Announcing CELDF's Proposed Rights of Nature Principles
A new system of law based on respect for Nature and the…
Issues, News, Resources, Rights of Nature
Important Updates
A new system of law based on respect for Nature and the…
Issues, News, Resources, Rights of Nature
Human and ecosystem viability come when we figure out how to orient…
News, Rights of Nature
Protecting Water and Life: Frontline Stories from Ohioans fighting corporate and state…
Publications
Mar 13, 2020
Press Release: Corporate plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit against LEBOR show total disregard for global COVID-19 pandemic as they demand $293,750 from the City of Toledo for defending the Lake Erie Bill of Rights.
Read More | News, Press ReleasesMar 6, 2020
As the Pennsylvania DEP attempts to block Grant Township’s defense of their ban on fracking injection wells, the court rules that the case can move forward. Grant argues they have the right to local governing authority to protect against corporate harm.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StoryMar 4, 2020
A decision fro a judge in Grant Township argues that local governing authority is necessary to protect the community’s constitutional rights in the face of harmful state oil and gas policies.
Read More | News, Press ReleasesFeb 28, 2020
In Toledo, OH, a federal judge joined a long list of enablers complicit in the destruction of the natural world by invalidating the democratically enacted Lake Erie Bill of Rights charter amendment.
Read More | Community Wires, News, Press ReleasesFeb 26, 2020
Toledo organizer Markie Miller drafted this letter to Lake Erie the night before the federal hearing. In honor of this moment in history, we share her letter here.
Read More | Blogs, Community Wires, NewsFeb 6, 2020
A post-court update of the Lake Erie Bill of Rights. Get an in-depth look at the arguments made in federal court as the Corporate State defends its constitutional right to pollute. The City of Toledo is triumphant in defending Rights of Nature.
Read More | News, Press ReleasesFeb 6, 2020
Check out this interview with CELDF’s Hawaii and Northwest organizer, Kai Huschke, on CELDF’s partnerships with communities across the U.S. who have spearheaded the Rights of Nature movement.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Resource Links, Rights of NatureFeb 6, 2020
If corporations have individual rights under US law – like freedom of speech – why not a grant a lake or forest or river the same status? Ohio organizer Tish O’Dell talks about Toledo’s groundbreaking law – the Lake Erie Bill of Rights – and the Rights of Nature Movement!
Read More | Community Rights, Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Resource Links, Rights of NatureFeb 5, 2020
This 6 minute short explains how, across numerous social issues—from housing, worker rights, environmental protection to gentrification—“the people in the community lack the legal authority to determine their own future, a basic tenet of democracy.”
Read More | Blogs, Community Rights, Multimedia, News from the Grassroots, Resource Links, ResourcesFeb 3, 2020
Read the first-hand accounts from attendees at the historic Lake Erie Bill of Rights hearing that took place in Toledo, Ohio last week.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases, Press Releases & BlogsFeb 3, 2020
Toledoans are tired of waiting for action out of Columbus. State and federal authorities — who are supposed to protect the lake, and the people who rely on it for drinking water, recreation and more — should step up to their responsibilities.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsFeb 3, 2020
Financial and environmental crises call for more democracy – not less. Yet we see these crises used by U.S. and state governments to suspend democracy. It’s time to stop it.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsJan 27, 2020
Organizations, activists, government officials, and hundreds of others from around the world support the Lake Erie Bill of Rights as oral arguments in federal court are held tomorrow.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsJan 25, 2020
Can a corporation 40 miles from Toledo interfere with the rights of Toledoans to amend their charter and protect Lake Erie?
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJan 21, 2020
Oral arguments in the federal case brought by a corporation to overturn the Lake Erie Bill of Rights are coming up. The world stands with Toledoans.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJan 20, 2020
Florida state representatives endeavor to stop Rights of Nature as growing numbers of communities across the state advance local laws recognizing such rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJan 19, 2020
The Lake Erie Bill of Rights is part of a growing movement, and people are joining. What will the courts do?
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJan 19, 2020
Toledoans grow support for the Lake Erie Bill of Rights as their day in court approaches.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJan 9, 2020
Progressives may find Democratic wins favorable. But as long as Dillon’s Rule (legalized state preemption) stops local community self-government from heightening environmental and economic protections, no political party is going to help.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsDec 19, 2019
2019 has been a remarkable year for CELDF and our partner communities. Check out what we are celebrating!
