News From the Community Rights Movement

Sep 18, 2023

Industrial Society Needs Cultural Transformation to Embrace Rights of Nature

That Begins with the Stories we Tell . . . CELDF’s Education Director, Ben G. Price, is a pioneer in establishing the legal Rights of Nature. He organized the first community on Earth to enact a Rights of Nature law (Tamaqua, PA, 2006). In 2019 he shared what he had learned from nearly two decades… Read more »

Read More | Publications, Rights of Nature

Sep 1, 2023

Beaver Creek Press Release

100% of the water from the Seal Rock Water District (SRWD) comes from Beaver Creek.

Sep 1, 2023

CELDF is seeking a Multimedia Specialist|Job Opening

CELDF is in need of a multimedia specialist who can generate content in a variety of formats and of varying levels of complexity.

Trust the Children, Not the System

Featured photo: The plaintiffs in Held v. State of Montana walking and chatting outside the courthouse. (Photo: Robin Loznak) It will take an extended commitment to community organizing to expand the Held ruling into tangible relief as a vital state constitutional protection for nature. The 16 child plaintiffs in Held v. State of Montana, the Children’s… Read more »

Aug 17, 2023

Wouldn’t You Say? – When Democracy is Privatized

The centuries-long Enclosure (privatization) Movement in the U. S. is nearing completion.

Aug 16, 2023

Catch this live interview with CELDF’s Kai Huschke, on August 17th at 7pm PDT

CELDF’s Executive Director Kai Huschke will be on “Corporations and Democracy”, a program of public radio station KZYX. He will be discussing the growing attacks on the citizen initiatives process, the expanse of corporate power in our everyday lives, and CELDF’s upcoming California talks – American Delusion. Catch the interview live at 7pm PDT on KZYX. ** If you didn’t catch… Read more »

Read More | Events

Aug 2, 2023

Unmuting Rights of Nature

“In our history, humans were owned at one point. That is the position Nature is currently in.”

Local Governments Are Blocking Ballot Initiatives at the Behest of Corporations

Feature photo by Paul Vernon AFP via Getty Images In 1979, the children’s educational television series Schoolhouse Rock! broadcast a now-classic episode titled “Three Ring Government” about the three branches of the U.S. government — executive, legislative and judicial. “No one part can be more powerful than the other,” proclaimed the narrator, who explains that our system of government… Read more »

Jul 25, 2023

Wouldn’t You Say? – Ignorance as License

Anti-intellectualism is as American as hot dogs.

Jul 24, 2023

Conversations on Culture, Corporate Power, and the Constitution coming to California in August!

Date/Time/Location: August 21st, 7pm, TBD Los Angeles + August 23rd, 7pm

Read More | Events

Jul 13, 2023

New Moon Mycology Summit 2023

August 9-13, 2023 in Wheelock, VT On August 10th, CELDF’s Michelle Sanborn will be presenting at the New Moon Mycology Summit on the Rights of Nature. The New Moon Mycology Summit is a gathering for communal learning around environmental + social justice through the lens of fungi. With 50+ presenters from various fields, this multi-day outdoor… Read more »

Read More | Events

Jul 10, 2023

How Do We Speak for the Trees When Our Human Right to Free Speech is Cut Down?

In our legal system, one is either a legal subject (humans and corporations) or a legal object (nature)

Jul 7, 2023

15 Questions that Are More Useful than “What New Regulation Should We Fight For?”

Difficult as it may be, we’d all be better off focusing on how to change the legal system itself instead of pleading for stricter regulations.

Jul 3, 2023

Wouldn’t You Say? – The Law Did not Save Grant Township’s Water, the People of Grant Did

If the persistence of the people of Grant Township in pursuit of justice took ten years for them to prevail, it is because they insisted on the primacy of justice over law that serves the interests of an opulent minority.

Jul 3, 2023

Workers’ Rights are Part of the Community Rights Movement

July 19, 2023, UAW Region 2B Leadership Institute at the Walter and May Reuther UAW Family Education Center in Onaway, Michigan On July 19, 2023, CELDF’s Tish O’Dell will be presenting at the UAW Region 2B Leadership Institute at the Walter and May Reuther UAW Family Education Center in Onaway, Michigan. The goal of this conference is to… Read more »

Jun 21, 2023

CELDF is seeking a Donor Relations Coordinator | Job Opening

The person in this position will play an integral role in expanding CELDF’s support for its mission to advance democratic and environmental rights. This is a part-time remote contract position, with the possibility of an expanded role over time.

