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John H Knox

@johnhknox.bsky.social

540 followers 130 following 22 posts

Professor of Law, Wake Forest University. From 2012 to 2018, I was the first UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment.

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Reposted by Peter Van Elsuwege, John H. Knox

American Society of International Law @asilorg.bsky.social · Feb 13

ASIL.org/ASILStatement

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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Jul 26

The first planned migration of an entire country due to climate change is happening! Tuvalu, a Pacific island nation, is at risk of being submerged under rising sea level, so it has signed an agreement with Australia to allow 280 Tuvaluans to settle in Australia as permanent residents each year.

The First Planned Migration of an Entire Country Is Underway

The Pacific island nation of Tuvalu could be submerged in 25 years due to rising sea levels, so a plan is being implemented to relocate its population to Australia.

www.wired.com

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · Jun 3

When you investigate **any** of the links or evidence put forward by permitting-bros and abundance-bros trying to claim the environmental movement is single worst opponent to clean energy on the planet, you very unsurprisingly end up reading stuff that just doesn't support their claims.

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Mongabay @mongabay.com · May 31

NGOs in Indonesia have documented widespread environmental and social violations across 33 industrial tree plantations since 2023, including deforestation, peatland destruction, fires, and land conflicts with Indigenous communities.

Deforestation and fires persist in Indonesia’s pulpwood and biomass plantations

JAKARTA — Industrial plantations of trees to make paper and wood pellets are causing widespread and persistent environmental and social violations in Indonesia, despite claims to the contrary by the…

news.mongabay.com

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · May 27

Fox News' Harris Faulkner reacts to Scott Pelley's commencement speech by saying the White House could soon strip CBS of "funding" for supposedly being antisemitic.

"The administration has an answer for this. And Scott Pelley, I don't know, maybe it won’t be 60 Minutes anymore."

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Reposted by Alison Johnson, John H. Knox, Matthew T. Hora

Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · May 27

Scott Pelley—American author and reporter for CBS News for more than 31 years, did not hold back

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Mongabay @mongabay.com · May 27

Bangladesh is making a list of sacred forests, aged trees and other socially important flora in a bid to strengthen forest conservation.

Conservationists say they believe that the new measures will help protect the biodiversity and ecology that had been overlooked in the past.

Bangladesh protects sacred forests to strengthen biodiversity conservation

With an aim to protect biodiversity that’s become fragmented and is scattered across the country, Bangladesh is listing all the old, sacred and socially important trees and forests. The Forest…

news.mongabay.com

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Andrew Fishman @andrew.intercept.com.br · May 24

How To Save The Amazon by Dom Phillips "is a book both brilliant and broken, one that is ultimately as inspiring and devastating as the Amazon itself." - @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

How to Save the Amazon by Dom Phillips review – tracing the late journalist’s footprints

A team of writers complete the vital book that Guardian reporter Dom Phillips was working on at the time of his murder

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) @rightstracker.bsky.social · May 24

📣 NEW DATA ALERT | We are glad to be releasing 2025 human rights scores for 195 countries in June. #Journalists and #CSO civil society orgs are welcome to see the data early, under embargo.

Quick form here for early access: humanrightsmeasurement.org/data-launch-...

2025 Data Launch Registration Form | Human Rights Measurement Initiative

Data Launch Registration Form for the Rights Tracker 2024 for interested journalists and Civil Society Organizations!

humanrightsmeasurement.org

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Reposted by Michael Gerrard, Andy Reisinger, John H. Knox

Peter Gleick @petergleick.bsky.social · May 23

Here it is, in a clear graphic from the NYTimes. The GOP budget destruction bill will add $3.3 TRILLION to the national debt.
And how? Entirely by tax cuts to the rich, paid for by cutting health, food for the poor, climate science, and Medicaid.

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Lotte Leicht @lotteleicht.bsky.social · May 7

“This will be a key milestone in reinforcing legal protection for both people and the planet”

#UN experts urge Council of Europe states to start negotiations on a legally binding Protocol that will recognize the right to a clean, healthy, & sustainable environment

www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

Council of Europe must recognise the right to a healthy environment, UN experts urge

GENEVA – UN experts* today urged the Ministers at the Council of Europe to demonstrate leadership by starting negotiations on an additional binding Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights...

www.ohchr.org

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Right to a Healthy Environment at the CoE @healthyenvcoe.bsky.social · May 5

UN experts urge @coe.int Member States to negotiate an additional protocol to the European Convention to protect the right to a clean, healthy & sustainable environment.

No more delays for a #HealthyEnvironmentForAll!
www.ohchr.org/en/press-rel...

@srenvironment.bsky.social @srtoxics.bsky.social

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Stephen Nuñez @socio-steve.bsky.social · May 2

In between the stories of horrific human rights abuses and trade war insanity I remember that they have also destroyed all our research and data infrastructure and effectively ended any environmental, health, or labor regulation.

