News From the Community Rights Movement

Write for CELDF

Mar 27, 2013

Fighting to Protect our Seed Heritage in Benton County: Clinton Lindsey of Willamette Valley, OR and co-founder of the Benton County Community Rights Coalition, is interviewed on Locus Focus.

Fighting to Protect our Seed Heritage in Benton County: Clinton Lindsey of Willamette Valley, OR and co-founder of the Benton County Community Rights Coalition, is interviewed on Locus Focus.

Clinton Lindsey is interviewed by Barbara Bernstein of KBOO Community Radio about Benton County Community Rights Coalition, formed to protect Willamette Valley from GMO seed and establish a right to a local, sustainable food system.

Read More | Uncategorized

Mar 27, 2013

FIGHTING TO PROJECT OUR SEED HERITAGE IN BENTON COUNTY

FIGHTING TO PROJECT OUR SEED HERITAGE IN BENTON COUNTY

On this episode of Locus Focus we talk with Clinton Lindsay, a 5th-generation farmer and local food advocate from Corvallis, Oregon, who is working with the Benton County Community Rights Coalition to pass a voter referendum that will create a “Food Bill of Rights” in Benton County.

Read More | Uncategorized

Mar 14, 2013

Rights of Nature on the Santa Monica City Council Agenda

Rights of Nature on the Santa Monica City Council Agenda

Santa Monica City Council introduces California’s first community rights ordinance, recognizing the right to self-governance, clean air and water, sustainable food and energy systems, and the rights of nature.

Read More | Uncategorized

Mar 13, 2013

Highland Township Retains Law Firm to Defend Injection Well Ordinance

Highland Township Retains Law Firm to Defend Injection Well Ordinance

Highland Township, PA, Board of Supervisors vote unanimously to retain CELDF to help defend their “Community Rights Protection from Injection Wells Ordinance” against Seneca Resources.

Read More | Community Wires

Feb 10, 2013

CELDF’s New Frontiers: Building a Grassroots Movement for Community Rights and the Rights of Nature

CELDF’s New Frontiers: Building a Grassroots Movement for Community Rights and the Rights of Nature

Slideshow Narrated by Thomas Linzey

Read More | Uncategorized

Feb 8, 2013

Rooted Lands – Tierras Arraigadas – a film about the rising up of Mora County, New Mexicans against the oil & gas industry. View the trailer here

Rooted Lands – Tierras Arraigadas – a film about the rising up of Mora County, New Mexicans against the oil & gas industry. View the trailer here

For more information on this important film and additional screenings, see RootedLands.com

Read More | Uncategorized

Feb 6, 2013

Tree Media, producing films such as The 11th Hour and Urban Roots, is partnering with CELDF to make a film called We The People 2.0, about our grassroots organizing and our community partners. Below is a trailer for the film.

Tree Media, producing films such as The 11th Hour and Urban Roots, is partnering with CELDF to make a film called We The People 2.0, about our grassroots organizing and our community partners. Below is a trailer for the film.

Sometimes, a film comes along that conveys a message we’ve been listening for, but haven’t yet heard. A message that shows us what we’ve had a sense of, but haven’t been able to explain – let alone offer a solution.

Read More | Uncategorized

Feb 6, 2013

Fracking Scare Tactics in Highland

Fracking Scare Tactics in Highland

Update on pending lawsuit in Highland Township, PA, where supervisors recently passed a Community Bill of Rights to ban fracking injection wells – excerpt from The Kane Republican

Read More | Community Wires

Jan 21, 2013

Dr. Stephen Cleghorn signed the 1st Rights of Nature based legal easement on his 52 acre organic farm in late 2012. Click here to view a stirring speech he gave in 2011, passionately taking a stand to stop fracking and protect the land.

Dr. Stephen Cleghorn signed the 1st Rights of Nature based legal easement on his 52 acre organic farm in late 2012. Click here to view a stirring speech he gave in 2011, passionately taking a stand to stop fracking and protect the land.

Presentation by Dr. Stephen Cleghorn, a sociologist and an organic farmer from Jefferson County, PA, and was recorded at the Epic No Frack Event at Ithaca College.

Read More | Uncategorized

Jan 21, 2013

Stephen Cleghorn on Fracking the Farmland: The Resistance Begins With One Man

Stephen Cleghorn on Fracking the Farmland: The Resistance Begins With One Man

This is a really energetic presentation by Dr. Stephen Cleghorn, a sociologist and an organic farmer from Jefferson County, PA, and was recorded at the Epic No Frack Event at Ithaca College, Saturday, June 25, 2011.

Read More | Uncategorized

Jan 16, 2013

Beyond Personhood: Why Corporations Love the Constitution More Than You do

Beyond Personhood: Why Corporations Love the Constitution More Than You do

What do you love about the U.S. Constitution?

Read More | Uncategorized

Jan 14, 2013

WeArePowerShift.org: Matt Damon’s “Promised Land”: The Good, Bad, and Misrepresented

WeArePowerShift.org: Matt Damon’s “Promised Land”: The Good, Bad, and Misrepresented

Alexander Lotorto reviews Matt Damon’s movie Promised Land, in part praising its bringing attention to the issue of shale gas drilling and fracking, while critiquing its depiction of PA women and rural townspeople. Read more here.

Read More | Uncategorized

Jan 14, 2013

Public Herald: Just Say ‘No’ — Locals Ban Frack Waste in Pa.

Public Herald: Just Say ‘No’ — Locals Ban Frack Waste in Pa.

On January 9, 2013, in otherwise quiet Highland Township in Elk County, Pennsylvania, officials signed a community rights bill into law stopping the deposit of fracking waste within the township. Seneca Resources…had planned to inject its “production fluids” (oil and gas drilling and fracking waste) into an injection well about 2,200 feet from Crystal Springs….Injection wells have a history, both long and recent, of failing ….So, residents of Highland Township asked their municipal officials to say “No.”…Highland Township is the latest on a list of over 140 other communities that have said ‘no’ to factory farms, waste incinerators, corporate water withdrawals, and now fracking by passing rights-based ordinances….Rights-based ordinances are simple but formal, and they’ve been penned with the help of Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF).

Read More | Community Wires

Dec 24, 2012

Read the Dirt: Barnstead, NH: Establishing the Community Right to Water and Self-Governance

Read the Dirt: Barnstead, NH: Establishing the Community Right to Water and Self-Governance

The Barnstead, NH, story – and how other New Hampshire communities have followed the blazing trail set by these bold and steadfast residents.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Nov 15, 2012

CELDF’s Gail Darrell presents to the community group Thanks But No Tank in Belfast, ME on residents’ governing authority

CELDF’s Gail Darrell presents to the community group Thanks But No Tank in Belfast, ME on residents’ governing authority

Community Organizer, Gail Darrell, of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, gave a presentation on October 19, 2012 about what power citizens have and do not have to make regulations governing what corporations are permitted to do in their community.

Read More | Uncategorized

Nov 15, 2012

Thanks but no Tank Presentation by CELDF’s Gail Darrell

Thanks but no Tank Presentation by CELDF’s Gail Darrell

Community Organizer, Gail Darrell, of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, gave a presentation on October 19, 2012 about what power citizens have and do not have to make regulations governing what corporations are permitted to do in their community.

Read More | Uncategorized

Nov 6, 2012

Press Release: Broadview Heights Adopts Community Bill of Rights Banning Fracking

Press Release: Broadview Heights Adopts Community Bill of Rights Banning Fracking

Today, the residents of Broadview Heights banned fracking from within the City limits through a Community Bill of Rights Charter Amendment. The amendment established the right to clean air and water, and the right to local self-government, banning fracking as a violation of those rights.

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

Oct 31, 2012

CELDF and Global Exchange: Occupy Wall Street

CELDF and Global Exchange: Occupy Wall Street

Activists Shannon Biggs of Global Exchange and Ben Price of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund participated in Occupy Wall Street people’s mic teach-in on October 26th at Liberty Park. They shared stories of helping communities insist their local governments make laws removing corporate rights and codifying community rights for local self-governance and decision-making about farming, hydro-fracking, water rights, and more. They gave their talk again at the nearby Epifaneo Collective cafe at 56 Walker Street which is this recording by Joe Friendly.

Read More | Uncategorized

Oct 30, 2012

Why do we need a local bill of rights?

Why do we need a local bill of rights?

Democracy School attendee Priscilla Stuckey on “Why do we need a local bill of rights?”

Read More | Uncategorized

Oct 26, 2012

NPR Special Series – The Future of Nonhuman Rights: Recognizing The Right Of Plants To Evolve

NPR Special Series – The Future of Nonhuman Rights: Recognizing The Right Of Plants To Evolve

The rights of plants to exist and evolve is explored as interest grows for recognizing the rights of nature.

Read More | News from the Grassroots

Oct 2, 2012

View the trailer for “Rooted Lands – Tierras Arraigadas”

View the trailer for “Rooted Lands – Tierras Arraigadas”

Chronicling community rights organizing in New Mexico to protect residents and the land.

Read More | Uncategorized

Sep 15, 2012

Position Paper on Sustainable Energy

Position Paper on Sustainable Energy

Currently, most development of wind energy resources is carried out by a handful of large corporations…. The corporation…controls the land, production of energy from the wind resource, and the distribution of that energy to the grid.

Read More | Press Releases & Blogs

Sep 14, 2012

Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman Interviews Former Pittsburgh Councilman Doug Shields on the Pittsburgh Community Rights Ordinance that Bans Fracking

Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman Interviews Former Pittsburgh Councilman Doug Shields on the Pittsburgh Community Rights Ordinance that Bans Fracking

Doug Shields on the Pittsburgh Community Rights Ordinance that Bans Fracking.

Read More | Uncategorized

Sep 11, 2012

Anti-fracking group threatens ballot measure

Anti-fracking group threatens ballot measure

Colorado Springs residents launch campaign to put Community Bill of Rights on ballot to protect themselves and their community from fracking.

Read More | Uncategorized

Sep 8, 2012

Akron Beacon Journal: Communities seek ways to override state control of oil and gas drilling boom

Akron Beacon Journal: Communities seek ways to override state control of oil and gas drilling boom

Two activists are involved in grass-roots campaigns … pushing [for] what’s called limited home rule in Ohio townships and a community bill of rights in cities and villages, both aimed at increased protection for air, water, health, property values and public safety.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Aug 22, 2012

Why the Recent Act 13 Decision Won’t Help to Stop Fracking

Why the Recent Act 13 Decision Won’t Help to Stop Fracking

How Environmental Groups Keep Leading Communities into Dead-Ends.

Read More | Uncategorized

Aug 20, 2012

Bellingham Community Rights vs. Corporate Rights

Bellingham Community Rights vs. Corporate Rights

Why support Bellingham, WA’s Community Bill of Rights? Suzanne Ravet, a member of Coal-Free Bellingham, gives her account. Read more here from Northwest Citizen.

Read More | Uncategorized

Aug 7, 2012

Press Release: Washington Communities Launch Statewide Network To Advocate for Community Rights

Press Release: Washington Communities Launch Statewide Network To Advocate for Community Rights

SPOKANE: In late July, citizens from Washington communities gathered in Spokane to launch the Washington Community Rights Network (WCRN). Network members released The Spokane Declaration, calling upon communities across the state to join together in a movement to elevate the rights of people, their communities, and nature above the claimed rights of corporations….The creation of the Washington Community Rights Network comes out of active community campaigns on both sides of the Cascades.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Aug 7, 2012

Press Release: Washington Communities Launch Statewide Network To Advocate for Community Rights

Press Release: Washington Communities Launch Statewide Network To Advocate for Community Rights

Washington Communities Launch Statewide Network to Advocate for Community Rights.

Read More | Uncategorized

Aug 2, 2012

Ohio Town’s Lonely Campaign Against Fracking Now Slightly Less Lonely

Ohio Town’s Lonely Campaign Against Fracking Now Slightly Less Lonely

The new year arrived in Youngstown, Ohio, with earthquakes that appear to be tied fracking to wastewater wells and activists standing in the cold protesting. By some lights the poorest community in America, Youngstown had been taking in wastewater from fracking wells in Pennsylvania, which companies then injected back into the ground.

