environmental refugees

On September 21, 2009,
the Second Circuit made an important decision on a case known as
Connecticut vs American Electric Power.
Without going into too much detail, this was a case where several groups like the Audubon society were trying to stop coal plant emissions because it was harming the value of their land trusts. The lower court ruled as other courts have, that Climate Change was part of the political realm, not the courts.
However, the appellate court overturned this decision on the grounds that the Energy company were causing a public nuisance, and nuisance cases have been heard by courts for decades.

The United States Senate is starting the debate on the Kerry Boxer Bill to address Climate Change.
This bill, addresses many issues such as funding Alternative Energy sources (including billions for 'clean coal'), increasing US security, and creating jobs.
But this legislation is missing a key element : language addressing Climate Change and human rights.
For Environmental Refugees both within the United States and internationally, Climate Change means losing their homes, land and culture. And because people displaced by Climate Change have no legal status, they have no recourse for their losses.

When will the time come that Climate Change talks will start considering Human Rights over Business rights?
There is a growing group of people in our world who are in a legal limbo,
Environmental Refugees.
Even though there are hundreds to thousands of people currently being displaced by Climate Change, they do not have a defined status as a group, hence they are not really 'refugees.'
And according to current predictions by Oxfam International, by 2050 there will be 75 million Environmental Refugees displaced due to Climate Change. Other models are predicting up to 250 million people.