celdf, Author at CELDF - Page 22 of 28

Apr 16, 2015

In These Times: Sacrificing at the Altar of Energy

What are we willing to sacrifice at the altar of energy? Author and naturalist Charles Johnson beseeches us to look beyond science, beyond climatism, and beyond legal precepts about property – to look at love, humanity, and our connection with the land as we live in a time of ecological crisis.

Read More | Uncategorized

Apr 13, 2015

Griffith Journal of Law and Human Dignity: Finally Being Heard: the Great Barrier Reef and the International Rights of Nature Tribunal

Just over a year ago, the International Tribunal for the Rights of Nature and Mother Earth sat for the first time in Quito, Ecuador. Here, Michelle Maoney of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance shares the powerful, alternative narrative that emerged from the Tribunal, whereby Rights of Nature are recognized, codified, and enforced.

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Apr 2, 2015

The People’s Right to Local Community Self-Government

This legal brief explains how the right of local, community self-government is not a new right, but one that is natural, inherent, and inalienable, belonging to the people.

In Remembrance of Gail Darrell

It is with great sadness that we share with you the loss of our friend and colleague, Gail Darrell. For nearly a decade, Gail has worked to protect communities across New England from corporate and government interests that sought to override the rights of people, communities, and nature.

The Kane Republican: Seneca now seeks court injunction against Highland Twp.

While Seneca Resources insists it has suffered “irreparable harm” from Highland Township, PA’s, Community Bill of Rights banning fracking injection wells, residents assert they have an inalienable right to protect their water, and continue to back their Supervisors to exercise that right.

Read More | Community Wires

Mar 25, 2015

The Spokesman-Review: Envision Spokane initiative would add workers’ rights to city charter

Envision Spokane – a community, rights-based organization in Spokane, WA – is advancing a Worker’s Bill of Rights for the November 2015 ballot that would protect workers’ rights to a living wage, equal pay for equal work regardless of gender or race, and other rights for workers.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Mar 20, 2015

Inlander: Envision Spokane files new Worker Bill of Rights initiative

Envision Spokane advances a CELDF-drafted Worker’s Bill of Rights to protect workers’ rights to a living wage, and three other key provisions.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Mar 19, 2015

Windsor Now: Community rights discussion takes root in Windsor

Residents of Windsor, CO, work to place a rights-based Charter Amendment on the ballot for a vote by the people, to secure and protect community rights, and ban fracking as a violation of those rights.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Mar 15, 2015

OHCRN Statement: Broadview Heights, OH, County Court Decision Evokes Rallying Cry from Residents

While a County Court elevates corporate claimed “rights” over community rights in Broadview Heights, OH, residents assert the decision is illegitimate and determine to continue on.

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Mar 9, 2015

New Hampshire Public Radio: Newfound Voters Again Weighing Wind Restrictions

Threatened with industrial wind farms, communities in New Hampshire use Community Bills of Rights to ban the harmful practices. The Town of Alexandria votes this Tuesday at Town Meeting on a second rights-based ordinance to strengthen their ban on unsustainable energy practices.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Mar 7, 2015

Community Rights Paper #1: The Spirit of ‘73 and the Right to Local Self-Government

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Mar 3, 2015

Highland Township plans to fight injection well lawsuit in federal court

Highland Township, PA, residents urge their Supervisors to defend their community and fight Seneca Resources as the energy corporation files a federal lawsuit to overturn their Community Bill of Rights banning fracking injection wells. The ordinance was adopted by the township in 2013 to protect their water.

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Mar 2, 2015

Tiny Township Faces Injection Well Lawsuit

Highland Township, PA, residents and Supervisors determine they are protecting their water through their Community Bill of Rights banning fracking injection wells – regardless of any lawsuits.

Read More | Community Wires

Feb 23, 2015

Press Release: Oregon Files Constitutional Amendment to Secure Right to Local, Community Self-Government

ORCRN files a proposed state constitutional amendment to secure citizens’ right to local, community self-government, thereby enabling the people to protect themselves from harmful corporate activities, and move towards sustainability.

Read More | Community Wires

Feb 18, 2015

OHCRN Statement: Rejecting the Munroe Falls Decision

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Feb 18, 2015

BlogTalkRadio: Soldiers for Peace International: CELDF and Local Democracy with Kai Huschke

While corporations are granted growing numbers of “rights” by the courts, local communities are asserting community rights to local self-government, and to clean air, soil, and water – and banning corporate activities that violate those rights. Listen to Rick Staggenborg’s interview with CELDF’s Kai Huschke.

OHCRN: Kent Law Director Proposes Charter Amendment Granting Him Veto Power over Citizens’ Proposed Initiatives

Kent, OH, law director attempts to preempt citizens’ right to initiative by changing the city’s Charter – giving him the authority to veto proposed initiatives at his discretion.

Read More | Community Wires

Feb 14, 2015

CELDF Statement: Spokane Initiative Decision

In the face of corporations and government joining together to suppress the democratic rights of the people of Spokane, WA, to vote on a Community Bill of Rights, last week the Washington Court of Appeals overturned an earlier ruling and ordered the initiative be placed back on the ballot for a vote of the people.

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Feb 8, 2015

Foster’s Daily Democrat: Barrington citizens add resource protection item to March ballot

Barrington, NH, residents bring a Community Bill of Rights initiative to direct democracy at Town Meeting in March. The Barrington community is threatened by water, gravel, and mineral extraction, and is using Community Rights to protect themselves and local ecosystems.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Feb 4, 2015

CELDF Statement: Spokane Initiative Decision

In the face of corporations and government joining together to suppress the democratic rights of the people of Spokane, WA, to vote on a Community Bill of Rights, last week the Washington Court of Appeals overturned an earlier ruling and ordered the initiative be placed back on the ballot for a vote of the people.

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Feb 3, 2015

CELDF Statement: Spokane Initiative Appellate Court Decision

In the face of corporations and government joining together to suppress the democratic rights of the people of Spokane, WA, to vote on a Community Bill of Rights, last week the Washington Court of Appeals overturned an earlier ruling and ordered the initiative be placed back on the ballot for a vote of the people.

Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs

Jan 30, 2015

The Spokesman-Review: Court orders initiative vote

The Washington State Appellate Court ruled in favor of a Community Rights initiative that had been kept off the ballot by local corporate and government interests, finding that the right of initiative by the people is protected.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jan 28, 2015

Huffington Post: ‘Supreme Court Five’ Unleash Government Of, By and For the Oligarchs

The Supreme Court makes decisions that are benefiting corporations and harming democracy, while communities are working to adopt Community Bills of Rights that codify people’s rights to local self-governance and sustainable communities – banning those corporate activities that violate those rights.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jan 25, 2015

Truthout: ALEC Forces the Question: Will Labor Really Go Local?

While ALEC and other pro-corporate entities attempt to decrease worker rights,CELDF partners in Colorado and Spokane, WA, begin working on Community Bills of Rights to protect workers’ rights, building on the “floor” of rights established at the state and federal levels.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jan 25, 2015

Truthout: ALEC Forces the Question: Will Labor Really Go Local?

While ALEC and other pro-corporate entities attempt to decrease worker rights,CELDF partners in Colorado and Spokane, WA, begin working on Community Bills of Rights to protect workers’ rights, building on the “floor” of rights established at the state and federal levels.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jan 7, 2015

E&E Publishing: Speaking for the trees, lawyer pushes unconventional doctrine

While the oil & gas industry protests, CELDF & allies bring forward the Rights of Nature as the basis to give ecosystems legal standing to protect itself. The Little Mahoning Watershed in Grant Township, PA, filed to intervene in a case against Grant’s Community Bill of Rights banning frack wastewater injection wells.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Dec 22, 2014

Volatility: We Need GMO Abolition, Not Labeling

Blogger Russ reviews why labeling GMOs misses the point: People have a right to abolish GMOs – not just know whether or not their food contains them. He urges grassroots, Community Rights Movement building to achieve that end.

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Dec 19, 2014

WTAE Pittsburgh: Chronicle: Drilling Down (Part 6: “Whose Land is It?”)

Residents of western Pennsylvania determine to protect their community, families, and the land by banning fracking through Community Bills of Rights, and Rights of Nature conservation easement.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Dec 16, 2014

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript: Pipeline meeting draws big crowd

Southern New Hampshire communities unite in opposition to a gas pipeline project threatening their Towns, and learn about Community Rights as a means to protect residents and local ecosystems.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Dec 13, 2014

Sentinel & Enterprise: Pipeline no more popular in N.H.

Mason, NH, residents gather to oppose a gas pipeline threatening their community, and learn about CELDF-drafted Community Bills of Rights to stop harmful corporate activities as a violation of Community Rights.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Dec 10, 2014

Written Word, Spoken Word: Team Mora Kicks Judge Browning’s Bootie (In His Own Goddamned Courtroom)

Blogger Frances Madeson reveals Judge Browning’s pained granting of intervenor status to the Mora Land Grant and Jacobo Pacheco in the SWEPI lawsuit seeking to overturn Mora’s Community Bill of Rights banning all hydrocarbon extraction.

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Nov 29, 2014

Written Word, Spoken Word: 14,392 Reasons for Mora County to Stand Its Ground On the Anti-Fracking Ordinance

Blogger Frances Madeson reveals the number of gas leases in Mora County, making their Community Bill of Rights banning fracking all the more urgent.

