Book: ‘Death by Democracy’
Protecting Water and Life: Frontline Stories from Ohioans fighting corporate and state…
Read More
Publications
United States
Jan 5, 2022
Glen’s Parallax Perspectives – Interview with Kai Huschke
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 Grassroots
Dec 15, 2021
Portrait of a water guardian – WT Interview with Tish O’Dell
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.
Dec 6, 2021
Restoring Mother Earth Law
Restoring our relationship to nature means restoring our human systems, including the legal system, to function just as healthy ecosystems do. Learn and discuss how we’ve gotten to this point, what is happening now to transform deep structures, and how traditional ways and the efforts to include justice into law for humans and non-humans is moving more and more into reality.
Read More | Events
Nov 19, 2021
Newsletter: Oregon Update
Justice continues to be denied in Oregon. Community rights efforts in Lane and Lincoln counties have, quite wrongly, found themselves mired in the Oregon court system on issues that should’ve been considered and resolved by the people of their respective counties.
Read More | Blogs
Nov 16, 2021
Community Rights Lane County Issues Values Statement
Community Rights Lane County educates and mobilizes citizens about their rights to local community self-governance. They believe decisions affecting communities must be made by community residents – the people directly impacted by these decisions and laws that authorize harmful corporate activities.
Read More | BlogsNov 11, 2021
BOOK: One-Block Revolution
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 5, 2021
Q&A with SUNDANCE, Executive Director of Cleveland A.I.M.
How do we unite to create a more just and sustainable vision for the future. What are the possible next steps?
Read More | Events, UncategorizedNov 3, 2021
COMMUNITY RIGHTS AT THE OREGON SUPREME COURT
Community Rights at the Oregon Supreme Court: Understanding the Impacts of Denying Direct Democracy
Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, EventsNov 2, 2021
Shifting the Lens: Energy & Environment Series
Would recognizing Rights of Nature affect you, the community and possibly the planet? Instead of looking at nature as mere property and as resources, what if we shifted the lens and the law to recognizing nature as living and therefore entitled to rights to life, to flourish and thrive?
Read More | Events, Rights of NatureOct 7, 2021
Columbus Free Press: Beware the Brine
Members of OHCRN have called on Ohio’s Attorney General, Dave Yost, to open an investigation into the violation of Ohio law and the criminal actions of state officials and industry who were and are well aware that this brine is highly radioactive, yet still approve and allow it to be spread in Ohio communities.
Read More | Chemical Trespass, News from the Grassroots
Sep 23, 2021
Corporation Asks Nottingham, N.H. For Legal Fees After Suing Over Climate Ordinance
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 PrivitizationJun 10, 2021
Judge Rewards Corporation for Suing to Halt Implementation of Climate Ordinance, Orders Town to Pay Corporate Attorney Fees
As global carbon dioxide concentrations hit their highest level in 4 million years, a New Hampshire Judge has rewarded a local corporate actor in Nottingham for opposing a democratically adopted ordinance, the Freedom from Chemical Trespass Ordinance, that recognized a right of townspeople to a “climate system capable of sustaining human societies.”
Read More | Chemical Trespass, News, Press ReleasesJun 3, 2021
Whose Constitution Is It?
Join CELDF attorney Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin for a presentation and discussion on the history and current significance of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution. The presentation’s content inspired by Eric Foner’s 2019 book “The Second Founding: How the Civil War and Reconstruction Remade the Constitution.”
Read More | UncategorizedMay 28, 2021
Rights of Nature, Rights of the People vs. State-Authorized Corporate Toxic Practice in Front of Oregon Courts
NEWPORT, OR: Arguments on the assertion of local democracy over state-sanctioned corporate public health violations and a Rights of Nature law will be presented on June 1. For over two years, the Freedom from Aerially Sprayed Pesticides Ordinance of Lincoln County successfully banned corporate aerial spraying of pesticides as a violation of natural ecosystems’ rights and people’s rights to clean air, water and soil.
Read More | UncategorizedMay 21, 2021
Newsletter: Community Justice
In a small living room in one of the most economically neglected neighborhoods in the State of Washington emerged the work of Envision Spokane. A handful of local activists and residents asked themselves the question “why?” Why, after so many years of advocacy work on behalf of neighborhoods, renters, the houseless, small businesses, the uninsured,… Read more »
Read More | Blogs, News, Worker ExploitationApr 27, 2021
High Stakes For Democracy — Lawyer to Court: Are the People Equal to the Government or Not?
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tish O’DellCommunity Environmental Legal Defense FundCommunity OrganizerCELDF.orgtish@celdf.org440-552-6774 Oral arguments presented in civil rights appeal in the critical case for direct democracy arising from suppression of Rights of Nature and local democracy petitioning. Cincinnati, OH: Oral arguments took place last week in Beiersdorfer v. LaRose, et al. (No. 20-3557), a case that begs fundamental… Read more »
Read More | News, Press ReleasesApr 26, 2021
Financial Threats to Rights of Nature Lawmaking
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Michelle SanbornCommunity Environmental Legal Defense FundCommunity Organizermichelle@celdf.org603-524-2468 Corporate ‘person’ uses constitutional rights law to justify attorney fees from the Town of Nottingham, targeting people’s use of direct democracy for climate action. NOTTINGHAM, NH: Corporate personhood “rights” are once again being weaponized to financially punish and intimidate a local community that took a… Read more »
Read More | Community Rights, Press ReleasesApr 18, 2021
ADVISORY: Oral Arguments in Civil Rights Appeal Advancing Rights of Nature and Local Democracy in Ohio
Oral arguments in a federal civil rights case against the State of Ohio have been scheduled. Plaintiffs from seven Ohio counties, representing Rights of Nature laws and other measures protecting local democracy from corporate special interests. Plaintiffs are petitioners for local initiative campaigns that were all successfully qualified various measures that were blocked from the ballot.
Read More | Community Rights, Democratic Rights, News, Press ReleasesApr 9, 2021
Columbus Free Press: Lawsuit To Protect Direct Democracy In Columbus During The Pandemic Dismissed By Court
A lawsuit seeking a temporary suspension of Columbus’ one-year petitioning time limit due to the pandemic was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for Southern Ohio on April 14, 2021. The lawsuit was filed in June 2020 by our group, Columbus Community Bill of Rights (CCBOR), arguing that the city’s time limit during the COVID-19 pandemic was unconstitutional and placed a severe burden on ballot access for our initiative, which sought to ban harms from the fracking industry within Columbus and it’s watershed area.
Read More | Democratic Rights, Issues, News, News from the GrassrootsMar 17, 2021
Clara Township Residents Move to Ban Frack Waste Dumping
Clara Township residents move forward with a Home Rule Charter initiative to protect vital waterways and assert the democratic rights of the community. Nearly half of all registered voters have signed on in support of the measure. Roulette Oil and Gas LLC (ROGC) applied for a Class II Injection Well Permit.
Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Issues, Press ReleasesFeb 15, 2021
For All to See: Bias of New Hampshire Judiciary Exposed in Rights of Nature, Healthy Climate Proceedings
In 2019, Nottingham residents passed a Freedom from Chemical Trespass Ordinance securing the rights of ecosystems and of townspeople to a “climate system capable of sustaining human societies.” Now New Hampshire courts have sided with corporations who infringe on those rights, revealing a pattern of bias embedded within the New Hampshire judiciary.
Read More | News, Press Releases, Rights of NatureFeb 2, 2021
Protect the Protectors: Stop Line 3
Tribal nations, community and environmental groups in Minnesota have fought to stop the Line 3 Enbridge pipeline in Northern Minnesota. The pipeline violates several treaties with the Ojibwe people that establish their right to hunt, fish, and gather along the proposed route. The pipeline would cross 200 bodies of water, including the Mississippi River twice.
Read More | Corporate 'Rights', Extraction & Pollution, Issues, Rights of NatureJan 18, 2021
Newsletter: New Hampshire Pamphlet
To advance political education in the Granite State, the New Hampshire Community Rights Network (NHCRN) has compiled an in-depth pamphlet to explore a transformation of New Hampshire’s form of government.
Read More | Blogs, Community Rights, News, Water PrivitizationJan 8, 2021
Newsletter: Momentum for Constitutional Change in Pennsylvania
In 2020, members of the Pennsylvania Community Rights Network engaged in a statewide support campaign for a state constitutional amendment to place the rights of people over the interests of private corporations – empowering communities to heighten state protections for civil, human and ecosystem rights.
