Wouldn't You Say? - Saving the Economy Means Not Saving Nature
At the risk of expediting the die-off of most life on the…
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Blogs, Rights of Nature
News From the Community Rights Movement
Jan 25, 2023
Yamhill County, Oregon, Virtual Democracy School
The Yamhill County Raging Grannies are sponsoring and online virtual Democracy School. Democracy School is made up of 4 sessions. Please plan to attend each of them. The dates of the sessions are as follows: $40 registration fee Direct questions to Joni Zimmerman at raginggranniesyc@gmail.com.
Read More | Events, UncategorizedJan 19, 2023
Wouldn’t You Say? – Saving the Economy Means Not Saving Nature
At the risk of expediting the die-off of most life on the planet, including most humans, judges continue to turn a blind eye toward the rights of natural communities – where humans live in harmony with their environment – while giving full-throated support for legal rights vested in corporate property.
Read More | Blogs, Rights of NatureJan 16, 2023
Badges and Incidents of Slavery
The challenge: How to overcome the white dominance/Black subordination relationship. How to decolonize.
Read More | Blogs, Democratic RightsJan 5, 2023
Tumbled by the surf: Figuring out which wave to ride next for recognizing rights
We must think about our history- the Revolutionaries were proposing an alternative to being a colony of England, abolitionists were fighting for an alternative to slavery, the suffragists for an alternative to patriarchy and on and on.
Read More | Blogs, Democratic RightsDec 20, 2022
Wouldn’t You Say? – Materialism is Substance Abuse, Literally
Let’s be generous and call the COP–15 agreement a plan for conserving 1% of Earth’s biodiversity. That means that negotiators agreed to sacrifice 99% of Earth’s remaining biodiversity on the altar of human consumption for profit.
Read More | Blogs, Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Democratic Rights, In The News, Rights of NatureDec 20, 2022
Grant’s Fight is Our Fight
As we head into the new year, please join us in continuing to stand with Grant Township. And let’s not only support them with words or dollars, but also follow their lead and bravely build on their efforts in the communities where we live.
Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, Press Releases, Rights of NatureDec 10, 2022
Do No Harm: Protecting the Rights of Mangroves in Ecuador From Injury
Mangroves, according to the Ramsar definition, are considered wetlands – an area that CELDF is also helping to evolve coming out of the Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands.
Read More | Community Rights, Extraction & Pollution, In The News, Rights of NatureNov 30, 2022
Cleveland State trustees vote unanimously to strip John Marshall’s name from the college of law
Feature Photo by Gabriel Kramer / Ideastream Public Media Taru Taylor, a guest blogger with CELDF, helped spearhead efforts to rename law schools named after Former Chief Justice John Marshall, a key architect of the United State’s constitutional system who owned 200 slaves. CELDF along with many others signed onto the calls for law schools… Read more »
Read More | In The News, Success StoryNov 28, 2022
Newsletter: Susquehanna, Vol. 25, Issue 3
If you are interested in receiving our newsletter, the Susquehanna – either electronically or by mail – sign up here. Thank you! READ OUR NEWSLETTER and 2022 YEAR-END APPEAL
Read More | NewslettersNov 17, 2022
Press Release: Back to the Future — Ohioans Still Poisoned After All These Years
“The spreading of toxic and radioactive well waste brine on Ohio roads and other surfaces threatens all Ohioans,” stated FaCT Brine Education Committee Chair, Ron Prosek. “You could be living or traveling anywhere in Ohio and potentially be exposed to this dangerous material. This is one of the most reckless practices that the State of Ohio has ever allowed.”
Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Wires, In The News, Press ReleasesNov 16, 2022
Sneak Peek! — End of Year Newsletter 2022: We are Nature
Human and ecosystem viability come when we figure out how to orient our culture to be connected to all four parts: Living from, with, in, and as Nature.
Read More | News, Rights of NatureNov 16, 2022
CELDF presenting in the New England Environmental Justice Youth+ Summit — FREE WEBINAR OPEN TO ALL
November 19, 2022 ~ 11AM ET Ben Price – Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) – will be presenting at 11:00AM ET on “Nature as Property and the Nature of Property: Earth Emancipation is the Solution” Sponsored by the NH Conference of the United Church of Christ Co-sponsor: SNEUCC (Southern New England) Register Here. **Registration… Read more »
Read More | Events, NewsNov 10, 2022
Join the OHCRN: Virtual film screening and discussion of “The Seeds of Vandana Shiva”
View the film on your own or with others (organize a viewing party!) from Friday November 18 to Sunday November 20. The OHCRN will host a Zoom webinar discussion on Sunday November 20 at 2:00 pm ET. The panel will include the filmmaker, Jim Becket.
Read More | Corporate Agriculture, Events, In The NewsNov 8, 2022
Wouldn’t You Say? – What Do We Mean by “Community Rights?”
Lakota advocate and water protector Debra White Plume (Wioweya Najin Wina), upon being introduced to the history of municipal subjugation in the United States during a Democracy School hosted by residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, remarked that “municipalities are the white man’s reservations. The only difference is, we know we’re on reservations.”
Read More | Blogs, Community Rights, Democratic Rights, In The News, Rights of NatureOct 31, 2022
Celebrating Victories in Europe and South America, the Rights of Nature Movement Plots Strategy in a Time of ‘Crises’
A global alliance formed in 2010 to advance an unorthodox legal theory that ecosystems and wild animals have rights, similar to humans. Now, says one leader, those ideas are “legitimate subjects of debate.”
Read More | In The News, Rights of NatureOct 28, 2022
CELDF Allies with the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature in Siena, Italy
The Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN) gathered in Siena Italy at the 13th century monastery, Certosa di Pontignano, from October 15-18, and CELDF was there.
Read More | Events, In The News, Rights of NatureSep 30, 2022
CELDF presenting with “turn” on October 11th at 9 AM PT/12 PM EDT
CELDF organizers Tish O’Dell, Michelle Sanborn, and Chad Nicholson will present a panel discussion, October 11th at 12 PM EDT, on “Tapped Out: Is Water a Commodity to be Owned or a Living Being with Rights to Exist, Flourish and Thrive?”
Read More | Events, NewsSep 29, 2022
The rights of nature movement cannot be stopped
By Pamela Haines September 27, 2022 From the Navajo Nation to a small town in Pennsylvania to Ecuador, then across the world, the idea of enshrining the rights of nature is only growing.
Read More | In The News, Rights of NatureSep 28, 2022
Happy Anniversary Rights of Pachamama Ecuador!
We at CELDF want to recognize and celebrate the 14-year anniversary of this historic date when the country of Ecuador codified Rights of Pachamama into their national Constitution.
Read More | In The News, News, Rights of NatureSep 23, 2022
Wouldn’t You Say? – What are the Rights of Nature?
The law locks up the man or woman, Who steals the goose from off the common, But leaves the greater villain loose, Who steals the common from off the goose
Read More | Blogs, Issues, News, Rights of NatureSep 15, 2022
Water Speaks to Ohio Department of Natural Resources
YES, the waters have a voice in this project….or at least they should.
Read More | Community Wires, In The News, News, Rights of NatureSep 15, 2022
Announcing CELDF’s Proposed Rights of Nature Principles
A new system of law based on respect for Nature and the obligations we share as collaborators with life-supporting ecosystems must be institutionalized, recognizing Nature as a unique legal entity and rights holder.
Read More | Issues, News, Resources, Rights of NatureSep 13, 2022
Chile’s Rejection
How could Chileans, after rising up in October 2019 to demand a new constitution, then voting by an overwhelming majority to initiate the constituent process, reject the proposed draft? Why would they align with right-wing forces seeking to preserve the Pinochet constitution? This astonishing result surely demands a multi-causal explanation.
Read More | Democratic Rights, In The News, Issues, News, Rights of NatureSep 12, 2022
Wouldn’t You Say? – Nature is What’s Real
You wouldn’t think, in a rational society, that anyone would have to be told this, but reality doesn’t care what anybody believes is true; it just is. And what isn’t, isn’t.
Read More | Blogs, In The News, Issues, News, Rights of NatureSep 7, 2022
It’s Inevitable – More to Come in Chile
Despite the claims of the corporate-minded, rejection of the new constitution by the voters of Chile is not a repute of what the new constitution contained but one that shows the desperation of the powerful elite to hold on to their planetary destroying levels of greed and the lengths they will go to deny the inevitable.
Read More | In The News, Rights of NatureSep 7, 2022
Unveiling Rights of Nature Artwork and Logo
We want to begin this next chapter of the Nature Leads Series by unveiling CELF’s beautiful new Rights of Nature artwork and logo designed by two talented artists and organizers from the St. Lawrence River / Kaniatarowanenneh Watershed, Haudenosaunee Territory, in what is known as the New York State.
Read More | News, Rights of NatureSep 1, 2022
Why CELDF will be watching more than sports this Sunday
As Chilean voters are poised to go to the polls this coming Sunday, September 4, to hopefully become the second country in the world to include recognition of the Rights of Nature (RON) in their national constitution, it is obvious just by reading a few headlines in any given week that more countries need to embrace and follow Chile’s lead.
Read More | In The News, Rights of NatureAug 21, 2022
Wouldn’t You Say? – Municipal Maze
Refuse to be complacent. Refuse to be complicit. Refuse to be irrelevant.
Read More | Blogs, Community Rights, Democratic Rights, In The News, NewsAug 17, 2022
Grant Township Charter Struck Down by Commonwealth Court
While unjust, the ruling from the Commonwealth Court is not unexpected. Courts have routinely ruled against communities and the environment in favor of harmful corporate interests.
Read More | Press ReleasesAug 16, 2022
CELDF featured at Peatfest 2022, 30th August – 4th September
CELDF will be leading a workshop on dismantling corporate privilege and elevating local-self determination in the context of evolving legal rights of nature. CELDF will also be part of a panel titled “Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands: How Do We Operationalize These Rights?” with international colleagues from the Rights of Wetlands working group.
Read More | Events
Aug 8, 2022
Local group joins effort to protect Ohio River Watershed
Calls to reconsider humanity’s relationship with nature are not new, but perhaps they are more urgent now than ever before.
Read More | Community Wires, In The News, NewsAug 5, 2022
Wouldn’t You Say? – Community Self-Government
Do you know what’s not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution? For one thing, government by the people.
Read More | Blogs, Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Democratic Rights, In The News, NewsJul 19, 2022
Wouldn’t You Say? – Property
The Right to Property is Inalienable, Right?
Some rights are defined as inalienable, meaning that they can’t be taken away from you. Heck, you can’t even sell them, trade them, or give them away.
Jul 8, 2022
“Putting the rights of nature on the map. A quantitative analysis of rights of nature initiatives across the world.”
The Rights of Nature (RoN) promote a new understanding of the human
environment, where natural entities are conceived as subjects with intrinsic value independent of human interests. The implementation of this idea
gained momentum in the United States in 2006. One decade and a half later, the idea has spread all over the world.
Jul 6, 2022
Truthout: Nature Isn’t a “Vault” Full of Material Value. It Is a Treasure to Be Valued.
CELDF’s Ben Price wrote this article, featured in Truthout, about a mining corporation’s scam plan, pushed as an environmentally friendly investment opportunity.
Read More | In The News, News, Rights of NatureJul 5, 2022
Join CELDF & Sierra Club Niagara Group Environmental Series on Rights of Nature
Wednesday, July 20, 2022 at 6:30 PM Eastern Time Sierra Club Niagara Group Environmental Series: Rights of Nature Legislation with Dr. Joe Stahlman, Tish O’Dell and Assemblyman Patrick Burke Rights of nature legislation bring us back to the concept of being one with nature, a belief held by indigenous cultures throughout the world. The current… Read more »
Read More | Events, NewsJul 5, 2022
Available Now: English Translation & Webinar of the Landmark Decision in Ecuador to Protect Los Cedros Forest over Mining Profits
We at CELDF were excited to be able to read the full decision of the Constitutional Court of Ecuador upholding the rights of the Los Cedros Forest over a mining project and we are sharing that decision with you in both English and Spanish. We want to thank the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature… Read more »
Read More | News, Resources, Rights of NatureJul 1, 2022
Wouldn’t You Say? – Personhood
The Right of Free Speech Includes the Right to Clean Air to Speak With Look, if corporate property can be called a legal person, and if that person has a right to speak freely, but no mouth, and if corporate-cozy judges can make us all pretend for real that spending money is the way corporate… Read more »
Read More | Blogs, Corporate 'Rights', Extraction & Pollution, In The News, News, Rights of NatureJun 15, 2022
A Living Tribute to Philip Jurus
In February 2019, just days before the Toledo special election on the Lake Erie Bill of Rights in Toledo Ohio, Philip Jurus heard an interview on NPR about the upcoming vote. The interview moved him to write to me and share a poem he had written about Lake Erie and her distressed condition back in… Read more »
Read More | Community Wires, NewsJun 14, 2022
The Elephant in the Zoo(m): Should Non-Humans and Natural Resources be Considered “Persons” Under the Law?
NYWBA’s Animal Law and WBASNY’s Environmental Law Committees presents a webinar on June 20, 2022 at 6:00 – 7:30 PM (Eastern Time) On May 18, 2022, the New York Court of Appeals heard the habeus corpus petition involving “Happy the Elephant” and considered whether she is a person under the law. Recent legal efforts in… Read more »
Read More | Events, Rights of NatureJun 13, 2022
We are pleased to announce the program for the upcoming International Society of Public Law 2022 Online ICON•S Conference!
Dismantling the US Property Doctrine in the Name of Planet and People | JULY 5 | 9:15 PM (European Time Zone) CELDF’s Kai Huschke will be presenting in Poland for the International Society of Public Law (Panel #79). This conference is available to members only. You can join here. See the full program here. Environmental degradation is… Read more »
Read More | UncategorizedJun 8, 2022
PA Climate Convergence: Invocation, Rally & March
SUNDAY, JUNE 12 – RIVERFRONT PARK, FRONT ST. & MARKET ST., HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA This June 11, 12, and 13, people from across Pennsylvania will be converging in the streets in Harrisburg to change the conversation on climate change. The Pennsylvania Climate Convergence’s organizers are frontline community members, grassroots organizers, and advocates. If you are in… Read more »
Read More | EventsJun 8, 2022
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN! Webinar June 30th at 7:00 PM (EDT) – Putting Our Heads in the Clouds: Landmark Decision in Ecuador Points to Protection over Exploitation
This past November, Ecuador’s Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the Los Cedros Cloud Forest ecosystem and local communities’ rights over the rights of a foreign mining corporation. Truly a seminal case for legal rights of nature, the court addressed the regulatory permitting process, the precautionary principle, biodiversity, community input into the decision-making process, and… Read more »
Read More | EventsMay 19, 2022
What do we want? Clean Water! When do we want it? Yesterday!
Our communities deserve more than just the right to Clean Water; our entire ecosystem, our Mother Earth depends on us to end the poisoning. It seems to me we need to recognize the Rights of Nature, and make it illegal to poison Earth and her inhabitants.
Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Wires, Corporate Agriculture, Issues, Rights of NatureMay 11, 2022
Building Our Children’s Trust Needs to Start With Reality
While we’re being told by scientific authority that decisive action to reduce carbon emissions is mandatory within the 2020’s, the legal theory underlying Juliana is risky and time-consuming. Worse, “victory” in Juliana would mean contradictory and self-defeating technological fixes which are misleadingly cast as proven ways to salvage life on the planet. In these potentially closing moments of human existence, the inhabitants, human and otherwise, deserve a whole lot better.
Read More | Blogs, NewsMay 4, 2022
A Court Hearing for Grant Township: Eight Years Later, and Still No Injection Well
As many are aware, CELDF has stood with the people and ecosystems of Grant Township (Indiana County, PA, population 700) in their courageous efforts to keep a frack waste injection well out of the community.
Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, Issues, News, Rights of NatureMay 4, 2022
It’s Not All Bad
Over the last 15 years, grassroots work that establishes rights for human and natural communities has expanded in ways that no one could have foreseen. And while we will celebrate the legal and the political victories, the truth is that none of this would have happened without people…
Read More | Blogs, NewsApr 27, 2022
Less is More: Confronting the American Nightmare of Stuff
The system has worked hard to create obedience in a number of ways and to cover up and misdirect the true impacts of what our obsession with stuff has resulted in. Yet the misdirection continues to keep our obedience to stuff as if the seeking out and possessing of stuff is akin to our biological need to breathe.
Read More | Blogs, News