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May 7, 2024
The Great Salt Lake. Image by Erin Testone. A growing number of American jurisdictions are outlawing Right of Nature as we embark on the greatest rates of extinctions in our planetary history. In this essay, Will Falk, encourages Rights of Nature advocates to recognize that we cannot wait for courts and governments to enforce Rights… Read more »
Read More | Blogs, Chemical Trespass, Extraction & Pollution, Rights of NatureJan 17, 2024
Press release · 11th Local Rights of Nature Tribunal Biobío, Concepción, Chile International Rights of Nature Tribunal rules impacts caused by current forestry model as ecocide The International Rights of Nature Tribunal held its 11th Local Tribunal in the Biobío region in Chile on Friday, January 12, focusing its attention on the violations of the Rights of… Read more »
Read More | News, Press Releases, Rights of NatureSep 1, 2023
100% of the water from the Seal Rock Water District (SRWD) comes from Beaver Creek.
Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Community Wires, Corporate 'Rights', Corporate Agriculture, Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, Rights of NatureAug 2, 2023
“In our history, humans were owned at one point. That is the position Nature is currently in.”
Read More | Rights of NatureJul 31, 2023
Feature photo by Paul Vernon AFP via Getty Images In 1979, the children’s educational television series Schoolhouse Rock! broadcast a now-classic episode titled “Three Ring Government” about the three branches of the U.S. government — executive, legislative and judicial. “No one part can be more powerful than the other,” proclaimed the narrator, who explains that our system of government… Read more »
Read More | Blogs, Community Rights, Democratic Rights, Rights of NatureMay 31, 2023
According to the CELDF, “not a single drop of frack waste has been injected within the township due to hard work, resistance and resilience.”
Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, News, Rights of NatureMay 24, 2023
Feature photo by Mike Belleme, Rolling Stone GRANT TOWNSHIP — The online publication Marcellus Drilling News headlined the item this way: “Bad Guys Win: PA General Energy to Plug Grant Twp Injection Well.” The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund sees what happened differently, after Warren-based PGE, also known as Pennsylvania General Energy LLC, notified the… Read more »
Read More | NewsMay 19, 2023
“When we became trees, we left behind I and we became We.”
Read More | Community Wires, Rights of NatureMay 3, 2023
CELDF’s Tish O’Dell will be present at this free public event as part of the community programming for the exhibition Everlasting Plastics, curated by the Cleveland gallery SPACES for the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennial.
Read More | EventsMay 1, 2023
Feature photo by Bill Rinehart/WVXU “An advocacy group wants Cincinnati to recognize the right of the Ohio River to thrive. Members of Citizens for the Rights of the Ohio River Watershed are circulating a petition to get an amendment to Cincinnati’s charter on the ballot. Susan VonderHaar says CROW members want to give the river a seat… Read more »
Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Community Wires, Corporate Agriculture, Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, Issues, News, News from the Grassroots, Rights of NatureMar 29, 2023
April 18th at 3:00 PM CELDF’s Ben Price will be speaking at Youngstown University in Ohio for Earth Day. Dr. Ray’s Energy and Environment Speaker Series, Ohio Environmental Council, and Citizens’ Climate Lobby Mahoning Valley Chapter present an Earth Day 2023 event on Tuesday April 18th at 3 PM in YSU Kilcawley Center – “No More Enviro-Mentalism:… Read more »
Read More | Events, News from the GrassrootsMar 28, 2023
Thursday, April 6th at 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM EDT FracTracker Alliance and Halt the Harm Network will host a special virtual screening of the documentary film “Hellbent” on April 6, 2023, at 2 p.m. ET. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmakers and those involved in the fight to protect… Read more »
Read More | EventsMar 15, 2022
New York State Assemblyman Patrick Burke, a 37-year-old Democrat from the Buffalo area, has introduced legislation “that will create a Great Lakes Bill of Rights with the goal of securing legal rights for the entire ecosystem and giving people and nature a role in the decision-making process regarding current and future projects that impact the… Read more »
Read More | News, News from the Grassroots, Rights of NatureJan 5, 2022
Glen Anderson interviewed two experts — Kai Huschke and Elliott Moffett — who have savvy insights and practical experience working to protect environments and establish legal rights for nature.
Read More | News from the GrassrootsDec 30, 2021
La Corte Constitucional revisa la sentencia de segunda instancia emitida por la Corte
Provincial de Justicia de Imbabura dentro de la acción de protección presentada por el GAD de
Santa Ana de Cotacachi en favor del Bosque Protector Los Cedros, en la cual se alegaron como
vulnerados los derechos de la naturaleza, el derecho a un ambiente sano, el derecho al agua y la consulta ambiental.
Dec 15, 2021
What is the force that propels a woman forward in taking a courageous stand for water and the environment water creates?
Here is what Tish O’Dell told WATERTODAY Ohio.
