Our Mission
Our mission is to build sustainable communities by assisting people to assert their right to local self-government and the rights of nature.
We help communities create a more democratic future.
For over 25 years, we have assisted communities to develop first-in-the-nation, groundbreaking laws for worker rights, houseless rights, democratic rights, and the Rights of Nature. We also provide free and low-cost legal services, grassroots organizing, and education support, to thousands of communities and governments facing injustice locally, nationally, and globally. Contact us now.
“Wouldn’t You Say?”
Welcome to CELDF’s new commentary series that focuses on key concepts in our work to advance Community Rights and the Rights of Nature.
Superficially, these may appear to be separate movements for legal rights but, as we have come to understand, everything’s connected and the artificial separation of human communities from the natural communities that we refer to as “ecosystems” allows the migration of imprudent and commercially biased dogmas into environmental and political policies. Like our “Fast Facts Friday” whiteboard videos, “Wouldn’t you say?” treats key legal, political and ethical concepts with an eye to brevity and accessibility. We hope they’ll be helpful to you and all of our CELDF community.
Blogs
Wouldn’t You Say? – The Challenge of Movement Building
“It seems like legal rights for community and for nature would almost be unnecessary if our attitude toward the world were based on reciprocity, responsibility,…
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Blogs
Wouldn’t You Say? – From Rights of Nature to Right Relationship
We are used to extracting not only metallic ores and fossil fuels, but ourselves and our communities from the natural world, and yet we don’t…
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Blogs
Wouldn’t You Say? – Saving the Economy Means Not Saving Nature
At the risk of expediting the die-off of most life on the planet, including most humans, judges continue to turn a blind eye toward the…
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News from the Grassroots
Waste well to be plugged in Grant Township
Feature photo by Mike Belleme, Rolling Stone GRANT TOWNSHIP — The online publication Marcellus Drilling…
Read More | News
When We Became Trees – A Short Story by Blake Lavia
“When we became trees, we left behind I and we became We.”
Read More | Community Wires
Radical Resilience and Restoration for Wetland Rights
On June 28th CELDF’s Kai Huschke will be presenting at the Society for Wetland Scientists annual conference.
Read More | Events
Unrepentant and Vindicated: Proposed Frack-Waste Injection Well in Grant Township to be Plugged and Abandoned
To date, not a single drop of frack waste has been injected within the Township…
Read More | Community Rights
Got Community Resistance?
Dean Barlese, an elder of the Pyramid Lake Paiute-Shoshone, who told us “We’ve got to…
Read More | Community Rights
From Lake to Lagoon: Exploring Sustainability in Cleveland & Venice
CELDF’s Tish O’Dell will be present at this free public event as part of the…
Read More | Events
Fast Facts
Our Fast Facts are quick introductions to big ideas and concepts tackled by the Community Rights Movement! Check out our Fast Facts and find resources to more information to further your knowledge on the topics! Watch them all here.
Rights of Nature
Community Rights
Box of Allowable Activism
[The Community Rights and Rights of Nature movement] is the beginning of a social movement that is greater than just the oil and gas industry, it is a potential game changer for all of corporate America.
Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico