Book: ‘Death by Democracy’
Protecting Water and Life: Frontline Stories from Ohioans fighting corporate and state…
Publications
Important Updates
Protecting Water and Life: Frontline Stories from Ohioans fighting corporate and state…
Publications
A new system of law based on respect for Nature and the…
Issues, News, Resources, Rights of Nature
FREE Gifts with tax-deductible year-end donations of $100 or more.
Newsletters
Sep 25, 2017
Without rights, the Colorado River is merely an object for human exploitation, rather than recognized as the living ecosystem it is, and wholly necessary to sustain life
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 25, 2017
When county residents in Ohio seek to reform their government, that very government blocks them. At stake: communities’ clean air and water, and their right to local community self-government.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 24, 2017
What’s going on in Ohio? Voter suppression in the form of blocking rights-based citizen initiatives from the ballot for a vote. Who’s behind it? The oil and gas industry and their allies.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 21, 2017
The Ohio Supreme Court places insurmountable requirements on county charter initiatives. For three years, counties have attempted to protect themselves from fracking through advancing rights-based charter initiatives.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsSep 14, 2017
The people’s right to vote on a right to climate charter amendment in Bowling Green, OH, is challenged by one resident.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 11, 2017
The Siletz River in Oregon files to intervene in a lawsuit brought to overturn a community rights ban on aerially sprayed pesticides.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsSep 8, 2017
Facing environmental devastation from fracking, Boulder County, CO, residents make it clear: It’s time for the people to use community rights and decide what happens in the places where they live.
Read More | UncategorizedSep 7, 2017
The Wood County, OH, Board of Elections supports Bowling Green residents’ right to vote, placing the people’s right to climate initiative on the November ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StorySep 7, 2017
The Board of Elections denies Youngstown, OH, residents their inalienable right to vote on their own citizen initiatives. Residents are challenging the stripping of their rights.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsSep 6, 2017
Bowling Green, OH, residents’ community rights citizen initiative to codify a right to climate advances to the November ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StorySep 1, 2017
Boulder County, CO, resident calls for people to stand up to protect themselves from oil and gas industry by driving into law a Community Bill of Rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 23, 2017
Tree Media’s Leila Connors speaks to the documentary We the People 2.0 – The Second American Revolution, and how communities across the U.S. are using Community Rights to challenge and change corporate state barriers to democracy.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 22, 2017
CELDF’s Tish O’Dell is on the Thom Hartmann Program, exploring why we don’t have a fracking problem – but instead a democracy problem.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 22, 2017
Boards of Elections use new found authority to block citizen initiatives off the ballot in Athens and Medina Counties in Ohio. CELDF is assisting residents to fight back, taking it to the Ohio Supreme Court.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsAug 18, 2017
Bowling Green residents and students who submitted petitions to place a Right to Climate charter amendment on the November ballot may face efforts to block their measure.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 18, 2017
While the oil and gas industry declares democracy is “too expensive,” CELDF’s Tish O’Dell looks at the bigger picture, including the cost of the corporate state.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 13, 2017
A Youngstown, OH, residents calls for support of the People’s Bill of Rights for Fair Elections and Access to Local Government. The initiative creates non-partisan elections, stops outside influence on elections, and other groundbreaking requirements.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 11, 2017
A Medina Co, OH, resident invites elected officials to see what’s happening in Carroll and Noble Counties, where residents suffer harms from fossil fuel projects marring the countryside.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 11, 2017
Gas industry allies in the Ohio legislature adopted a law authorizing BOEs and the Secretary of State to keep measures off the ballot based on content. The new law may be used in an attempt to keep 2 Youngstown community rights measures off the ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 9, 2017
The New Hampshire legislature is suppressing voters and refusing to protect the vote through a verification process. This resident calls for using community rights to change that.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 8, 2017
Youngstown, OH, residents work to ban corporations from elections and cap campaign spending to level the playing field.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 8, 2017
Youngstown residents submit a petition for the November ballot that would remove corporations from elections, and cap campaign contributions.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 7, 2017
Youngstown, OH, residents submit petitions to place a fair elections initiative on the November ballot. The measure includes removing corporations from campaigns.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsAug 7, 2017
State and federal governments use ceiling preemption to suppress rights. It’s time for communities to use floor preemption to stop harm and expand rights.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsAug 5, 2017
A resident and attorney in Athens County, OH, urges support for the county charter initiative advanced by community members to protect the county from fracking.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsAug 2, 2017
For a third year, Athens County, OH, residents battle efforts to keep them from voting on their qualified charter initiative. The measure bans fracking activities as a violation of rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 31, 2017
Facing the proposed Nexus pipeline and determined to protect their community’s water, Bowling Green, OH, residents turn in signatures for their community rights initiative.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 27, 2017
For a 3rd year, Athens County, OH, residents fight to protect themselves from fracking activities through a rights-based Home Rule charter. They continue to come up against the corporate state blocking them.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 26, 2017
As the Siletz River Ecosystem is being destroyed by aerial sprayed pesticides, the river is taking legal action to protect itself, using a community rights ordinance adopted by Linconl Co, OR, voters.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 25, 2017
Nature’s rights are necessary to protect local ecosystems, and the Siletz River in Lincoln County, OR, is filing to intervene in a lawsuit to make that argument.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 24, 2017
The Siletz River watershed in Lincoln County, OR, files to intervene in a case to protect itself against aerially sprayed pesticides. The practice was banned by county residents in May.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsJul 22, 2017
Medina, OH, resident lays out the gagging of democratic rights by county government when residents advanced a measure to protect themselves from the Nexus pipeline and compressor station – and the harms that will come with those projects.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 21, 2017
As global warming accelerates, a radical change in how we view and interact with nature is necessary. World Policy on Air’s David Alpern interviews CELDF’s Mari Margil.