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Elizabeth Kolbert @elizkolbert.bsky.social · May 2

The new Silent Spring:

75 percent of North America’s bird species are in decline, study says

Birds are rapidly vanishing from North America, with dramatic population losses in places that were once thought safe.

wapo.st

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Aimee Gabay @aimeegabay.bsky.social · Apr 21

Seven years after four officials were charged with negligence that resulted in a toxic cyanide spill at Canadian miner Barrick Gold’s Veladero gold mine in Argentina, the case has still not gone to trial.

New for @mongabay.bsky.social: news.mongabay.com/2025/04/stil...

Still no trial over Argentina cyanide mine spill, 7 years after officials were charged

This is the first of a three-part series on underreported issues involving Canadian mining companies and Indigenous peoples or local communities. Read part two here. Seven years after an environmental...

news.mongabay.com

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Nina Lakhani @ninalakhani.bsky.social · Apr 21

By me: Hundreds of marches, pickets and cleanup events are taking place across the US in the run-up to Earth Day on Tuesday, as environmental and climate groups step up resistance to the Trump administration’s authoritarianism and its war on the planet

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Wave of Earth Day protests as Americans mobilize against Trump

Organizers team up with pro-democracy groups for flurry of actions to demand right to free, healthy lives

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Robert W. Wallace, Dominik Wiedenhofer, John H. Knox

Eric McDaniel @ericm.cd · Apr 17

I look at close to 100 stories a week and even more outside of work. I’ve done this ten years.

This is among the most horrific things I’ve ever read — testimony from dying children whose access to medicine has been cut off by the Trump administration.

www.npr.org/sections/goa...

Haunted by hopelessness: 12 Zambians share their stories as HIV drugs run out

Mothers and children, husbands and wives, doctors, truck drivers and religious leaders are all grappling with the fallout from the sudden U.S. cuts in aid.

www.npr.org

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · Apr 7

Climate Terminology Does Not Matter

Across tens of thousands of participants in two large-scale experiments, we found that labeling climate change in different ways had no effect on their stated willingness to act.
jayvanbavellab.substack.com/p/climate-te...

via @dgoldwert.bsky.social

Climate Terminology Does Not Matter

Our new paper finds that swapping out one climate term for another does not meaningfully change people’s stated commitment to fight climate change

jayvanbavellab.substack.com

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Reposted by Simon L. Lewis, Miranda J. Lubbers, Deborah Avant , and 1 more Simon L. Lewis, Miranda J. Lubbers, Deborah Avant, John H. Knox

Elizabeth N. Saunders @profsaunders.bsky.social · Apr 6

“A top Goldman Sachs executive summed up the frustration with Mr. Trump succinctly: Someone has to stop him.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/06/b...

Wall Street’s Decision Makers Brace for More Chaos After Markets Plunge

The financial titans who backed Trump are now dealing with the fallout from his tariffs. They spent the weekend surveying the damage of last week’s major sell-off.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Heidi Stöckl, John H. Knox

Mongabay @mongabay.com · Apr 5

Brazil’s Supreme Court backed down and withdrew its proposal to open up Indigenous territories to mining and economic activities from a controversial bill that critics say violates the Constitution.

Read:

After outcry, Brazil Supreme Court nixes proposal for mining on Indigenous lands

Brazil's Supreme Court backed down and withdrew its proposal to open up Indigenous territories to mining and economic activities from a controversial bill that critics say violates the Constitution.

news.mongabay.com

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Nicole Sommer @nicolesommer.bsky.social · Apr 5

US jury orders Chevron to pay $744M damages to Louisiana for direct destruction of wetlands & breached State laws requiring companies to clean up

12 years in litigation (+ prior to filing) this is why real, substantial and up front security bonds are critical

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Jury orders Chevron to pay more than $744m for destroying Louisiana wetlands

Verdict marks end of the first trial of 42 lawsuits filed about 12 years ago, alleging firm’s projects destroyed the regions

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Guntram B. Wolff, Jean‐Frédéric Morin, Ellen Goodman , and 1 more Guntram B. Wolff, Jean‐Frédéric Morin, Ellen Goodman, John H. Knox

Niko Bowie @nikobowie.bsky.social · Mar 30

From 91 professors at Harvard Law School: a letter to our students.

tinyurl.com/letter-to-ou...

