From the Arizona Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, a law article on the constitutional right to local community self-government, by Thomas Linzey, Esq., and Daniel Brannen, Esq.

Derrick Jensen interviews CELDF’s Thomas Linzey on the legal structures that block us from protecting our communities and creating sustainability, why we keep participating in those structures, and what some communities are doing differently.

As the recognition of Rights of Nature grows globally, we must move beyond thinking of nature as having legal personhood rights. We must recognize rights of ecosystems to existence, regeneration and restoration.

On May 16, 2018, CELDF’s Mari Margil, Associate Director and leader of our International Center for the Rights of Nature, presented at the PPT on fracking as a violation of the Rights of Nature and the human right to a healthy environment.

Check out the stories being submitted as evidence this week at the international Permanent People’s Tribunal, where the PPT is considering fracking, climate change, and the violation of the rights of people and nature.

Newmarket, Durham, and Newington, NH, residents are a part of the growing Community Rights movement building across the state as they work to protect the Lamprey Watershed from a number of corporate projects.

Todd Township, PA, residents urge township supervisors to adopt their Community Bill of Rights banning a pig factory farm that threatens their community.

This is what it looks like when elected officials and courts block direct democracy – citizen initiative rights are stripped and communities’ health, safety, and welfare are disregarded.

Michelle Holman is a Community Rights activist in Lane County, OR, where she is fighting aerial-sprayed pesticides with residents and allies. Here, a short video story on her activism and why Community Rights.

Human rights to a healthy environment are gaining recognition – and today, the rights of nature are growing as well. Here, CELDF’s Mari Margil speaks to how recognizing ecosystem rights is central to tackling environmental degradation.