Climate Legacy is excited to announce that we are hosting a new webinar on June 18th. You can find
the poster, registration link, and full event details below.
How the Swiss Women Won: A Conversation with Pia Hollenstein on KlimaSeniorinnen’s Groundbreaking Climate Case
For the past nine years, KlimaSeniorinnen, an association of 2,400 Swiss women over the age of 64, has been working to take Switzerland to court for its climate inaction. This April, they won their case. In a sixteen to one decision, the European Court of Human Rights affirmed that not only is Switzerland not doing enough to protect its population from climate change and its deadly heat, but that this failure to act is a violation of its people’s human rights.
On June 18th, Climate Legacy is thrilled to be welcoming Pia Hollenstein, one of KlimaSeniorinnen’s co-founders, to share what she learned throughout this groundbreaking case and the years of grassroots work leading up to it. We are also welcoming Tracy London, the Executive Director of Ecojustice, who brings a wealth of expertise to contextualize just how big of an impact KlimaSeniorinnen’s case could have here in Canada. Ecojustice is Canada’s largest environmental law charity, and has been a driving force behind Mather et. al, a case targeting climate inaction by the Ontario government.
If you’re interested in climate litigation’s growing role in the fight to reduce emissions, or simply want to see an amazing example of just how much a senior-led climate group can accomplish, we highly recommend you join us for this webinar.
Panelist Bios:
Pia Hollenstein (speaker)
Pia Hollenstein is a board member and co-founder of the KlimaSeniorinnen association, which won its landmark case at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on April 9th, 2024. This is a historic victory and will have repercussions throughout Europe. The Court ruled that Switzerland is violating the
human rights of older women because the country is not doing what is necessary to combat global warming.
Tracy London (speaker)
Tracy London is the Executive Director of Ecojustice, Canada’s largest environmental law charity. She has held a number of senior executive leadership roles, such as Assistant Dean at The University of British Columbia, and has also led corporate accountability campaigns for environmental and social justice, including as a Campaigner with Canopy. Before joining Ecojustice, Tracy served as a Board member and
then Co-Executive Director of QMUNITY, an organization that serves 2SLGBTQIA+ communities in British Columbia.
Betty Plewes (moderator)
Betty Plewes is a member of Climate Legacy’s steering committee, and she lives in Carp, Ontario. Before her retirement, she worked in international development with a focus on African development, gender relations and civil society organizations. She was Overseas Director of CUSO, CEO of the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, and participated in the creation of Partnership Africa Canada, the
Voluntary Sector Roundtable and the McLeod Group. Her experience in the voluntary sector includes serving on boards, editing a journal, and writing on many aspects of sector work
You can download our promotional poster here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15J0U3Y_qC8kwFRd6r8_0onJfXTDNbdzA/view?usp=sharing
And here is the text version of our full registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZModu2rqD0vEtUNkXpUtPJInBp-h2sABRFp