Luke Cole has died.

June 7, 2009 12:21 PM

Luke Cole, founder of environmental justice organization Center for Race, Poverty, and the Environment (scroll down for bio), has died in a car accident in Uganda. A lawyer, he was representing the village of Kivalina, Alaska, in a lawsuit against 24 oil companies who are alleged to have contributed to global warming. Dozens of people have written tributes to Cole on his Facebook profile. Cole's wife survived the crash.

More on the Kivalina lawsuit (pdf file): "In this lawsuit, the villagers allege that global warming has caused the melting of Arctic sea ice which formerly protected the village from winter storms, and that the increased pace of the melting ice has caused erosion and contends that, 'if the entire village is not relocated soon, the village will be destroyed.'"

posted by granted (8 comments total)

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posted by yeloson at 2:46 PM on June 7, 2009

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posted by fuzzypantalones at 3:04 PM on June 7, 2009

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posted by bitteroldman at 4:17 PM on June 7, 2009

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posted by fourcheesemac at 6:14 PM on June 7, 2009

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posted by Librarygeek at 7:44 PM on June 7, 2009

wow, an environmental justice activist who also studies sidewalk cement stamps and the nation's root beer? who is this man?
posted by ioesf at 9:25 PM on June 7, 2009

It's amazing how many activists die in car crashes. My condolences to his family and while I wish it hadn't happened at all, at best I hope it was just an accident.
posted by MuffinMan at 8:27 AM on June 8, 2009

San Francisco Chronicle article

Luke Cole (1962-2009) - An Appreciation (from Daily Kos)
posted by granted at 1:30 PM on June 9, 2009