News from the Grassroots

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Feb 1, 2021

New Book! ‘The World We Need: Highlights, Stories and Lessons From America’s Unsung Environmental Movement’

New Book! ‘The World We Need: Highlights, Stories and Lessons From America’s Unsung Environmental Movement’

The World We Need offers a vivid look at the people protecting America’s communities against environmental degradation and racism. Their strategies for saving lives, protecting land, and creating opportunities provide a model for activists everywhere.

Read More | Community Rights, Democratic Rights, News, News from the Grassroots, Press Releases, Resources

Dec 11, 2020

Truthout: The American Petroleum Institute Is Working to Kill Voting on Local Measures

Truthout: The American Petroleum Institute Is Working to Kill Voting on Local Measures

Over the past five years, organizers in seven Ohio communities (three cities, four counties) have qualified ballot measures to recognize enforceable rights of ecosystems and human rights to water. All take the historic and bold step of elevating these basic rights above the legal privileges currently enjoyed by private corporations in the United States.

Read More | Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Corporate Agriculture, Extraction & Pollution, Issues, News, News from the Grassroots, Rights of Nature

Dec 4, 2020

Common Dreams: Rights of Nature Debate Reaches New Heights

Common Dreams: Rights of Nature Debate Reaches New Heights

A bill was just proposed in Missouri to ban Rights of Nature litigation, the American Petroleum Institute just filed a brief to oppose local Rights of Nature laws, as the Democratic Party shows interest in the concept.

Read More | News from the Grassroots, Rights of Nature

Oct 6, 2020

Reuters: ‘Dramatic’ global rise in laws defending rights of nature

Reuters: ‘Dramatic’ global rise in laws defending rights of nature

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 Nature

Aug 27, 2020

COMING SOON: World Premiere of ‘Invisible Hand’

COMING SOON: World Premiere of ‘Invisible Hand’

From Executive Producer Mark Ruffalo comes the world’s first documentary film on the Rights of Nature Movement. Attend the virtual world premiere followed by a panel discussion around the Rights of Nature Movement.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Aug 19, 2020

100 Years Later: Reflections on the 19th Amendment

100 Years Later: Reflections on the 19th Amendment

One hundred years ago, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, purporting to grant women the right to vote in the United States. In reality, this right applied only to white women; explicitly racist laws during and beyond the Jim Crow era categorically prohibited Black people from voting, and kept Indigenous and many Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latinx people from obtaining citizenship.

Read More | News from the Grassroots

Aug 18, 2020

Rights of Nature with United Church of Christ Pastor

Rights of Nature with United Church of Christ Pastor

The UCC hosts CELDFs Tish O’Dell for a Rights of Nature presentation. Watch the full webinar here!

Read More | News from the Grassroots

Jun 29, 2020

Thom Hartmann Program: State Law Benefits Corporations Against You – You Lose

Thom Hartmann Program: State Law Benefits Corporations Against You – You Lose

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 Grassroots

Apr 22, 2020

Common Dreams: Abolish Earth Day

Common Dreams: Abolish Earth Day

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 Grassroots

Apr 20, 2020

50 Years of Earth Day – What Are We Celebrating?

50 Years of Earth Day – What Are We Celebrating?

This year CELDF will be hosting an online Q&A with organizers who have been engaging communities across the country in paradigm-shifting work for decades.

Read More | Community Wires, Events, News from the Grassroots

Apr 13, 2020

Podcast Interview: Grant Township Update on Political Misfits

Podcast Interview: Grant Township Update on Political Misfits

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 Links

Apr 6, 2020

People Power in a Time of Pandemic

People Power in a Time of Pandemic

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 Nature

Apr 2, 2020

Rolling Stone: Nature Scores a Big Win Against Fracking in a Small Pennsylvania Town

Rolling Stone: Nature Scores a Big Win Against Fracking in a Small Pennsylvania Town

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 Story

Mar 30, 2020

Corporate America is on Offense, Local Communities Can Be Too

Corporate America is on Offense, Local Communities Can Be Too

Government allies and corporate interests are treating the global pandemic as a business opportunity. Communities enduring this crisis are taking bold and necessary actions to exercise their powers of self-governance where governments are not functioning in the way people want or need.

Read More | News, News from the Grassroots

Mar 21, 2020

Dear Mike DeWine: A Letter on Ohioan’s Constitutional Rights and Public Health

Dear Mike DeWine: A Letter on Ohioan’s Constitutional Rights and Public Health

Ohio Organizer Tish O’Dell responds to Gov. Mike DeWine’s concerns for public health and constitutional rights during the COVID-19 crisis. Let’s hope he upholds his own words when it’s time to recover and rebuild.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Resource Links

Mar 6, 2020

The Indiana Gazette: Court sides with Grant Township on injection well

The Indiana Gazette: Court sides with Grant Township on injection well

As the Pennsylvania DEP attempts to block Grant Township’s defense of their ban on fracking injection wells, the court rules that the case can move forward. Grant argues they have the right to local governing authority to protect against corporate harm.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots, Success Story

Feb 6, 2020

Rights of Nature: Ohio Organizer Tish O’Dell on Top of Mind with Julie Rose

Rights of Nature: Ohio Organizer Tish O’Dell on Top of Mind with Julie Rose

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 Nature

Feb 5, 2020

VIDEO: ‘The Transformation from Reformist to Revolutionary’

VIDEO: ‘The Transformation from Reformist to Revolutionary’

This 6 minute short explains how, across numerous social issues—from housing, worker rights, environmental protection to gentrification—“the people in the community lack the legal authority to determine their own future, a basic tenet of democracy.”

