Several women involved in the first WLOE joined with others to launch a Women and Life on Earth internet project to connect women internationally, share information and support changes necessary to ensure life and peace with justice in the new millennium. In August 1999 a first meeting was held in western Massachusetts, an international board of advisors was formed, and the project was sponsored by the A. J. Muste Memorial Institute . The advisory board approved the following goals:

We want:
• to cut through the blockade of mainstream media using e-mail and internet, as well as word of mouth and creative non-violent direct action;
• to recognize and promote the experience and knowledge of women and movements, locally and world-wide, with a multilingual site and center for information, analysis and actions on:

PEACE and justice: countering the multiple assaults on women, children and the elderly, along with environmental destruction;

ECOLOGY supporting production for sustainability; safe food, air and water free of chemical, genetic or atomic pollution; preventing environmental disasters through renewable energy use, conservation of energy and natural resources, sustainable transport, construction, development and lifestyles;

GLOBAL JUSTICE opposing corporate control and cultural destruction world-wide. For social and economic justice.

The war in Kosovo erupted soon afterwards, and the new network began to function almost spontaneously. Messages and news from women and civil society groups in Serbia and Kosovo, Europe and North America, were shared world-wide.

In 2001 the project moved to Berlin, Germany with its coordinator Anna Gyorgy. The 'war on terror' that followed the September 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S., and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq gave further proof of the need for international communication and solidarity for peace with justice. As the Women and Life on Earth project grew, its volunteer staff contributed to the world-wide movement for peace through communication and translation of women's statements and actions.

E-newletters and alerts were sent to women and groups in many countries. The website went on-line in February 2003, and development continued in English, German, French and Spanish language sections by volunteer editors and interns.

In September 2003 a German association was founded in Berlin: "Women and Life on Earth: women for international cooperation for peace, ecology and social justice e.V." The association maintained an office in Berlin until 2008, then moved to Bonn. Projects included work around women and biodiversity and climate change and for peace, without NATO. In 2011 WLOE did the German subtitles and website section for the film "The Economics of Happiness" and organized the film's German premiere in Berlin.

In November 2012 members of the German WLOE e.V. decided to close the association and reorganize as an international working group to continue and expand the website and networking. The files of the association were transferred to the women's archive FFBIZ in Berlin.

Those of us working on this site and growing network hope to connect and work with women around the globe, under the motto borrowed from activist-writer Alice Walker: "Anything We Love Can Be Saved."

last updated: 3 May 2013