Read More | News, News from the Grassroots, Resources

Jun 19, 2023

Free Speech Advocate Moves to Lift Gag Order Regarding Radioactive Brine Used on Roadways

“SLAPP suits are just another tool used by industry and corporations to silence and intimidate those who speak out against them and their activities,” stated Wyatt Sugrue, Chicago attorney.

Jun 2, 2023

Wouldn’t You Say? – The Invisible Empire in Plain Sight

The American dream has turned out to be a nightmare. Wouldn’t you say?

May 31, 2023

Group announces PGE to plug controversial well

According to the CELDF, “not a single drop of frack waste has been injected within the township due to hard work, resistance and resilience.”

May 24, 2023

Waste well to be plugged in Grant Township

Feature photo by Mike Belleme, Rolling Stone GRANT TOWNSHIP — The online publication Marcellus Drilling News headlined the item this way: “Bad Guys Win: PA General Energy to Plug Grant Twp Injection Well.” The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund sees what happened differently, after Warren-based PGE, also known as Pennsylvania General Energy LLC, notified the… Read more »

When We Became Trees – A Short Story by Blake Lavia

“When we became trees, we left behind I and we became We.”

Read More | Community Wires, Rights of Nature

May 12, 2023

Radical Resilience and Restoration for Wetland Rights

On June 28th CELDF’s Kai Huschke will be presenting at the Society for Wetland Scientists annual conference.

Read More | Events

May 10, 2023

Unrepentant and Vindicated: Proposed Frack-Waste Injection Well in Grant Township to be Plugged and Abandoned

To date, not a single drop of frack waste has been injected within the Township due to hard work, resistance, and resilience.

May 4, 2023

Got Community Resistance?

Dean Barlese, an elder of the Pyramid Lake Paiute-Shoshone, who told us “We’ve got to stand up for our ancestors, they gave their lives, they shed their blood fighting for this land.”

May 3, 2023

From Lake to Lagoon: Exploring Sustainability in Cleveland & Venice

CELDF’s Tish O’Dell will be present at this free public event as part of the community programming for the exhibition Everlasting Plastics, curated by the Cleveland gallery SPACES for the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennial.

Read More | Events

May 1, 2023

Toledo voters approved a bill of rights for Lake Erie. A group wants the same for the Ohio River

Feature photo by Bill Rinehart/WVXU “An advocacy group wants Cincinnati to recognize the right of the Ohio River to thrive. Members of Citizens for the Rights of the Ohio River Watershed are circulating a petition to get an amendment to Cincinnati’s charter on the ballot. Susan VonderHaar says CROW members want to give the river a seat… Read more »

Apr 17, 2023

Ohio River Rights Campaign Launched by Cincinnati Residents

“We began to understand through this process that we are not only connected to the Ohio River, but that we are part of the ecosystem,” stated Jim Schenk of CROW.

The Myth of American Democracy: The Ruling Class Crusade Against Community & Nature

Wednesday, April 19th at 6:30 PM (Central Time) CELDF’s Tish O’Dell will be a panelist on for the upcoming discussion, The Myth of American Democracy: The Ruling Class Crusade Against Community & Nature hosted by Athens Community Rights Coalition at Ohio University.

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

Apr 4, 2023

Wouldn’t You Say? – The Challenge of Movement Building

“It seems like legal rights for community and for nature would almost be unnecessary if our attitude toward the world were based on reciprocity, responsibility, and accountability instead of maximizing personal advantage.”

Mar 29, 2023

An Earth Day Presentation – No More Enviro-Mentalism: Earth Emancipation Now!