Read More | Blogs, Community Rights, Multimedia, News from the Grassroots, Resource Links, Resources

Feb 3, 2020

Who Speaks for Lake Erie?

Who Speaks for Lake Erie?

Toledoans are tired of waiting for action out of Columbus. State and federal authorities — who are supposed to protect the lake, and the people who rely on it for drinking water, recreation and more — should step up to their responsibilities.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jan 25, 2020

The Blade: More at stake than water with Lake Erie Bill of Rights court decision

The Blade: More at stake than water with Lake Erie Bill of Rights court decision

Can a corporation 40 miles from Toledo interfere with the rights of Toledoans to amend their charter and protect Lake Erie?

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jan 21, 2020

Lake Erie Bill of Rights Heads to Federal Court

Lake Erie Bill of Rights Heads to Federal Court

Oral arguments in the federal case brought by a corporation to overturn the Lake Erie Bill of Rights are coming up. The world stands with Toledoans.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jan 20, 2020

Wink News: Push by Florida lawmakers to block bill giving ‘legal rights’ to nature

Wink News: Push by Florida lawmakers to block bill giving ‘legal rights’ to nature

Florida state representatives endeavor to stop Rights of Nature as growing numbers of communities across the state advance local laws recognizing such rights.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jan 19, 2020

NBC 24News: Toledoans For Safe Water screen “Invisible Hand” ahead of the state’s lawsuit against city

NBC 24News: Toledoans For Safe Water screen “Invisible Hand” ahead of the state’s lawsuit against city

Toledoans grow support for the Lake Erie Bill of Rights as their day in court approaches.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Nov 13, 2019

Scalawag: Progressive wins in Virginia are limited as long as “Dillon’s Rule” is on the books

Scalawag: Progressive wins in Virginia are limited as long as “Dillon’s Rule” is on the books

Regardless of political gains by Democrats in Virginia, residents still do not have authority to govern themselves in their own communities. Here’s why – and what communities can do about it.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Oct 23, 2019

High Country News: In Oregon, the fight for local control upends Western norms

High Country News: In Oregon, the fight for local control upends Western norms

Lincoln County residents continue their fight to protect themselves and ecosystems from aerial sprayed pesticides, and spark not only hope, but tangible strategies for advancing rights.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Oct 14, 2019

Cleveland.com: Letter To The Editor: Talk to the people of Toledo about the increasingly poor health of Lake Erie

Cleveland.com: Letter To The Editor: Talk to the people of Toledo about the increasingly poor health of Lake Erie

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 Grassroots

Oct 14, 2019

Oregon Coast Today: A life of politics and peace

Oregon Coast Today: A life of politics and peace

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 Grassroots

Oct 10, 2019

Common Dreams: The Rights of Nature

Common Dreams: The Rights of Nature

“The Rights of Nature movement…is about ushering humanity back onto a living planet.”

Read More | News from the Grassroots

Oct 5, 2019

The Indiana Gazette: Hellbenders have their day in court

The Indiana Gazette: Hellbenders have their day in court

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 Grassroots

Oct 1, 2019

The Blade: Lake Fed Up

The Blade: Lake Fed Up

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 Grassroots

Sep 29, 2019

Mother Jones: Some Indigenous Communities Have a New Way to Fight Climate Change: Give Personhood Rights to Nature

Mother Jones: Some Indigenous Communities Have a New Way to Fight Climate Change: Give Personhood Rights to Nature

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 Story

Sep 16, 2019

WINK News: Clean water advocates work to get Caloosahatchee amendment on 2020 ballot

WINK News: Clean water advocates work to get Caloosahatchee amendment on 2020 ballot

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 Story

Sep 14, 2019

Truthout: Legislators’ Secretive Maneuvers Undermine Rights of Nature in Ohio

Truthout: Legislators’ Secretive Maneuvers Undermine Rights of Nature in Ohio

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 Grassroots

Sep 11, 2019

Farm and Dairy: Emails show LEBOR was target of last-minute change in law

Farm and Dairy: Emails show LEBOR was target of last-minute change in law

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 Grassroots

Sep 10, 2019

My Plainview: How giving legal rights to nature could help reduce toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie

My Plainview: How giving legal rights to nature could help reduce toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie

An analysis of Rights of Nature laws as a path forward to protecting ecosystems in the face of continuing environmental harms.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Sep 10, 2019

The Toledo Blade: Back off ballot-measure limits

The Toledo Blade: Back off ballot-measure limits

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 Grassroots

Sep 7, 2019

Thom Hartmann Book Club: How Wealth Rules the World

Thom Hartmann Book Club: How Wealth Rules the World

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 Grassroots

Sep 5, 2019

Concord Monitor: My Turn: The rights of nature

Concord Monitor: My Turn: The rights of nature

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

Sep 5, 2019

WORT Community Radio: How to arm nature against corporate profiteers

WORT Community Radio: How to arm nature against corporate profiteers

Bestselling author Jim Hightower on Rights of Nature – its rights are our rights, and it’s time to act.

Read More | News from the Grassroots

Sep 2, 2019

Herald-Tribune: Legal system isn’t set up to protect environment

Herald-Tribune: Legal system isn’t set up to protect environment

It’s time to change our law so that we can protect ecosystems over commerce. CELDF is helping communities advance that paradigm shift across the U.S., including Florida.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Aug 30, 2019

The Press: Emails show: Chamber of Commerce pushed to undercut Lake Erie Bill of Rights

The Press: Emails show: Chamber of Commerce pushed to undercut Lake Erie Bill of Rights

Industry worked with Ohio legislators to insert language in the Ohio budget bill, attempting to make it illegal to enforce laws that recognize Rights of Nature.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots