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4 Chi. J. Int'l L. 237 (2003)
Of Borders, Fences, and Global Environmentalism

handle is hein.journals/cjil4 and id is 243 raw text is: Of Borders, Fences, and Global Environmentalism Tseming Yang* They say that political boundaries are fictitious and arbitrary lines. At the US-Mexico border, however, that line is not just an imaginary concept but also a tangible, physical structure. Metal fences run along the border from San Diego, California to Brownsville, Texas. In the vicinity of its Pacific Ocean endpoint, the San Diego-Tijuana area, the fence is fourteen feet high. Hundreds of names are scrawled on the Mexican side of the fence, memorializing those who have died in their attempts to enter the US under the Immigration and Naturalization Service's (INS) Operation Gatekeeper.' Before running more than a hundred yards into the Pacific Ocean, the fence divides a park that straddles the border. The park, dedicated by Pat Nixon in 1971, is named Parque de la Amistad- Friendship Park.2 When we think of international environmental problems, the problems that immediately come to mind are global climate change, ozone depletion, biodiversity loss, and transboundary pollution. They are salient because they fit the common perception that international environmental problems are in countries far away and largely outside of the direct reach of the US government. Many international environmental problems, however, can also be found much closer to home, at the US-Mexico border. In August of 1999, I joined about a hundred other people at a conference on environmental justice at the US-Mexico border.3 The conference included a * Associate Professor of Law, Vermont Law School; Chairperson, International Subcommittee, National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. I See Operation Gatekeeper Fact Sheet, available online at <http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/ publicaffairs/factsheets/OpGateFS.htm> (visited Feb 15, 2003). 2 Parts of the area are also known as Border Field State Park. 3 See National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, Draft Report, Unheard Voices From the Border: A Report on EnvironmentalJusice in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region From the Past to the Future (Including the Proceedings of 'The International Roundtable on Environmental Justice on the U.S.-Mexico Border (August 19-21, 1999, National City, CA)) (Dec 17, 2002), available online at

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