Read More | News from the GrassrootsJul 21, 2017
Bowling Green, OH, residents prepare to submit signatures to place a community rights ballot initiative before voters for November. The measure bans the Nexus pipeline as a violation of rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 20, 2017
Grant Township, PA, digs in deep to fight a frack wastewater injection well, leveraging rights to challenge a legal system stacked against them.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 18, 2017
The right of Medina Co., OH, residents to alter their government through citizen initiative is denied by a Common Pleas judge. Residents are considering next steps.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 17, 2017
A federal judge does not consider the people’s right to a healthy climate in a lawsuit filed by Spokane residents who are fighting to protect their community from fossil fuel activities.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 15, 2017
A federal judge uses “standing” to dismiss Spokane residents’ lawsuit asserting a right to a healthy climate, ignoring the urgency of climate change and the people’s rights.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsJul 14, 2017
Medina County, OH, resident calls out the County Board of Elections for their refusal to let the people vote on their qualified county charter initiative. The measure secures democratic and environmental rights, and bans fracking infrastructure.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 13, 2017
Toledo resident calls out local government’s lack of meaningful response to protect Lake Erie, and calls in the broader community to participate in direct democracy in advancing community rights – including rights for Lake Erie.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 12, 2017
CELDF’s Kai Hushke is interviewed on UCY.TV, examining the barriers our communities face when they exercise their right to govern the places they live – and exploring how community rights is a means to challenge and change them.
Read More | News from the GrassrootsJul 11, 2017
Medina County, OH, residents find the Board of Elections blocking their initiative to establish a Home Rule charter, refusing to allow citizens to vote on their own measure.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 11, 2017
Ohio county Boards of Elections block Home Rule charter citizen initiatives from the ballot, raising frustration in Athens and Medina County residents. The rights-based measures banned fracking activities as a violation of rights.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsJul 10, 2017
Immense Possibilities interviews CELDF’s Thomas Linzey and Coos County, OR, community rights activist Mary Geddry.
Read More | News from the GrassrootsJul 9, 2017
On Monday, the Medina County, OH, Board of Elections is meeting to certify residents’ petition for a Home Rule county charter measure on the ballot. This Medina resident urges citizens to attend and insist on their right to vote on the people’s initiative.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 9, 2017
A resident of Medina County spells out what the problem is with the Nexus pipeline threatening to cut through the county – and what residents can do about it through a rights-based county charter.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsJul 9, 2017
Recognizing the rights of nature is a strategy leveraged by communities in partnership with CELDF across the U.S. to protect themselves from fracking harms. The strategy crosses traditional conservative/liberal demarcations.
Read More | News from the Grassroots, Success StoryJul 7, 2017
Rather than being an idea on the fringes, the rights of nature is gaining legal and cultural traction as courts around the world are beginning to recognize rights of rivers.
Read More | News from the Grassroots, Success StoryJul 7, 2017
PGE corporation is attempting to force fracking wastewater into Grant Twp, PA. Now they seek sanctions against CELDF attorneys working on behalf of the community.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsJul 6, 2017
Spokane, WA, residents set to make their argument for a right to climate in federal court next week. CELDF filed a lawsuit on behalf of residents against the U.S. government in January.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs