francisco and Washington D.C. and provided the impetus for his invitation from Harvard's JFK School of Government.
"This is quite an honor for me," Williams said. "It's gratifying to know people were listening."
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