A LETTER TO HARVARD LAW SCHOOL STUDENTS
March 29, 2025
To our students:
We are privileged to teach and learn the law with you. We write to you today—in our individual capacities-because we believe that American legal precepts and the institutions designed to uphold them are being severely tested, and many of you have expressed to us your concerns and fears about the present moment.
Each of us brings different, sometimes irreconcilable, perspectives to what the law is and should be. Diverse viewpoints are a credit to our school. But we share, and take seriously, a commitment to the rule of law: for people to be equal before it, and for its administration to be impartial. That commitment is foundational to the whole legal profession, and to the special role that lawyers play in our society. As the Model Rules of Professional Conduct provide: "A lawyer is ... an officer of the legal system and a public citizen having special responsibility for the quality of justice."
The rule of law is imperiled when government leaders:
• single out lawyers and law firms for retribution based on their lawful and ethical representation of clients disfavored by the government, undermining the Sixth Amendment;
• threaten law firms and legal clinics for their lawyers' pro bono work or prior government service;
• relent on those arbitrary threats based on public acts of submission and outlays of funds for favored causes; and
• punish people for lawfully speaking out on matters of public concern.
While reasonable people can disagree about the characterization of particular incidents, we are all acutely concerned that severe challenges to the rule of law are taking place, and we strongly condemn any effort to undermine the basic norms we have described.
On our own campus and at many other universities, international students have reported fear of imprisonment or deportation for lawful speech and political activism. Whatever we might each think about particular conduct under particular facts,…

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Reposted by Jan Čermák, Floriane Clément, John H. Knox

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · Mar 30

This is cool. The Guardian recreated a searchable climate future risk tool (wildfire, extreme heat, drought, hurricane, and coastal flood) for the US that was developed by FEMA but deleted by the Trump administration’s ‘climate’ purge.

Trump’s ‘climate’ purge deleted a new extreme weather risk tool. We recreated it

The Guardian has recreated a searchable climate future risk tool developed by Fema but then deleted

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Andreas Sieber @andreassieber.bsky.social · Mar 29

Your weekend read:

„I was an independent observer in the #Greenpeace trial. What I saw was shocking“

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Kelcy Warren, the founder and CEO of Energy Transfer, once said activists “should be removed from the gene pool”.

I was an independent observer in the Greenpeace trial. What I saw was shocking | Steven Donziger

Greenpeace lost – not because it did something wrong but because it was denied a fair trial

www.theguardian.com

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John H Knox @johnhknox.bsky.social · Mar 29

I’m also one of the signatories. Mr Khalil’s case is egregious - but the principles explained in this brief apply just as much to the many other people being punished by the Trump Administration for exercising their right to freedom of expression

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Reposted by William Myers, John H. Knox

Mike Sacks @mikesacks.bsky.social · Mar 24

Hooooo boy: "The Executive Branch hereby notifies the Court that no further information will be provided in response to the Court’s March 18, 2025 Minute Order based on the state secrets privilege." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Lotte Leicht @lotteleicht.bsky.social · Mar 21

In the US, the appalling race to the bottom accelerates:

The State Department cancels key meeting with top business executives, labor advocates, academics and experts on tackling human rights abuses —incl child and forced labor— in global supply chains.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

State Department Calls Off Advisory Meeting on Child Labor

The US Department of State canceled a key meeting with executives from some of the country’s biggest companies, as well as labor advocates, academics and other experts, to discuss combating human righ...

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Andrew K. Jorgenson, John H. Knox

Dana R. Fisher (aka the Apocalyptic Optimist) @fisherdanar.bsky.social · Mar 19

The decision regarding Energy Transfer v Greenpeace about the activism against the Dakota Access Pipeline is out. Not only will the decision likely bankrupt Greenpeace US, but it will set a precedent that could limit free speech by climate groups & other NGOs.
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Greenpeace ordered to pay Dakota Access Pipeline operator hundreds of millions in defamation suit

A North Dakota jury awarded damages to Energy Transfer, the company that runs the Dakota Access Pipeline, after finding Greenpeace liable in a high-stakes defamation case.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Reposted by John H. Knox

Center for International Environmental Law @ciel.org · Mar 17

TODAY: Closing arguments in the SLAPP suit against @greenpeaceusa, which aims to silence opposition to corporate power. 🚨Amidst a crackdown on civic space, CIEL continues to support partners in defense of the right to protest and protect public interest. bit.ly/3XYSxVE

Closing arguments set to begin in pipeline company's lawsuit against Greenpeace

Closing arguments are scheduled to begin in a pipeline company's lawsuit against Greenpeace. The environmental advocacy group says the case, which resumes on Monday, could have consequences for free s...

bit.ly

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Reposted by Anita Patel, Margaret Johnston, David W. Blight , and 2 more Anita Patel, Margaret Johnston, David W. Blight, Aaron Gerow, John H. Knox

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · Mar 13

The institutional Democratic Party is guided by an almost pathological level of conflict avoidance in almost every direction. “What can we do to make the least number of people mad?” is just a bankrupt way to operate.

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