Read More | Uncategorized

Jul 30, 2012

Spokane’s Move to Amend, Occupy Spokane, Envision Spokane, and CELDF Join Together to Advance Elections Ordinance Banning Corporate Involvement in Elections and Government While Stripping Corporate “Rights”

Spokane’s Move to Amend, Occupy Spokane, Envision Spokane, and CELDF Join Together to Advance Elections Ordinance Banning Corporate Involvement in Elections and Government While Stripping Corporate “Rights”

Drafted by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) and Envision
Spokane, the organizations Occupy Spokane and Spokane Move to Amend (SMAC) are
currently qualifying the initiative for the November 2013 ballot. The project represents the
first common initiative of the organizations in the country.

Read More | Uncategorized

Jul 24, 2012

Local Officials Standing Up to Protect Their Communities from Fracking

Local Officials Standing Up to Protect Their Communities from Fracking

Local officials from more than 200 municipalities in 15 states, including city councils, town boards, and county legislatures, have banned natural gas drilling that uses hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as fracking.

Read More | Uncategorized

Jul 12, 2012

Alliance for Sustainable Communities: The Importance of Being Radical

Alliance for Sustainable Communities: The Importance of Being Radical

As an activist in Easton, there is one crucial challenge I have encountered in trying to engage residents in any cause, regardless of the issue. Whether it’s fighting fracking for natural gas, sewage sludge fertilization, landfills—the challenge is fragmentation. People—good people—are very busy, working hard to sustain themselves and their families, and they have little free time to divide among additional pursuits. When they do commit to carving out time for meetings, there tend to be so many issues facing any given community, that each community will be fragmented in their efforts….But there is good news—a possible silver bullet that can streamline our efforts to eradicate the root of the disease, rather than wasting scarce time and precious energy running around fighting symptoms wherever they crop up. That silver bullet is to declare and establish local self-governance at the municipal level according to state constitutional rights, including the right to deny corporations the ability to invade communities and run roughshod over The People.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jun 19, 2012

United Nations Radio: Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature promotes its cause at Rio+20

United Nations Radio: Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature promotes its cause at Rio+20

The Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature is….calling for global recognition and acceptance of Rights of Nature. They say an essential step for achieving this is to introduce a system of jurisprudence that sees and treats Nature as a fundamental, rights bearing entity and not as mere property to be exploited at will.

Read More | Uncategorized

Jun 5, 2012

KALW Local Public Radio’s Your Call

KALW Local Public Radio’s Your Call

An Interview with CELDF’s Thomas Linzey and Global Exchange’s Shannon Biggs.

Read More | Uncategorized

Apr 23, 2012

Gloucester, MA Part 2

Gloucester, MA Part 2

Gloucester residents celebrate legislation putting control of their municipal water system in community hands – Part 2

Read More | Community Wires

Apr 23, 2012

Gloucester, MA Part 1

Gloucester, MA Part 1

Gloucester residents celebrate legislation putting control of their municipal water system in community hands – Part 1

Read More | Community Wires

Apr 15, 2012

CELDF Press Release: Las Vegas, New Mexico, Adopts Community Bill of Rights; Bans Corporations from Fracking for Shale Gas

CELDF Press Release: Las Vegas, New Mexico, Adopts Community Bill of Rights; Bans Corporations from Fracking for Shale Gas

In front of a standing-room only crowd of residents, by a vote of 3-1, the City Council, Las Vegas, New Mexico enacted the Las Vegas Community Water Rights and Local Self-Government Ordinance.

Read More | News from the Grassroots

Apr 9, 2012

CELDF’s Kai Huschke Presents a Two Hour Workshop in Eugene, Oregon

CELDF’s Kai Huschke Presents a Two Hour Workshop in Eugene, Oregon

CELDF’s Kai Huschke of Washington State leads a workshop on Community Rights in Eugene, Oregon, sponsored by the Climate Justice League for its Beyond Fossil Fuels campaign, and No Coal Eugene.

Read More | Uncategorized

Apr 6, 2012

Rights of Mother Earth International Indigenous Conference: Understanding Rights, Respect, and Reciprocity

Rights of Mother Earth International Indigenous Conference: Understanding Rights, Respect, and Reciprocity

Tom Goldtooth opens the last day of the Rights of Mother Earth International Indigenous Conference at the Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence, KS. CELDF’s Ben Price and Global Exchange’s Shannon Biggs explore Indigenous Rights and the challenges Indigenous Peoples face working with non-indigenous allies.