Read More | Blogs, Corporate 'Rights', Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, News, Rights of NatureJan 4, 2021
Grant Township sued again over refusal to allow fracking water
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 GrassrootsDec 28, 2020
Observing Revolution: Pennsylvania
Newsletter: CELDF has supported the efforts of Grant Township, PA as they engage in local lawmaking to successfully resist corporate contamination of water. Despite years of legal attacks by the private corporations, PA regulatory agencies, and the oil and gas industry, local residents of Grant Township have reasserted and continued to defend local lawmaking and protect the natural systems that sustain them.
Read More | Blogs, NewsDec 24, 2020
‘The Courts Are a Sham’: New Hampshire Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Rights of Nature, Healthy Climate Arguments
New Hampshire Supreme Court Refuses to hear arguments on Rights of Nature and the right to a Healthy Climate. Amidst ecological catastrophe, movements for a paradigm shift in law have made global gains in 2020. Granite State judges have chosen to reject a request for a people’s defense of a municipal Rights of Nature and healthy climate law.
Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Democratic Rights, News, Press ReleasesDec 15, 2020
BREAKING: Gas Company Files Federal Lawsuit To Overturn Small Pennsylvania Township’s Rights of Nature Law…Again
Gas company PGE sues Grant Township over democratically enacted law. The PA Department of Environmental Protection also sued Grant in 2017, making this filing the third lawsuit against the Township (pop. 700) for trying to protect its drinking water.
Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, Issues, Press Releases & Blogs, Rights of NatureDec 11, 2020
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 NatureDec 2, 2020
Oregon: How Corporate Constitutional Rights Came to Be and How They Control Our Communities
Save the Date! Join the Oregon Community Rights Network in this upcoming event on corporate constitutional rights.
Read More | Community Wires, Events
Nov 10, 2020
Observing Revolution: New Hampshire
Building statewide momentum across New Hampshire. A 2020 organizing update featured in our fall newsletter.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsNov 10, 2020
CELDF REPORT: What Wasn’t Voted On (2020)
A new Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund report details the repression of ballot initiatives in 2020.
Read More | Blogs, News, Publications, Resource Links, ResourcesNov 4, 2020
CELDF Statement on Orange County, FL ‘Rights of Nature’ Law
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) has prepared the following statement in response to the passage of the Wekiva River and Econlockhatchee River Bill of Rights.
Read More | Blogs, News, Rights of NatureOct 30, 2020
Observing Revolution: Oregon
Communities across Oregon are taking a stand against corporate claimed rights.
Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, News, Press Releases & BlogsOct 21, 2020
WATERFRONT FRONTLINE
Lisa Burroughs for Ashtabula County Water Watch interviews CELDF’s Tish O’Dell on the Rights of Nature Movement in an October 2020 edition of North Coast Voice Magazine.
Read More | Community Rights, Community Wires, Issues, News from the Grassroots, Rights of NatureOct 9, 2020
Defending ‘Peaceful Change’: Friend of the Court Briefs Representing Over 500,000 Supporters Filed in Ohio Civil Rights Lawsuit Appeal
Plaintiffs from seven Ohio counties, representing Rights of Nature and corporate control ballot measures, sued the Ohio Secretary of State and Boards of Election officials in trial court for repeatedly keeping binding citizen-proposed laws and charters off the ballot. Several national organizations have filed amicus briefs in support of the appeal.
Read More | Press Releases, Press Releases & BlogsOct 6, 2020
CENSORING THE BALLOT: Civil Rights Appeal Filed to Defend Rights of Nature and Local Democracy in Ohio
Ohioans are taking a stand against evasive and oppressive tactics used by the State to suppress local ballot measures and stifle democracy. Plaintiffs from seven counties have filed an appeal to the Sixth Circuit in a federal civil rights case against the State of Ohio.
Read More | Press Releases, Press Releases & BlogsSep 24, 2020
Press Release: Grant Township Moves to Dismiss PA DEP Lawsuit
Despite recognizing the Grant Townships local law to ban injection wells the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection continues to sue the township. CELDF files motion to dismiss on behalf of the community.
Read More | Press Releases, Press Releases & BlogsSep 6, 2020
Earth Defenders Warn Against Democrats Undermining ‘Rights of Nature’ Movement With Watered-Down Approach
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 GrassrootsSep 4, 2020
Democratic Party Must Not Water Down Rights of Nature
Some leaders within the growing Rights of Nature movement in the United States have offered perspective and the Democratic Party’s actions
Read More | News, Press Releases & Blogs