The Vance Center Holds Discussion on Human Rights and Climate Law

 The Cyrus R. Vance Center runs an environment program that promotes prudent stewardship of natural resources and sustainable environmental use for climate change mitigation. It promotes these by collaborating with non-governmental organizations and matching them with lawyers for environmental protection initiatives like biodiversity conservation and water source protection. One of the organizations the center works with is Milbank.

On Oct. 18, 2023, the center and Milbank co-hosted a discussion on international climate litigation. Both organizations believe that countries have an obligation under human rights laws to address climate change. The discussion they co-hosted brought together government officials, finance professionals, and civil society groups to share knowledge and experiences on ways to promote climate justice.

Notable guests at the discussion included David Boyd, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, and Lucia Solano, legal adviser at Colombia’s Permanent Mission to the UN. Some of the issues discussed included the role of human rights as a driver for equitable climate change, financing for developing countries, and the pressures and opportunities for investors in leading a just transition to a sustainable future. Other issues covered were the benefits of leveraging human rights in climate law, and the motivations behind Colombia’s engagement of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for an advisory opinion on climate change.

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Benefits Habitat for Humanity

 In late 2023, an interesting storyline of extended giving emerged, as the Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna in Elkton, Maryland, utilized a large Norway spruce recently displayed to the world as the 2021 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

The 79-foot-high tree was originally from the Elkton area of Cecil County, a majestic presence behind a rural Glen Farms home. Cut down and loaded onto a flatbed truck on Nov. 11, 2021, it was driven to New York City and adorned with a massive star loaded with Swarovski crystals and 50,000 colored lights. The traditional lighting ceremony was broadcast live, and thousands of visitors came to take pictures and enjoy the holiday ambiance during its one-month reign in Manhattan.

The trunk was ultimately milled into kiln-dried planks donated to Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna at the original tree owners’ request. The inscription “ROCKEFELLER CENTER CHRISTMAS TREE 2021” was burned into each sturdy plank. With wood from the tree already used to build one house, the most recent project to incorporate the two-by-six planks has involved crafting window trim, sills, and blocking for an Elkton-area ranch home in which a single mother of three resides. In this way, the tree’s journey has come full circle, unique from the usual practice of mulching the Christmas tree for NYC city parks’ use.