Read More | Uncategorized

Nov 19, 2014

Daily Camera: Letter-to-the-Editor: Let the revolution begin

The idea that advancing and enforcing people’s fundamental rights, while directly challenging the power of corporations and the state to override community rights, is somehow an act of government overthrow says more about our current political/legal system than it does about the Colorado Community Rights Network.

Truthout: Amending Colorado’s Constitution: Do Communities Have Right to Clean Air and Water?

As voters last week banned fracking in regions from Ohio to Texas to California, Colorado citizens are meanwhile attempting to reclaim their own right to a safe, healthy environment by enacting the Colorado Community Rights amendment to the Colorado Constitution.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Nov 18, 2014

Press Release: First-in-the-Nation Action – Ecosystem Files for Intervention in Lawsuit to Defend Own Legal Rights to Exist and Flourish

Today, for the first time, an ecosystem in the United States filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit to defend its own right to exist and flourish. The Little Mahoning Watershed and Grant Township, PA, residents come up against the Pennsylvania General Energy Corporation.

Nov 13, 2014

Written Word, Spoken Word: SWEPI v. Mora County: The Purple Haze of U.S. Judge James Oren Browning

Blogger Frances Madeson shares the surreal proceedings in the oral arguments of the SWEPI v. Mora County, NM, case. SWEPI is suing to overturn Mora County’s Community Water Rights and Local Self-Governance Ordinance.

Read More | Uncategorized

Nov 13, 2014

Fort Bragg Advocate-News: Fracking ban success surprises supporters

Mendocino County, CA, residents voting to use Community Rights to ban fracking by an overwhelming majority in the November election, welcome the broader conversation about the recognition of community rights within the county.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Nov 12, 2014

Global Exchange’s People to People Blog: Fracking Corporations Played the Democracy Game – Two Communities Set New Rules this Election

Growing numbers of communities – including Athens, OH, and Mendocino County, CA – banned fracking by asserting their inalienable right to make governing decisions, and elevating community rights above corporate claimed “rights” when they harm a community.

Read More | Uncategorized

Nov 10, 2014

Punishing Democracy

Denton, TX, joins a growing number of communities being sued by their own government and corporate entities, to punish communities for democratically enacting bans on fracking.

EagleFordTexas.com: Mendocino County voters ban fracking

Mendocino County, CA’s, Community Bill of Rights banning fracking protects residents and local ecosystems, and challenges existing law that denies communities the right to local decision-making, the right to clean air and water, and the right to create sustainable communities.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Nov 5, 2014

2014 Election Update: Record Number of Community Rights Initiatives on Ballot

Community Bills of Rights advance on Election Day 2014, with a record number of initiatives on the ballot, and a growing number of communities determined to drive those rights forward.

Read More | Uncategorized

Nov 5, 2014

YES! Magazine: 6 Ways Americans Voted Against Corporate Power in the Most Expensive Midterm Elections Ever

CELDF-drafted Community Bills of Rights banning fracking and challenging corporate claimed “rights” in Ohio and California take center stage.

Nov 5, 2014

Press Release: Athens, OH, Bans Fracking and Frack Waste Water Disposal as a Violation of Rights

Athens, OH, residents overwhelmingly adopt a Community Bill of Rights banning fracking wastewater disposal, as a violation of their rights to clean air, water, and the right to local self-government.

Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs

Oct 17, 2014

Colorado Community Rights Network Launches Fundraiser for State Ballot Initiative

The COCRN calls for support to advance the Colorado Community Rights Amendment for the state wide ballot in 2015. Check out their fundraising video on INDIEGOGO.

Read More | Uncategorized

Sep 26, 2014

CentralMaine.com: East-west corridor remains a danger

Dover-Foxcroft, ME, resident urges communities to assert their rights to protect themselves from harmful corporate projects, such as the East-West Corridor, through Community Bills of Rights.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Sep 17, 2014

So Your Community is Going to be Fracked, Mined, Factory Farmed, or fill in the blank…

Why can’t we say “no” to what we don’t want, and “yes” to what we do want, in our communities? This short video goes through the barriers we face in our communities – and what you can do about it.

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Sep 17, 2014

The Right to Local Self-Government

What is the right of local, community self-government? Where did that right come from? The right is violated daily – what does that actually look like? And can we build sustainable communities without that right? If not, how do we change law to codify that right? CELDF’s Thomas Linzey answers these questions in this 20 minute slide show.

Read More | Uncategorized

Sep 1, 2014

Spokane

In 2007, after a series of Democracy Schools held in Spokane, Washington, a group of citizens led by local school teacher Brad Read built a coalition to support a Community Bill of Rights for City residents.