April 18th at 3:00 PM CELDF’s Ben Price will be speaking at Youngstown University in Ohio for Earth Day. Dr. Ray’s Energy and Environment Speaker Series, Ohio Environmental Council, and Citizens’ Climate Lobby Mahoning Valley Chapter present an Earth Day 2023 event on Tuesday April 18th at 3 PM in YSU Kilcawley Center – “No More Enviro-Mentalism:… Read more »

Read More | Events, News from the Grassroots

Mar 28, 2023

Webinar Sheds Light on Community’s Fight Against Fracking Waste Injection Well

Thursday, April 6th at 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM EDT FracTracker Alliance and Halt the Harm Network will host a special virtual screening of the documentary film “Hellbent” on April 6, 2023, at 2 p.m. ET. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the filmmakers and those involved in the fight to protect… Read more »

Read More | Events

Mar 27, 2023

Webinar: Community Resilience in the Midst of Chaos Thursday, May 18th @ 7pm EDT

Feature photo by Whylly Suhendra As much as humans have effectively organized to harm and destroy their land bases and each other, the innate drive to come together in community, to help each other in times of extreme events, is an even more powerful force. Manmade or naturally occurring, there are thousands of stories of… Read more »

Read More | Events

Mar 24, 2023

The Trains Don’t Always Run on Time:<br>Yet the System Keeps Rolling, and We’re Just Collateral Damage

The Trains Don’t Always Run on Time:
Yet the System Keeps Rolling, and We’re Just Collateral Damage

A more honest report on the East Palestine disaster and details how the system itself is to blame and why these horrific and deadly events keep happening and our communities and nature keep bearing the brunt.

Mar 23, 2023

East Palestine: “We Basically Nuked a Town with Chemicals So We Could Get a Railroad Open”

We can’t turn back time, but we can change this disastrous system so no company can harm communities in this way ever again.

In Times of Increasing Uncertainty, We Already Have What We Need

We must start trusting in ourselves and in our community members to be able to meet our needs, solve our problems and create truly participatory community-based forms of government and public spaces.

Mar 15, 2023

Watch the video: “Water is Us”

“Water Is Us” was moderated by ORCRN’s board member and CELDF organizer Kai Huschke. Joining him was: On February 22nd the ORCRN’s Webinar Wednesday meandered through a variety of water topics, from current conditions of water access and water quality to how the law sees water, to the growth of rights of nature to protect and preserve water, to… Read more »

Mar 14, 2023

Guest Blog: We Must Overturn SCOTUS Decisions That Effectively Deny Rights to Black People

The posting of this piece is a reflection of CELDF’s commitment to featuring diverse perspectives and ideas in the quest to bring about a community rights and rights of nature existence into full being.

Conservation Today: Kai Huschke and the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

Kai Huschke, with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, talks to us about the hierarchy of community rights, states rights, and corporate rights.

Mar 3, 2023

Wouldn’t You Say? – From Rights of Nature to Right Relationship

We are used to extracting not only metallic ores and fossil fuels, but ourselves and our communities from the natural world, and yet we don’t notice the increasing distance placed between us and our natural habitat by the human-made environment.

Read More | Blogs, Community Rights, Rights of Nature

Feb 28, 2023

RIGHTS OF NATURE PANEL DISCUSSION: Tuesday, March 21, 2023 from 6:30pm – 8:30pm PST

Rights of Nature Panel Discussion: Tuesday, March 21, 2023 from 6:30pm – 8:30pm PST

Read More | Events, Rights of Nature

Feb 20, 2023

Raising Awareness through art – Andrea Bowers: Exist, Flourish, Evolve

The “Exist, Flourish, Evolve” art show will be held at The Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art and will focus on Rights of Nature and the Great Lakes in particular.

Read More | Events, Rights of Nature

Feb 16, 2023

Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) 2023 Panel: “Protecting our Vital Watersheds – Transitioning to Rights of Nature”

March 3rd at 1:15pm to 2:45pm PST/4:15pm to 5:45pm EST. CELDF’s Kai Huschke will be facilitating this panel on “Protecting our Vital Watersheds – Transitioning to Rights of Nature” focused on giving entities in nature such as rivers and watersheds legal rights.

Read More | Events, Rights of Nature

Feb 14, 2023

Community Conversation: Rights and Rites

Using illustrator and writer Shaun Tan’s short story “Bears with Lawyers” as a touchstone, this discussion will interrogate the societal conception of rights (and rites) within our current legal system and beyond.

Read More | Events, Rights of Nature

Feb 7, 2023

CELDF is seeking a Grant Writer | Job Opening

The person in this position will play an integral role in expanding CELDF’s support for its mission to advance democratic and environmental rights. This is a part-time remote contract position, with the possibility of an expanded role over time.

