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Earthjustice started during the seventies, when a group of lawyers formed Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund after losing in the Supreme Court to Walt Disney. Disney wanted to turn Mineral King Valley in the Sierra Nevada in California into one of the world’s largest ski resorts. The lawyers pressed further and Disney pulled out, which preserved Mineral King and initiated a citizens’ right to fight environmental disputes in a court of law. Twenty years later the environmental caseload grew, the lawyers took on more clients, and Earthjustice formed out of the Legal Defense Fund as a separate entity.
Cederstav, a ten-year veteran, said that being the sole scientist in her organization, in a field where there aren’t enough scientific experts in the world, is partially what keeps the environmental problems lingering.
“I do find myself teaching on a daily basis, teaching people in government. When I taught in university, only 10 percent of the students were interested. It’s not the same for people working in governments, they are already committed, but most governments lack resources, both physical and human, “Cederstav explained in a phone interview from her home in Berkeley. “They can’t pay much, so jobs are revolving doors … Government jobs are stepping-stones to private paid U.S. corporations.”
Cederstav’s focus is to develop international legal strategies and facilitate international collaboration on casework in both Latin and South America, which formed the Inter-American Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA). Her best victory to date came from the mining village of La Oroya, Peru.
“The contamination there was profound; 99 percent of kids have lead poisoning, with average levels that would send U.S. kids to the emergency room. You would take a couple of breaths and your lungs would burn. Now there are twenty organizations and community groups looking at the issue.”
But the way La Oroya and AIDA came to their victory was part of Earthjustice’s specialty.
“We filed the case as a human rights violation. The last time I was in Peru, I got into a taxi fix or six times, and four of those times, they were talking about La Oroya. Ten years ago, no one knew that the town existed.”