Read More | News from the Grassroots, Press Releases & BlogsDec 17, 2019
The epic story of Grant Township, Pennsylvania, fighting for their community’s water in the face of PGE’s proposed fracking wastewater injection well.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StoryDec 10, 2019
LEBOR activists exchanged views with The Guardian on Rights of Nature and human rights. Here, they make clear the need to recognize that it is not nature’s rights vs human rights, but those combined against corporate claimed rights.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsDec 5, 2019
The current administration wants a crackdown on people experiencing homelessness. It’s time, instead, for a humanizing agenda, such as that advanced by Denver residents this year.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsNov 25, 2019
The first Rights of Nature legislation is introduced in Australia, into the Western Australia Parliament. CELDF’s International Center for the Rights of Nature assisted in drafting the law.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryNov 13, 2019
Regardless of political gains by Democrats in Virginia, residents still do not have authority to govern themselves in their own communities. Here’s why – and what communities can do about it.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsNov 11, 2019
Following settlement of one of the lawsuits against Grant Township, PA, for daring to protect its water from a frack wastewater injection well, the township continues to stand up to the oil and gas industry.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsNov 4, 2019
Efforts are growing to not only determine how people vote, but what gets voted on. Your ballot measures are not yours to democratically determine.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsOct 23, 2019
Since its inception, a state-wide movement in Ohio has faced a state and corporate attack that amounts to concerted opposition from all branches of state government, corporate lobbies, private law firms, and both political parties. The entire repressive apparatus has revealed itself in 2019, for all to see.
Read More | PublicationsOct 23, 2019
Lincoln County residents continue their fight to protect themselves and ecosystems from aerial sprayed pesticides, and spark not only hope, but tangible strategies for advancing rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsOct 16, 2019
The people’s own Department of Environmental Protection in Pennsylvania sues Grant Township to overturn a democratically enacted Home Rule charter that includes a ban on fracking wastewater injection wells. This was their day in court.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsOct 14, 2019
An Ohio resident makes clear that it is state government itself that is driving forward polluting Lake Erie. The state is even joining a lawsuit to overturn the Lake Erie Bill of Rights while permitting four factory farms.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsOct 14, 2019
Meet Maria Sause, and her life and commitment to Community Rights in Lincoln County, where residents are fighting a recent court decision to overturn their rights-based ban on aerial pesticide spraying.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsOct 10, 2019
Community Rights advances to the state level as a Pennsylvania legislator introduces the “Local Self-Government Amendment,” elevating people and communities over corporations.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryOct 10, 2019
“The Rights of Nature movement…is about ushering humanity back onto a living planet.”
Read More | News from the GrassrootsOct 8, 2019
A representative in Sweden’s Parliament introduces Rights of Nature legislation – the first time a European national government considers the rights of ecosystems.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryOct 5, 2019
Grant Township, Pennsylvania, argued for their environmental rights in court as they defend themselves against their own Department of Protection to stop a fracking injection well.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsOct 2, 2019
Lincoln County, Oregon, community members prepare to appeal judge’s denial of their right to protect themselves from aerial sprayed pesticides.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsOct 1, 2019
This Toledoan calls out Ohio government officials: actions speak louder than words, and promises to protect Lake Erie ring hollow when the state approves factory farm permits.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 30, 2019
Williams County, Ohio, residents submit request to join a multi-plaintiff federal civil rights lawsuit against state of Ohio as they continue to be blocked from the ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsSep 29, 2019
The Yurok Tribe recognizes the rights of the Klamath River this summer as part of the growing Rights of Nature movement.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StorySep 19, 2019
CELDF stands with Youth Climate Strike as they demand systemic change, including legal Rights of Nature.
Read More | Press Releases & Blogs, Success StorySep 16, 2019
Lee County, Florida, residents advance a bill of rights for the Caloosahatchee River, joining five other Florida counties advancing similar measures.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StorySep 14, 2019
The unsurprising truth behind legislation adopted by the Ohio Assembly in an effort to undermine the Rights of Nature movement.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 11, 2019
Corporate control runs deep in the Ohio legislature as the big business writes language to stop Rights of Nature enforcement.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 10, 2019
An analysis of Rights of Nature laws as a path forward to protecting ecosystems in the face of continuing environmental harms.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 10, 2019
The Editorial Board of the Toledo Blade speaks out against the legislature’s proposed bill making it more difficult for citizens to place initiatives on the ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 7, 2019
Thom Hartmann Book Club covers CELDF’s Ben G. Price’s book, How Wealth Rules the World. Check out this interview!
Read More | News from the GrassrootsSep 6, 2019
As we begin a sixth mass extinction, we must act now to change our trajectory. In this guest blog, Susan Shaw urges the UK to embrace Rights of Nature to propel us forward.
Read More | Blogs, Press Releases & Blogs, Rights of NatureSep 5, 2019
This New Hampshire resident urges continued recognition of nature’s rights to end the insane ravaging of Earth’s ecosystem.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots