GLOBAL JUSTICE ECOLOGY PROJECT INC

Campaign to STOP GE Trees - Over the past year, the Campaign to STOP GE Trees has made significant advances in the effort to prevent the large-scale and/or commercial release of genetically engineered trees into the environment. We are using the fiasco with the GE chestnut tree known as D54/58, revealed in late 2023, as a concrete example of what can go wrong with genetically tinkering with trees, and it will be a key part of our ongoing work to stop future iterations of GE trees. GJEP has been working with the American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation, to support their work to breed and distribute 100% wild American chestnuts. Members of the Campaign to STOP GE Trees have become active volunteers with ACCF and are helping plant their blight tolerant wild American chestnuts across the eastern forests. This summer these volunteers planted 200 wild American chestnut trees at the New England Botanical Garden in Massachusetts.In May and June of 2023, GJEP organized and led a major 3 week delegation to Brazil to investigate and document the impacts of existing industrial eucalyptus plantations on Quilombola and indigenous communities there, and to explore the likely impacts of GE tree plantations, legalized there but not yet in use.Our delegation to Brazil led to more opportunities to organize against GE trees in Latin America. On July 28th, GJEP joined other experts for a nationwide Colombian TV and Radio broadcast on the social and ecological impacts of GE trees. The event was hosted by Colombia's National Commission for Indigenous Territories.New Moon Mycology Summit, August 9-13: GJEP spoke at the New Moon Mycology Summit in Vermont and organized two workshops: Genetically Engineered Trees Modified to Resist Fungi - What it Means for Forests & Mycorrhizal Fungi and False Solutions to Climate Change - Who Benefits, Who Suffers, & How to Get Involved