Read More | Blogs, News, News from the Grassroots, Resources

Feb 2, 2023

“Water is Us” – This Time on Webinar Wednesday…

“Water Is Us” will be moderated by ORCRN board member and CELDF organizer Kai Huschke. Please send your request for the Zoom link to: info@orcrn.org

Read More | Events

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.

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.

Guest Blog: Badges and Incidents of Slavery

The challenge: How to overcome the white dominance/Black subordination relationship. How to decolonize.

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.

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.

Announcing CELDF's Proposed Rights of Nature Principles

Sneak Peek! -- End of Year Newsletter 2022: We are Nature

New Book: ‘Death by Democracy’

Industrial Society Needs Cultural Transformation to Embrace Rights of Nature

Beaver Creek Press Release

CELDF is seeking a Multimedia Specialist|Job Opening

Trust the Children, Not the System

Wouldn’t You Say? – When Democracy is Privatized

Catch this live interview with CELDF’s Kai Huschke, on August 17th at 7pm PDT

Unmuting Rights of Nature

Local Governments Are Blocking Ballot Initiatives at the Behest of Corporations

Wouldn’t You Say? – Ignorance as License

Conversations on Culture, Corporate Power, and the Constitution coming to California in August!

New Moon Mycology Summit 2023

How Do We Speak for the Trees When Our Human Right to Free Speech is Cut Down?

15 Questions that Are More Useful than “What New Regulation Should We Fight For?”

Wouldn’t You Say? – The Law Did not Save Grant Township’s Water, the People of Grant Did

Workers’ Rights are Part of the Community Rights Movement

CELDF is seeking a Donor Relations Coordinator | Job Opening

Free Speech Advocate Moves to Lift Gag Order Regarding Radioactive Brine Used on Roadways

Wouldn’t You Say? – The Invisible Empire in Plain Sight

Group announces PGE to plug controversial well

Waste well to be plugged in Grant Township

When We Became Trees – A Short Story by Blake Lavia

Radical Resilience and Restoration for Wetland Rights

Unrepentant and Vindicated: Proposed Frack-Waste Injection Well in Grant Township to be Plugged and Abandoned

Got Community Resistance?

From Lake to Lagoon: Exploring Sustainability in Cleveland & Venice

Toledo voters approved a bill of rights for Lake Erie. A group wants the same for the Ohio River

Ohio River Rights Campaign Launched by Cincinnati Residents

The Myth of American Democracy: The Ruling Class Crusade Against Community & Nature

Wouldn’t You Say? – The Challenge of Movement Building

An Earth Day Presentation – No More Enviro-Mentalism: Earth Emancipation Now!

Webinar Sheds Light on Community’s Fight Against Fracking Waste Injection Well

Webinar: Community Resilience in the Midst of Chaos Thursday, May 18th @ 7pm EDT

The Trains Don’t Always Run on Time:Yet the System Keeps Rolling, and We’re Just Collateral Damage

East Palestine: “We Basically Nuked a Town with Chemicals So We Could Get a Railroad Open”

In Times of Increasing Uncertainty, We Already Have What We Need

Watch the video: “Water is Us”

Guest Blog: We Must Overturn SCOTUS Decisions That Effectively Deny Rights to Black People

Conservation Today: Kai Huschke and the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

Wouldn’t You Say? – From Rights of Nature to Right Relationship

RIGHTS OF NATURE PANEL DISCUSSION: Tuesday, March 21, 2023 from 6:30pm – 8:30pm PST

Raising Awareness through art – Andrea Bowers: Exist, Flourish, Evolve

Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC) 2023 Panel: “Protecting our Vital Watersheds – Transitioning to Rights of Nature”

Community Conversation: Rights and Rites

CELDF is seeking a Grant Writer | Job Opening

“Water is Us” – This Time on Webinar Wednesday…

Yamhill County, Oregon, Virtual Democracy School

Wouldn’t You Say? – Saving the Economy Means Not Saving Nature

Guest Blog: Badges and Incidents of Slavery

Tumbled by the surf: Figuring out which wave to ride next for recognizing rights

Wouldn’t You Say? – Materialism is Substance Abuse, Literally

Support just, fair, and sustainable communities

The Trains Don’t Always Run on Time:
Yet the System Keeps Rolling, and We’re Just Collateral Damage