Global Day of Action
Student Law Clinics Global Day of Action for Climate Justice
The Global Day of Action for Climate Justice is a worldwide initiative that works to connect legal clinics together to raise awareness of the climate emergency. For one day every year – 17 November – we are asking law clinics across the world to commit to doing one thing to tackle the climate emergency - whether that's holding a conference, conducting research, volunteering for a charity, or running a social media campaign to help inform themselves and their community on a specific area of the climate crisis. So far, we have had 50 clinics join us – from Delhi to California to Melbourne – and we are hoping for many more. We at York then promote and celebrate the work of clinics internationally across our networks.
In our first year, we tackled the theme of air pollution. In response, here at York we reignited (pun intended) York City Council's anti-idling campaign 'Kick the Habit' to help reduce the number of idling cards outside of school gates. The 2020 theme was the rights of nature, which included a talk by renowned RoN activist Cormac Cullinan. In 2021 it was single-use plastic and in 2022, fast fashion.
We will be choosing this year’s theme at a meeting in the Moot Court in the Law and Management Building at 5pm on 21 September 2023. If you are not able to attend, you can suggest a theme by emailing law-gda@york.ac.uk with a description of what the theme is and why you think it is so vital. Alternatively, you can film a 30-second clip on your phone to be shown at the meeting. In the meantime, you can find out more at our website (www.globaldayofaction.com).
The Pledge
When we invite clinics to our campaign, we ask them to sign our Climate Justice Pledge. This is a purely symbolic act, but it is a great way to show commitment by a clinic to including the climate as an essential aspect of their work and their curriculum.
We firmly believe that climate change is a social justice crisis, which is why as lawyers and future leaders, it is essential that we consider it a part of every aspect of our work.
If you are interested in reading and signing the Climate Justice Pledge, view our form.
Also keep up to date through our Pledge social media: @ClimateJusticePledge
Any questions about how you can get involved please email law-gda@york.ac.uk and do follow us on facebook @
studentlawclinicsforclimatejus tice to stay up to date with our activities.