February 24th, 2014
Here’s an update on some of our latest work:
In New Hampshire, several communities are facing an industrial wind project by Iberdrola Corporation. On March 11th, Hebron, Alexandria, and Danbury, will vote on CELDF-drafted Community Bills of Rights ordinances banning the project and establishing communities’ rights to a sustainable energy future. These communities follow on the heels of Grafton, NH, which in March 2013 adopted a similar Community Rights ordinance.
Also in New Hampshire, the Town of Barrington will be voting on a CELDF-drafted Community Bill of Rights ordinance to prohibit resource extraction (such as water, sand, and gravel), and to prohibit toxic dumping from gravel mine reclamation. The ordinance establishes the right to sustainably access, use, consume, and preserve water drawn from natural water cycles that provide water necessary to preserve life within the Town; and a right to clean air untainted by toxins, carcinogens, particulates and other substances known to cause harm to health.
In Cambridge, ME, residents are voting on a CELDF-drafted Community Bill of Rights ordinance on March 1st, which, if adopted, will ban unsustainable infrastructure projects. Communities in Maine face the East-West Corridor, a 220-mile private highway that would extend across the state, routing extractive materials and forcing unsustainable energy and other development into communities and surrounding ecosystems.
This January, CELDF, a founding member of the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature, joined in an international gathering hosted by the Alliance in Octavalo, Ecuador. More than 60 participants from around the world gathered to discuss advancing the Rights of Nature. Read more here.
Check out our Democracy School schedule. In March, we are holding an expanded Democracy School in Colorado, with up to 100 participants, hosted by the Colorado Community Rights Network. We also have a school scheduled in March in California. For more information, contact our National Democracy School Director, Stacey Schmader, at stacey@celdf.org.
For more on CELDF activities, see our home page, under Announcements.
Thank you for your interest in our work! We rely on your support so we can continue assisting the growing numbers of communities asking us for help. Please consider making a donation at www.celdf.org and clicking on the purple DONATE button.