Nov 11, 2021
CELDF’s Kai Huschke was centrally involved in the first-in-the-nation Community Bill of Rights and Worker Bill of Rights. His chapter for the new book One-Block Revolution, details the community building behind the efforts.
Read More | PublicationsNov 1, 2021
Legal Self Defense understands that the U.S. Constitution guarantees neither fairness nor safety, but that de-escalation skills coupled with some targeted legal knowledge can improve your security during interactions with law enforcement.
Read More | Defunding Violence, PublicationsOct 8, 2021
How Rights of Nature laws are transforming governance to address environmental crises through more ecologically sustainable approaches to development.
Read More | News, Publications, Rights of NatureSep 23, 2021
The Freedom From Chemical Trespass Rights-Based Ordinance asserted residents’ rights to a healthy climate and banned corporate activities that would interfere with those rights, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 per day.
Read More | Community Rights, Extraction & Pollution, Issues, News from the Grassroots, Water PrivitizationJul 30, 2021
One citizen-led initiative makes it on November’s ballot but the other is denied By Free Press Staff The citizen-led ProEnergy Ohio ballot initiative is likely making Columbus City Council, the Mayor’s Office and the Columbus Partnership take serious pause. Many believed the initiative was doomed, yet it made it on November’s ballot. Unfortunately, another environmental… Read more »
Read More | UncategorizedJul 29, 2021
Earth Law Center and the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN) Youth Hub led two sessions on “Youth and the Rights of Nature Movement: shifting the paradigm for all future generations” at the first IUCN Global Youth Summit April 7-9. As a result of the Rights of Nature sessions, a Declaration was drafted.… Read more »
Read More | Community Wires, Issues, News, Resource Links, Rights of NatureJul 29, 2021
Glen Ford spent more than four decades delivering the news from a Black perspective on a national scale.
Read More | Community Wires, NewsJan 4, 2021
Coverage on the ongoing Rights of Nature efforts in Grant Township – see the full original article by the Indiana Gazette.
Read More | Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, News, News from the GrassrootsNov 6, 2020
Reekumani Greendeer was a fierce advocate for Nature. We will honor his memory through continued efforts for the Rights of Nature.
Read More | Community WiresOct 6, 2020
From Bolivia to New Zealand, rivers and ecosystems in at least 14 countries have won the legal right to exist and flourish, as a new way of safeguarding nature gains steam. This new legal route to protect the planet – overriding the long-held human right to harm – bring fresh arguments to court, rally communities and shift local politics.
Read More | Issues, News from the Grassroots, Rights of NatureSep 6, 2020
Rights of Nature advocates caution against handing over Rights of Nature oversight to the Democratic Party.
Read More | Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Corporate Agriculture, Democratic Rights, Issues, News from the GrassrootsJul 8, 2020
Ben Price discusses Rights of Nature and how the concepts of preemption, claimed corporate rights, and property rights challenge local democracy and ecosystem rights.
Read More | Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Rights of NatureJul 7, 2020
A new Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund report details a standard operating procedure of how corporate interests, and the politicians who serve them, retain power.
Read More | Corporate 'Rights', Resource LinksJun 29, 2020
Chad Nicholson joins Thom Hartmann to discuss how the 1% are effectively, suing the 99% for their own benefit, citing the findings of our June 2020 Report.
Read More | Corporate 'Rights', News from the GrassrootsApr 22, 2020
For 50 years, environmentalists have celebrated the illusion that the law is on their side. Earth Day’s laws have systematically failed to guard against mass species die-offs, the climate crisis, deadly air pollution, the corporatization of freshwater, and the largest loss of biodiversity in human history.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 13, 2020
Pennsylvania organizer, Chad Nicholson, discusses the Rights of Nature victory in Grant Township despite the ongoing rollback of environmental protections across the country.
Read More | News from the Grassroots, Resource LinksApr 9, 2020
Pacific Northwest organizer, Kai Huschke, details how COVID-19 has opens timely conversation about the Rights of Nature as a legal framework for protecting Nature.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Resource LinksApr 6, 2020
In this interview, Kai speaks on the current state of community rights, gives an explanation of the events taking place in Grant Township, and talks about how we must take this time during Covid-19 to progress forward in the movement.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Rights of NatureApr 2, 2020
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) revoked a permit for a toxic frack waste injection well in Grant Township. The DEP cited the Township’s Home Rule Charter, which includes a “Community Bill of Rights,” in their decision. Through the Charter that residents adopted in 2015, they banned injections wells as a violation of the rights of the community and the ecosystems that sustain them. CELDF assisted in drafting and defending the law.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Resource Links, Success StoryFeb 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 NatureOct 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
“The Rights of Nature movement…is about ushering humanity back onto a living planet.”
Read More | News from the GrassrootsOct 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 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 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 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
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 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