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
May 25, 2016
As Lane County, OR, voters advance Community Rights, efforts are underway to block them. Community Rights Lane County uses street theater to help fight for the people’s democratic rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMay 25, 2016
Highland Township, PA’s Home Rule Study Commission was voted in last month. Last night, they held their first meeting to begin consideration of becoming a Home Rule township, retaining CELDF as legal counsel.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMay 25, 2016
A screening of Dear President Obama at Youngstown State Univ. provokes discussion on how to address fracking. It is not, says CELDF’s Tish O’Dell, about pleading with elected officials. It’s about the right to make governing decisions in the places we live.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMay 23, 2016
State governments block communities’ efforts to stop harmful activities. Corporations sue the communities and are backed by the judiciary. What’s left? Says blogger Mary Geddry: people insisting on their right to local community self-government.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMay 20, 2016
Colorado resident refuses to accede to the CO Supreme Court’s recent ruling that denies the people’s right to govern themselves and ban fracking. He calls on Coloradans to make real their right to local community self-government through a state constitutional amendment.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMay 18, 2016
State preemption prevails again in this week’s decision from a Josephine County, OR, Circuit Court judge, overturning the people’s democratically enacted ban on GMOs.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsMay 18, 2016
Guest blogger Tish O’Dell of Broadview Heights, OH, observes that efforts to update frack waste regulations perpetuates harm. It’s time to shift from slowing down the destruction of our communities and ecosystems, to stopping it.
Read More | Community WiresMay 13, 2016
Grant Township, PA, residents send one clear, united message to the fracking industry: There will be no frack wastewater injection wells in our community. And we’re legalizing civil disobedience to make sure of it.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMay 12, 2016
The NHCRN urges Plymouth, NH’s, Selectboard to enforce the people’s Right to a Sustainable Energy Future and Community Self-Government Ordinance, adopted by residents in 2012 to stop the Northern Pass.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMay 11, 2016
Today residents in Meigs County and the City of Waterville, OH, launched their petition campaigns to place rights-based initiatives before voters this November. Residents are organizing to stop fracking projects and protect rights to clean air and water.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsMay 10, 2016
The overturning of fracking bans in Colorado reveals corporations have more “rights” than people, and our government is here to protect those claimed “rights.” Coloradans are advancing a Community Rights state constitutional amendment to change that.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMay 6, 2016
Thom Hartmann interviews CELDF’s Chad Nicholson on Grant Township’s bold move to make civil disobedience a civic duty. Grant residents insist on protecting their community from toxic frack wastewater.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMay 4, 2016
How Grant Township, PA, residents continue to make history as they stand against PGE to stop a frack wastewater injection well – and garner support from members of the Climate Disobedience Center.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMay 4, 2016
In the face of PGE threatening a fracking wastewater injection well despite a local law banning injection wells, Grant Township, PA, residents make bold move and legalize civil disobedience.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMay 3, 2016
Grant Township, PA, residents make history as the first community in the U.S. to legalize nonviolent civil disobedience to protect their community from a fracking wastewater injection well.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsApr 29, 2016
A newly appointed Highland Twp, PA, supervisor reveals he is not supportive of the Township’s Community Bill of Rights banning injection wells. In a lawsuit, CELDF attorneys request the judge to reconsider intervention by residents and the Crystal Spring ecosystem.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 27, 2016
North Carolina’s HB2 is a new state law that preempts local laws that protect LGBT rights. This means that the state legislature deliberately and knowingly eliminated protections for the LGBT community in North Carolina. It’s time for communities to take action.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 27, 2016
Residents of Highland Township, PA, vote “yes” to consider a Home Rule form of government as they work for local community decision-making. The Township is fighting for their right to protect their community from a frack wastewater injection well.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 27, 2016
Boone County, IA, residents propose a Community Bill of Rights banning pipelines. Residents are working with CELDF to protect communities from the Bakken pipeline, threatening to cut through farmland and harm local ecosystems and water sources.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 26, 2016
As Highland Township, PA, residents fight to keep out a frack wastewater injection well, tonight they voted “yes” to form a study commission to consider a Home Rule form of government, which could expand local control.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StoryApr 25, 2016
Our own local electeds are bound by our legal structure to allow harmful corporate practices into the communities they’ve sworn to protect. It’s up to the people to change this structure.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 25, 2016
Seneca Resources vows to defend its property rights – including its claimed right to site a wastewater injection well, which threatens drinking water sources. The people of Highland Township, PA, vow to protect their water and their community.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 18, 2016
Our right to local community self-government is unrecognized. Our elected representatives work on behalf of industry rather than we the people. Maybe it’s time to revoke our consent.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 14, 2016
In a state overrun by fracking, a Colorado leader in advancing Community Rights lays it out plainly: when democracy and fracking cannot coexist, one of them must always go. Through a state amendment initiative, Coloradans are working to make sure democracy is secured.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 13, 2016
