WILPF US and the Earth Democracy Committee

The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom is a 106-year-old international peace organization, founded in 1915 by Jane Addams and 2,000 international women who met at The Hague in an effort to stop World War I. Since 1915, WILPF has continued to connect human rights and economic and environmental justice to the roots of war. WILPF enjoys Consultative Status at the UN and monitors its work through its programs on disarmament and women and peace and security. WILPF members have won the Nobel Peace Prize several times, most recently as part of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

WILPF’s Earth Democracy Committee is committed to the precautionary principle (i.e., "When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically.") and to the guardianship of future generations, and the human right to water. 

California PFAS and the Military Project

In the summer of 2019, the Earth Democracy Committee and Pat Elder envisioned a project on the military and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals”), beginning with a focus on  California, the US state with the largest number of military bases, as well as some of the highest levels of documented PFAS contamination.  

In the fall of 2019, the Patagonia Foundation funded our California project on PFAS and the Military.  While the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted our original plans and eliminated some of our events in California, the website that was created--Military Poisons--began to gain visitors from across the country.  

Other individuals and groups wanted to participate. The Earth Democracy Committee saw a way to bring this project to other states through a revamped and improved website; the formation of intersectional state coalitions of peace, health, water, and environmental groups; and a clear focus on the military and it use of PFAS in our communities, contaminating our ecosystems and our bodies.

Pat Elder and
Military Poisons

WILPF member Pat Elder is an investigative journalist tracking how the military contaminates people and the planet. Pat’s focus is on documenting the harm caused by the U.S. military’s use of PFAS in routine fire-fighting drills. Besides this website, Pat’s articles appear on: www.worldbeyondwar.org, www.laprogressive.org and www.truthout.org

Elder  lives with his wife, Nell, in St. Mary’s City, Maryland, about two hours south of Washington, DC. Elder says he was deeply moved by the reporting of Tara Copp of Military Times, especially her piece on June 19, 2018, Why women were told don’t get pregnant at George Air Force Base.  Several hundred women who linked up through Facebook and served at George in the early 80’s described miscarriages, hysterectomies and reproductive health-related illnesses throughout their lives.  Many had their medical histories redacted by the Air Force.  PFAS is believed to be the culprit. Even today, George’s groundwater is contaminated with 5,396 ppt of PFOS/PFOA.

​This was a turning point for Pat, who has focused on the issue ever since. “I realized the mainstream media was not identifying the military as the culprit.  We must hold the military accountable." 

Pat Elder and WILPF Earth Democracy continue to seek funding for state coalition work and are currently focusing on Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maryland.  

Funders

Our work has or is being funded by the Patagonia Foundation; the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice (CHEJ); WILPF US; WILPF Earth Democracy; WILPF Burlington Branch; and the New England Grassroots Environmental Fund Inc.