| A major impediment to promulgating effective environmental legislation has been the longstanding conflict between private property and the commons. This paper Will use a case study to examine the conflict between private property and the concept of the commons as a legal, human justice, and environmental issue. This particular case deals with the rights of an individual land owner to deforest a mountainous area in Colorado, a land use practice which is radically altering the watershed of an entire Chicano farming community and reducing their ability to carry on a way of fife which has existed for hundreds of years. In addition to examining the legal, human justice, and environmental issues raised by the plight of these farmers, this paper will also focus on some particular modes of resistance being used by the Chicano farmers of the San Luis Valley in order to counter the destruction of their way of life.
|
Updated 05/20/2006