Read More | Community Wires

Aug 21, 2014

The Colorado Statesman: How Congressman Jared Polis and Food and Water Watch sold out Colorado

CELDF’s Thomas Linzey calls out the blatant sellout of Coloradans by a Congressman who had claimed to support communities banning fracking, and a non-profit’s abandonment of helping protect Coloradans from fracking.

Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs

Aug 21, 2014

EcoWatch: Colorado Town Sues State, Gov. Hickenlooper and COGA to Protect Right to Ban Fracking

Lafayette, CO, residents file a preliminary injunction to protect their Community Bill of Rights banning fracking.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Book: ‘Death by Democracy’

CELDF's Proposed Rights of Nature Principles

2023 Year-end Newsletter: Living with Nature

In These Times: Sacrificing at the Altar of Energy

Griffith Journal of Law and Human Dignity: Finally Being Heard: the Great Barrier Reef and the International Rights of Nature Tribunal

The People’s Right to Local Community Self-Government

In Remembrance of Gail Darrell

The Kane Republican: Seneca now seeks court injunction against Highland Twp.

The Spokesman-Review: Envision Spokane initiative would add workers’ rights to city charter

Inlander: Envision Spokane files new Worker Bill of Rights initiative

Windsor Now: Community rights discussion takes root in Windsor

OHCRN Statement: Broadview Heights, OH, County Court Decision Evokes Rallying Cry from Residents

New Hampshire Public Radio: Newfound Voters Again Weighing Wind Restrictions

Community Rights Paper #1: The Spirit of ‘73 and the Right to Local Self-Government

Highland Township plans to fight injection well lawsuit in federal court

Tiny Township Faces Injection Well Lawsuit

Press Release: Oregon Files Constitutional Amendment to Secure Right to Local, Community Self-Government

OHCRN Statement: Rejecting the Munroe Falls Decision

BlogTalkRadio: Soldiers for Peace International: CELDF and Local Democracy with Kai Huschke

OHCRN: Kent Law Director Proposes Charter Amendment Granting Him Veto Power over Citizens’ Proposed Initiatives

CELDF Statement: Spokane Initiative Decision

Foster’s Daily Democrat: Barrington citizens add resource protection item to March ballot

CELDF Statement: Spokane Initiative Decision

CELDF Statement: Spokane Initiative Appellate Court Decision

The Spokesman-Review: Court orders initiative vote

Huffington Post: ‘Supreme Court Five’ Unleash Government Of, By and For the Oligarchs

Truthout: ALEC Forces the Question: Will Labor Really Go Local?

Truthout: ALEC Forces the Question: Will Labor Really Go Local?

E&E Publishing: Speaking for the trees, lawyer pushes unconventional doctrine

Volatility: We Need GMO Abolition, Not Labeling

WTAE Pittsburgh: Chronicle: Drilling Down (Part 6: “Whose Land is It?”)

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript: Pipeline meeting draws big crowd

Sentinel & Enterprise: Pipeline no more popular in N.H.

Written Word, Spoken Word: Team Mora Kicks Judge Browning’s Bootie (In His Own Goddamned Courtroom)

Written Word, Spoken Word: 14,392 Reasons for Mora County to Stand Its Ground On the Anti-Fracking Ordinance

Daily Camera: Letter-to-the-Editor: Let the revolution begin

Truthout: Amending Colorado’s Constitution: Do Communities Have Right to Clean Air and Water?

Press Release: First-in-the-Nation Action – Ecosystem Files for Intervention in Lawsuit to Defend Own Legal Rights to Exist and Flourish

Written Word, Spoken Word: SWEPI v. Mora County: The Purple Haze of U.S. Judge James Oren Browning

Fort Bragg Advocate-News: Fracking ban success surprises supporters

Global Exchange’s People to People Blog: Fracking Corporations Played the Democracy Game – Two Communities Set New Rules this Election

Punishing Democracy

EagleFordTexas.com: Mendocino County voters ban fracking

2014 Election Update: Record Number of Community Rights Initiatives on Ballot

YES! Magazine: 6 Ways Americans Voted Against Corporate Power in the Most Expensive Midterm Elections Ever

Press Release: Athens, OH, Bans Fracking and Frack Waste Water Disposal as a Violation of Rights

Colorado Community Rights Network Launches Fundraiser for State Ballot Initiative

CentralMaine.com: East-west corridor remains a danger

So Your Community is Going to be Fracked, Mined, Factory Farmed, or fill in the blank…

The Right to Local Self-Government

Spokane

The Colorado Statesman: How Congressman Jared Polis and Food and Water Watch sold out Colorado

EcoWatch: Colorado Town Sues State, Gov. Hickenlooper and COGA to Protect Right to Ban Fracking

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