John Lemons interviewed by Toronto Star on environmental civil disobedience

A paper co-authored by Professor Emeritus John Lemons, Ph.D., Department of Environmental Studies, titled "Global climate change and non-violent civil disobedience," has generated discussion on various websites and an article in the on June 10, 2011. The Toronto Star explains that with two reports out recently indicating that climate change may be accelerating, some environmentalists are suggesting that non-violent civil disobedience may be necessary to force governments to take action.

“Non-violent civil disobedience is justified when there is a history of long-standing harm or violation of people’s fundamental rights, when legal and policy means have failed to reduce the harms and violations, and when there is little time remaining to address the problems,” wrote Lemons and Penn State’s Donald Brown in April in the online version of

“Simply put, people do not have the right to harm others who have not given their consent to be harmed, and this is exactly what the U.S.A. and other countries continue to do,” Lemons told the Star

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