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At the risk of expediting the die-off of most life on the…
Blogs, Rights of Nature
A new system of law based on respect for Nature and the…
Issues, News, Resources, Rights of Nature
Protecting Water and Life: Frontline Stories from Ohioans fighting corporate and state…
Publications
Oct 2, 2020
Residents of Toledo, Ohio win appeal in pro se case against the State of Ohio. Lake Erie Bill of Rights lives to fight another day.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsSep 17, 2020
Webinar: Webinar: Nature’s Rebellion Against the Corporate State! Register for Module Three- Decolonizing Nature – A Movement’s Voice in the Rebellion. Sign up for the final module in this three part webinar focused on Lake Erie and Rights of Nature.
Read More | Community WiresSep 3, 2020
The international corporate law firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP is seeking $207,500 in attorney fees from the City of Toledo for a charter amendment approved by voters.
Read More | News, Press ReleasesSep 3, 2020
Webinar: Webinar: Nature’s Rebellion Against the Corporate State! Register for Module Two- A Lakes Voice in the Rebellion. Sign up for the second module in this three part webinar focused on Lake Erie and Rights of Nature.
Read More | Community WiresAug 27, 2020
Webinar: Webinar: Nature’s Rebellion Against the Corporate State! Register for Module One – A Community’s Voice in the Rebellion. Sign up for the first module in this three part webinar focused on Lake Erie and Rights of Nature.
Read More | Community WiresAug 12, 2020
Read the pro se argument defending the Lake Erie Bill of Rights presented by Toledo resident, Mike Ferner, on behalf of Lake Erie and the Toledoans who passed the law.
Read More | Community WiresJul 8, 2020
Ben Price discusses Rights of Nature and how the concepts of preemption, claimed corporate rights, and property rights challenge local democracy and ecosystem rights.
Read More | Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Rights of NatureFeb 28, 2020
In Toledo, OH, a federal judge joined a long list of enablers complicit in the destruction of the natural world by invalidating the democratically enacted Lake Erie Bill of Rights charter amendment.
Read More | Community Wires, News, Press ReleasesFeb 3, 2020
Read the first-hand accounts from attendees at the historic Lake Erie Bill of Rights hearing that took place in Toledo, Ohio last week.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases, Press Releases & BlogsJan 21, 2020
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, In The NewsAug 19, 2019
Toledo residents file pro se lawsuit defending the people’s Lake Erie Bill of Rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News, Press ReleasesJul 24, 2019
Are you interested in advancing Community Rights laws in your state? Community Rights includes Rights of Nature, such as the right of ecosystems to flourish and evolve; environmental rights, such as the right to clean air, pure water, and healthy soil; worker rights, such as the right to living wages and equal pay for equal work; and democratic… Read more »
Read More |Jul 11, 2019
While efforts mount to stop Rights of Nature in Ohio, community groups press on, insisting on their right to protect the ecosystems upon which they depend.
Read More | Community Wires, News, Press ReleasesJul 1, 2019
Rights of Nature is hot in Ohio, where Toledoans take action to protect the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, another community advances an initiative to recognize the rights of a water ecosystem, legal cases continue, and more.
Read More | News, Press ReleasesJun 27, 2019
As the state of Ohio attempts to undermine the will of Toledo community members, residents file a pro se complaint to uphold the Lake Erie Bill of Rights.
Read More | Community Wires, News, Press Releases, Success StoryMar 25, 2019
The New Hampshire Community Rights Amendment, CACR8, went before the state House of Representatives last week. It was blocked from advancing to a vote by New Hampshire citizens.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsMar 19, 2019
Lake Erie files a motion to intervene in a lawsuit filed by industry to overturn the Lake Erie Bill of Rights.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsFeb 28, 2019
Lake Erie joins growing numbers of ecosystems around the world where people and governments are recognizing their rights to exist, flourish, and evolve.
Read More | Community Wires, In The News, Success StoryFeb 27, 2019
Lake Erie Bill of Rights is enacted by the people of Toledo, Ohio!
Read More | Community Wires, Success StoryFeb 26, 2019
An historic vote by the people of Toledo, Ohio, marks the first time in the U.S. that the rights of an entire ecosystem are secured in law.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryFeb 8, 2019
The Rights of Nature is growing. Now, a Chippewa tribe recognizes, in law, what they have known and respected for generations: manoomin has the right to exist and flourish.
Read More | Success StoryFeb 4, 2019
Communities from across Ohio file a federal lawsuit against local Boards of Elections and the Ohio Secretary of State for multiple rights violations – including the right to vote.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryJan 27, 2019
Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR) is on the February special elections ballot. Check out news coverage and the growing support for Toledo residents’ pioneering efforts to recognize the Lake’s rights.
Read More | Community Wires, Success StoryJan 4, 2019
New Hampshire legislators consider the NH Community Rights state constitutional amendment, with bi-partisan support from ten co-sponsors.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryDec 6, 2018
Toledo, Ohio, City Council advances the CELDF-drafted Lake Erie Bill of Rights to the February 2019 ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StorySep 24, 2018
While Ohio Supreme Court justices ignore democratic and environmental rights, Toledo residents continue to fight for them, and for the rights of Lake Erie.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsAug 28, 2018
Growing efforts to stifle voting rights continue in Ohio as local government blocks Toledo residents’ Lake Erie Bill of Rights from the November ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, News, Press ReleasesAug 27, 2018
Listen to Dr. Michelle Maloney, founder of the Australian Centre for the Rights of Nature, on laws recognizing rights of the Great Barrier Reef to exist and flourish.
Read More | Community Wires, In The News, Success StoryAug 23, 2018
An oil and gas industry ally submits a protest to block a Community Bill of Rights initiative banning fracking waste from the ballot in Columbus, OH. CELDF attorney Terry Lodge presents arguments to defend the people’s right to vote on Friday, 8/24.
Read More | Community Wires, In The NewsAug 17, 2018
Athens County, OH, residents advancing Community Rights to protect themselves from fracking through citizen initiative are denied their appeal.
Read More | Community Wires, News, Press ReleasesAug 16, 2018
Human activity is devastating the Great Barrier Reef. The Australia Earth Laws Alliance works with CELDF to secure rights for the Reef, protecting it from climate change, pollution, and other threats.
Read More | Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryJul 6, 2018
Northern India Court issues ruling in growing Rights of Nature movement: “Every species has an inherent right to live and are required to be protected by law.”
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryJun 29, 2018
This July 4th, let’s take a second look at what the Revolutionaries aspired to, and what we live under today.
Read More | UncategorizedMay 24, 2018
Environmental and social justice attorney Terry Lodge receives the 2018 Johnsrud Unsung Heroes Award. Lodge partners with CELDF to advance and protect Community Rights for communities across Ohio.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryApr 5, 2018
In the growing recognition of ecosystem rights around the world, today the Colombia Supreme Court of Justice ruled that the Amazon region in Colombia possesses rights.
Read More | Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryMar 16, 2018
The New Hampshire legislature takes an historic vote on the first Community Rights state constitutional amendment considered by a state legislature.
Read More | Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryFeb 25, 2018
CELDF’s Tish O’Dell shares discoveries of her own white privilege when fracking came into her community – and how Dr. Martin Luther King and Black Lives Matter inform her work with communities today
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsFeb 19, 2018
The people’s Community Rights state constitutional amendment moves ahead with the support of a New Hampshire legislative subcommittee.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryFeb 1, 2018
Plymouth, NH, voters overwhelmingly adopt a rights-based ordinance banning unsustainable energy projects and protecting their right to a sustainable energy future. The measure bans the Northern Pass project.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryJan 23, 2018
New Hampshire residents and the NHCRN advance a Community Rights state constitutional amendment to the legislative committee hearing.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryDec 7, 2017
Nature isn’t protected in our constitution. And so ecosystems, including our national monuments, are protected – or not – at the whim of current powerbrokers.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsDec 7, 2017
Two Community Rights state constitutional amendments advance in Ohio, meeting Ballot Board requirements for single subject. Residents are launching their signature gathering campaign.
Read More | Community Wires, In The News, Success StoryDec 4, 2017
For three years, Ohio government and the oil and gas industry have tried to quash Community Rights. This year, communities have come back stronger than ever, and with a win in the Ohio Supreme Court.
Read More | Success StoryDec 4, 2017
What began over twenty years ago as an effort to help communities enforce the nation’s environmental laws, has now fully evolved into a resistance movement focused on driving rights for local self-determination and nature into the highest levels of law.
Read More | UncategorizedNov 20, 2017
A powerful exchange between a New Hampshire legislator and a New Hampshire resident on Community Rights.
Read More | Press Releases & BlogsNov 17, 2017
Today, residents take action to protect democratic and environmental rights in Ohio, submitting two state constitutional amendments to the Ohio Attorney General.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryNov 14, 2017
The NH Community Rights Network and residents successfully introduce a rights-based state constitutional amendment to the NH legislature with Representative Ellen Read as a sponsor.
Read More | Press Releases & Blogs, Success StoryJul 24, 2017
The Siletz River watershed in Lincoln County, OR, files to intervene in a case to protect itself against aerially sprayed pesticides. The practice was banned by county residents in May.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & BlogsJun 25, 2017
Youngstown, OH, residents advance two rights-based measures to protect their water and their elections. Community members are gathering signatures for the November ballot.
Read More | Community Wires, In The NewsMay 18, 2017
Grant Township, PA, is being sued by their own Dept of Environmental Protection to force in a fracking wastewater injection well. CELDF filed a countersuit on behalf of the Township, asserting the DEP is violating the rights of the community and the Charter.
Read More | Community Wires, Press Releases & Blogs