Read More | Uncategorized

Apr 3, 2012

KUNM: Las Vegas Passes Ban on Drilling

KUNM: Las Vegas Passes Ban on Drilling

Sidsel Overgaard of KUNM New Mexico’s Community Powered Public Radio reports on Las Vegas, New Mexico’s historic action to pass a Community Bill of Rights ordinance to protect their water and prohibit shale gas drilling and fracking.

Read More | Uncategorized

Apr 3, 2012

Las Vegas Optic: Anti-fracking law adopted

Las Vegas Optic: Anti-fracking law adopted

The Las Vegas, NM, City Council adopted a Community Bill of Rights ordinance establishing rights to clean water and to local self-government, banning fracking as a violation of those rights. Residents filled council chambers in support of the measure.

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

Mar 29, 2012

Las Vegas Optic: Support for city’s ‘rights’ ordinance

Las Vegas Optic: Support for city’s ‘rights’ ordinance

Community members in Las Vegas, NM, urge support for their Las Vegas Community Bill of Rights and Local Self-Government Ordinance, which bans fracking.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Mar 26, 2012

Bulldog Live! with Brian Tilton on WTPL 107.7FM: An Interview with CELDF’s Gail Darrell on March Town Meeting Outcomes in New Hampshire for Community Bills of Rights to stop the Northern Pass project

Bulldog Live! with Brian Tilton on WTPL 107.7FM: An Interview with CELDF’s Gail Darrell on March Town Meeting Outcomes in New Hampshire for Community Bills of Rights to stop the Northern Pass project

An Interview with CELDF’s Gail Darrell on March Town Meeting Outcomes in New Hampshire for Community Bills of Rights to stop the Northern Pass project

Read More | Uncategorized

Mar 23, 2012

Philadelphia Inquirer: Op/Ed by CELDF’s Ben Price – Fracking spurs a municipal mutiny in Pennsylvania

Philadelphia Inquirer: Op/Ed by CELDF’s Ben Price – Fracking spurs a municipal mutiny in Pennsylvania

Not content to leave Pennsylvania communities with any control over gas drilling within their borders, state legislators have stripped municipalities of their zoning authority under Act 13, choosing energy corporations over the people who elected them….It’s time we…stopped expecting any other outcome from Harrisburg. It’s time for a grassroots revolt aimed at enshrining the right to community self-government in the Pennsylvania Constitution, protecting local authority from the state. The work begins in our communities, with the adoption of local laws and home-rule charters directly challenging the legal doctrines that subordinate communities to the legislature, as well as the privileges that protect corporations from democracy. More than 100 municipalities across Pennsylvania have begun this journey, elevating the rights of people and communities above the rights of corporations and commerce. These municipalities recognize the need for community rights independent of the legislature and are coming together to form the Pennsylvania Community Rights Network.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Mar 4, 2012

March 4th Occupy Portland: PSU Community Rights

March 4th Occupy Portland: PSU Community Rights

A short interview by Joe Anybody about communities organizing around rights.

Read More | Uncategorized

Jan 25, 2012

Santa Monica Patch: Council Moves Toward Making ‘Green’ Goals Mandatory

Santa Monica Patch: Council Moves Toward Making ‘Green’ Goals Mandatory

Santa Monica City Council members unanimously passed a resolution backing a bill of rights for the environment, which would give legal standing to city officials to protect the environment within Santa Monica’s borders if passed as a law in the future.

Read More | Community Wires, News from the Grassroots

Jan 24, 2012

An End to Begging and Pleading?

An End to Begging and Pleading?

Interview with Thomas Linzey on Earthairwaves.

Read More | Uncategorized

Jan 24, 2012

Earth Air Waves: An End to Begging and Pleading?

Earth Air Waves: An End to Begging and Pleading?

Sidsel Overgaard of KUNM, New Mexico’s Community Powered Public Radio, interviews CELDF’s Thomas Linzey about elevating community rights and rights of nature above corporate “rights” to protect local communities and ecosystems.

Read More | Uncategorized