Oregonians working to advance a community rights state constitutional amendment to protect the right to local self-government find their Secretary of State is working to block them. Residents are challenging the Secretary in the Oregon Supreme Court.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 11, 2016
Thomas Linzey speaks to how our legal structure keeping us from protecting our well-being, safeguarding ecosystems, and establishing a sustainable future. We need to change the structure to change the outcome.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 9, 2016
Supporters of Medina County, OH’s, Community Rights County Charter initiative call out fear tactics of anti-Community Rights government officials.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsApr 9, 2016
When a county commissioner in Medina County, OH, steers residents away from protecting their community from fracking infrastructure projects through a rights-based county charter, residents call him out in this letter-to-the-editor.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 31, 2016
Highland Township, PA, is one of the leaders for communities across the U.S. that are advancing Community Rights to protect themselves from harm.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 31, 2016
CELDF’s Thomas Linzey speaks to Highland Township, PA, residents on their fight to protect their community from a frack wastewater injection well. Highland residents are considering a Community Rights Home Rule charter.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 27, 2016
Highland Township, PA, residents consider pursuing a Community Rights Home Rule Charter to protect themselves from Seneca Resources’ proposed injection well.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 24, 2016
Barrington, NH, Community Rights leader Cilia Bannenberg celebrates the townspeople’s adoption of a Community Bill of Rights Ordinance. The local law protects clean air, soil, and water, and bans unsustainable corporate practices as a violation of rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 20, 2016
Ohio resident Tish O’Dell counters the oil and gas industry’s insistence that fracking is safe. Regardless, communities have the right to determine what happens in the places where they live, and protect their health, safety, and welfare.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 19, 2016
Coos County, OR, residents recognize FERC’s denial of Jordan Cove export terminal is not a win. FERC openly admits economic conditions – and not harm to the environment – was the basis for their decision. Residents dig in to continue advancing community rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 18, 2016
Medina and Portage Counties in Ohio begin gathering signatures to place Community Rights County Charters on the November ballot. Residents face fracking infrastructure projects, including pipelines and injection wells, and are advancing rights to protect themselves.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 14, 2016
In the face of hostile political rhetoric in the 2016 Republican presidential campaign, Barnstead, NH, residents protect themselves from religious identification requirements through a Community Bill of Rights adopted at Town Meeting on Saturday.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success StoryMar 14, 2016
Five Ohio counties and cities launch Community Bills of Rights campaigns to protect themselves from fracking activities. Residents are aiming for the November 2016 ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsMar 12, 2016
Barnstead, NH, residents make history as the first community to adopt a Community Bill of Rights establishing the right to be free from religious identification requirements.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsMar 11, 2016
The Colorado Supreme Court clears the way for residents to advance their Community Rights state constitutional amendment initiative to the November ballot. Oil and gas industry representatives had attempted to keep the measure from being voted on by the people.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryMar 11, 2016
Making clear the distinction between ordinances banning harms and Community Bills of Rights laws banning harmful activities as a violation of rights, Coos County, OR, blogger and Community Rights proponent Mary Geddry urges support for rights-based strategies.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 10, 2016
Athens County, OH, residents advance a Community Rights County Charter banning frack wastewater injection wells for the November ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 10, 2016
Barrington, NH, residents assert their right to local self-government in order to protect clean air, water, and soil, and to make the decisions about what extraction activities can occur in their Town.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 9, 2016
Community Rights supporters in New Hampshire look to 2017 to bring forward their state constitutional amendment securing rights.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsMar 8, 2016
The people of Barrington, NH, adopt a Community Bill of Rights, asserting their right to clean air, pure water, and local, community self-government. The rights-based ordinance bans corporate gravel extraction and water withdrawals as a violation of those rights.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryMar 8, 2016
As climate change catapults the planet toward ecological devastation, community rights emerges as a strategy to build a social and political movement addressing its root causes, shifting the rights of people and nature above corporate and special interests.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 8, 2016
Lincoln County, OR, residents urge a county judge to recognize the right of communities to gather signatures and vote on the people’s Community Bill of Rights initiative. Let the people decide.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsMar 1, 2016
New Hampshire State House Representative Susan Emerson calls for the legislature to place a Community Rights state constitutional amendment forward for a vote by the people of New Hampshire, to secure their inalienable right to local community self-government.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsFeb 28, 2016
On February 28th, the Green Party of England and Wales adopted a Rights of Nature policy, drafted in partnership with CELDF. Read the language here.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the GrassrootsFeb 28, 2016
In a move reflective of efforts by the corporate state to quash citizens’ initiatives across the U.S., the Washington Supreme Court recently denied Spokane residents the right to vote on their Community Bill of Rights Charter Amendment.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsFeb 27, 2016
Highland Township, PA, residents to vote on home rule as a tool to advance community rights and protect themselves from a fracking wastewater injection well. Seneca Resources Corporation is claiming a corporate “right” to site the well.
Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots