Search Results for: rights of nature

Jul 10, 2021

Legal Talk Network: Lawyer 2 Lawyer Podcast

Tune in to Legal Talk Networks Lawyer 2 Lawyer podcast featuring CELDF attorney, Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin. Listen as they discuss law and Nature and take a look at what rights we have to access Nature.

Read More | Issues, News, News from the Grassroots, Rights of Nature

Jul 4, 2021

Guest Blog: How Qualified Immunity Subverts the Rule of Law

This guest submission was originally given as a graduation address on police reform. The author argues, our informed consent is what legitimizes government. And so it’s up to us to command all of our public servants, including cops. We the People must nullify the despotic doctrine so-called qualified immunity. The buck stops with every single citizen from their eighteenth birthday.

Read More | Blogs, Defunding Violence, Democratic Rights, News, Uncategorized

Jun 21, 2021

Ohio Residents Call On State Attorney General and 9 County Prosecuting Attorneys to Launch Criminal Investigations Into Radioactive Pollution in Waterways

Under a 2002 law, introducing radioactive elements into Ohio drinking water is a felony offense.
Companies are violating this by spreading oil and gas waste ‘brine’ — proven by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to contain radioactive concentrations that exceed federal and state standards — in critical watersheds. So are state actors, residents assert.

Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, News, Press Releases, Uncategorized

Jun 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 Releases

Jun 9, 2021

Clara Township Home Rule Commission Meets After Residents Vote To Consider New Government

Clara Township residents voted overwhelmingly to create a Home Rule Government Study Commission made up of seven elected Township residents.

Read More | News, Press Releases

May 29, 2021

Ohio

Every Ohioan retains an inalienable right to participate in community local self-government in the place where they live. But every Ohioan is denied the full enjoyment of that right, and many are denied it completely. State laws that deny the authority of community governments to protect their health, safety, welfare, and quality of life violate… Read more »

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May 29, 2021

Pennsylvania

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund is based in Pennsylvania. It’s here where we got our start. We have engaged dozens of municipalities, local officials, state legislators and long-term movement-building in the state. Today, our direct engagement includes assistance in Grant Township, Indiana County and Clara Township, Potter County, as well as grassroots organizing with… Read more »

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May 29, 2021

New England

A Community Rights Movement in New Hampshire When communities have no recognized authority to enact local laws that protect and expand the rights of people, their communities, and ecosystems, they are denied authority to protect their health, safety and well-being. In response, communities in New Hampshire are partnering with the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund… Read more »

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May 29, 2021

The Northwest

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund has been working in the Northwestern United States since 2005. Oregon Lincoln County, Oregon is coming off two years of successful implementation of a Rights of Nature law that outlawed industrial aerial pesticide spraying. Such spraying is a dangerous, yet common, corporate timber industry activity that threatens aquatic ecosystems… Read more »

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May 24, 2021

Host a Film Screening

Host a community or virtual event to start the conversation around Community Rights or Rights of Nature in your community. Contact us to set up a screening of one of the films below. CELDF staff members are available to help plan a panel discussion, workshop, or Q&A as well as facilitate screening set up between… Read more »

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May 24, 2021

Newsletter: Collaborating With Academia

It will take many minds to birth a new legal and political paradigm. Engaging students and educators is critical. Toward that end, CELDF’s Chad Nicholson recently helped teach a short Rights of Nature seminar. Markie Miller presented at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference and at the University of Toledo. Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin is heading up… Read more »

Read More | Blogs, Community Rights, News, Rights of Nature

May 21, 2021

Newsletter: Featured Online Film Screenings

The new award-winning documentary THE PEOPLE VS. AGENT ORANGE is now screening in theaters near you! CELDF is proud to sponsor limited nationwide screenings ahead of the national premiere on PBS, forthcoming in summer 2021. CELDF is sponsoring screenings in California, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and… Read more »

Read More | Blogs, Chemical Trespass, Corporate 'Rights', Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, News

May 20, 2021

CELDF Sponsors Nationwide Screenings of New Award-Winning Documentary ‘The People vs. Agent Orange’

The new award-winning documentary “The People vs. Agent Orange” is now screening in theaters near you! The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund is proud to sponsor limited nationwide screenings ahead of the national premiere on PBS, forthcoming in summer 2021. CELDF is sponsoring screenings in California, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York,… Read more »

Read More | Blogs, Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Events, Issues, News, Uncategorized

May 17, 2021

Corporate Agriculture

The global food system is increasingly controlled by some of the largest corporations on earth. The control over seeds, land and water threaten small-scale farmers and exploits workers. This system relies on fossil fuel-dependent fertilizers and pesticides. It poisons workers, the water, top soil, and air. It depletes precious aquifers and is increasingly fragile. It’s… Read more »

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Apr 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 Releases

Mar 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 Releases

Feb 28, 2021

Introducing CELDF 2021: A New Year, A New Structure

A new democratic structure will empower collaboration and expansion CELDF just celebrated its 25th birthday. Now, we’re investing in the next 25 years. For decades, our staff have spearheaded issues few others would touch. CELDF was years ahead of the curve on Rights of Nature and a structural demand for local community self-determination to counteract… Read more »

Read More | Blogs, Democratic Rights, News, Success Story

Feb 25, 2021

Invisible Hand Screening and Live Q&A: Cincinnati

This event is hosted by Cincinnati World Cinema and Citizens for Rights of the Ohio River Watershed (CROW)

Read More | Uncategorized

Feb 6, 2021

Public Interest Environmental Law Conference Panel: 2021

Rights of Nature Panel Discussion 1:00 PM -2:30 pm EST It is neither acceptable nor is it necessary to poison the environment to engage in commerce. In fact, it is the antithesis of a sustainable, resilient, and responsible economy. But to stop harmful unsustainable developments like Jordan Cove and Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline, determined environmental… Read more »

Read More | Events, Rights of Nature

Feb 1, 2021

Beyond Earth Day

An Earth Day Webinar Series Each year we celebrate the failed environmental policies associated with the so-called modern environmental movement on Earth Day. Despite this global celebration and calls to action, the climate crisis and ecosystem collapse continue to intensify. For too long we have been led to believe our federal regulations and agencies were… Read more »

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Jan 1, 2021

Host an online event with CELDF

There is a lot we can do from home. Here are a few ideas. Organize an Online Democracy School CELDF now offers a virtual version of its Democracy School. The four modules educate the public about rights-based organizing, inform participants about how the system under which we currently live undermines traditional activism, and introduce strategies… Read more »

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Aug 12, 2020

Guest Blog Series

Submit a Guest Blog Our work is based on the premise that communities should make the decisions that affect them. Working with communities on local law-making, we understand that an authentic movement must  center the leadership most affected by the problems we’re all trying to solve. A racist, colonial, capitalist government harms us all, but… Read more »

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Aug 6, 2020

CELDF Fast Fact Videos

These Fast Facts are quick introductions to big ideas and concepts tackled by the Community Rights Movement! Check out our Fast Facts and find resources to more information to further your knowledge on the topics! See also Common Sense – our primer publication on local self-governance. Rights of Nature What does it mean for Nature… Read more »

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Nov 6, 2019

Grassroots Video Series

CELDF is proud to share an eight-part video series highlighting our grassroots work with our partner communities in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire, and Oregon.

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Oct 23, 2019

In Plain Sight

Since its inception, a state-wide movement in Ohio has faced concerted opposition from all branches of state government, corporate lobbies, private law firms, and both political parties. The entire repressive apparatus has revealed itself in 2019, for all to see.

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Aug 1, 2018

Thank You for Supporting CELDF

Your generosity allows CELDF to assist communities to solve problems and expand their rights. Together, we are building a movement that recognizes a community’s right to forge equitable and sustainable policies. And, because of your support, the Rights of Nature movement is exploding as communities rise up nationally and around the world to demand a… Read more »

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Jan 10, 2018

Water Protectors in Nottingham, NH

Nottingham, NH, residents have stood their ground to protect the Lamprey River Watershed, a water ecosystem supporting innumerable human and natural communities. They are up against water thieves – corporations taking their water against the will of the people.

For over a decade they have enforced their Community Bill of Rights banning corporate water withdrawals. CELDF stands with them.

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Jan 10, 2018

Lincoln Co, OR, Residents & the Siletz River Challenge the Timber Industry

For decades, Lincoln County, OR, residents and surrounding ecosystems have been subjected to toxic aerially spraying of pesticides by the timber industry.

Today, they’ve had enough. Working with CELDF, they are asserting the rights of the Siletz River, their own rights to clean air and pure water, and – together – they are challenging the timber industry.

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Aug 4, 2015

Board & Staff

The CELDF staff are composed of dedicated individuals whose mission is the protection of communities and Nature and the advancement of community rights. CELDF Staff and Legal Team Stacey Schmader Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer Stacey is a co-founder of CELDF. She leads Human Resources and is responsible for planning, organization, and direction of the… Read more »

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Aug 4, 2015

Where We Work

CELDF works with communities, grassroots groups and governments to assert community self-determination and the Rights of Nature. From rural to urban communities – from the United States, to Asia, Latin America, Australia, and beyond – CELDF is there, partnering with you to secure rights and grow this movement. Read more about some of our work… Read more »

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Aug 4, 2015

Democracy School

Democracy school – Igniting a Rights Movement for Communities and Nature – is our flagship education program and a key piece of our community organizing. Our educational initiative explores the limits of conventional regulatory organizing and offers a new organizing model that helps citizens confront the usurpation by corporations of the rights of communities, people,… Read more »

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Aug 4, 2015

Legal Services

We offer free legal assistance to communities looking to establish local rights.

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Aug 4, 2015

Unsustainable Energy

CELDF has assisted the first communities in the U.S. to prohibit unsustainable energy projects, including harmful transmission towers and energy transportation corridors. Learn here about harms from unsustainable energy projects, how communities are organizing to stop them, and what you can do in your community.

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Aug 4, 2015

Unsustainable Agriculture

Unsustainable agriculture is devastating communities’ land, health, and economies – and CELDF is helping them to stop it. Read here about the harms caused by unsustainable agriculture, how communities are organizing to stop them, and what you can do in your community.

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Aug 4, 2015

Donate

A movement requires the people’s support. Donate today to fight for community rights.

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Aug 4, 2015

About CELDF

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund is a non-profit, public interest law firm providing free and affordable legal services to communities facing threats to their local environment, local agriculture, the local economy, and quality of life.

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Aug 4, 2015

Join the Movement

CELDF is helping spearhead a decolonial movement at the local, state, national and international level to establish rights for humans and nature over the systems that control them. A People’s Movement In spite of the legendary belief that the United States Constitution established a government of, by and for the people, it is the people… Read more »

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Jul 31, 2015

Home

Our Mission Our mission is to build sustainable communities by assisting people to assert their right to local self-government and the rights of nature. News from the Grassroots Video format more your style? Our Videos are a great introduction to big ideas and concepts tackled by the Community Rights Movement! Check out our Fast Facts,… Read more »

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May 8, 2024

Wouldn’t You Say? – Paid Speech Isn’t Freedom of Speech

Feature photo by Christine Roy Like Junk Mail, Junk Speech is Trash Talk Freedom of speech isn’t what it used to be. Toward the end of the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st, its definition was changed in two unprecedented rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court. Today, what’s called free speech has… Read more »

Read More | Blogs, Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Corporate Agriculture, Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, Rights of Nature

Nov 14, 2023

Wouldn’t you say? – Three Beliefs That Doom Western Society

We are neither separate from nor superior to, but rather part of and utterly dependent upon the non-human world around us, inside and out. Wouldn’t you say?

Read More | Blogs

Oct 12, 2023

CELDF’s Kai Huschke presents: Legalized Chemical Warfare – Community Resistance and Resilience to Protect the Future

In 2017 voters of Lincoln County adopted a community rights law banning aerial spray of pesticides by the corporate timber industry. CELDF was involved in assisting in the drafting of the law along with supporting the effort to get it adopted. In 2019 the courts, at the behest of the timber industry, overturned that law leaving public health and… Read more »

Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Democratic Rights, Events, Extraction & Pollution, 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.

Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Community Wires, Corporate 'Rights', Corporate Agriculture, Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, Rights of Nature

Aug 22, 2023

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 »

Read More | Blogs, Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, Rights of Nature

Aug 17, 2023

Wouldn’t You Say? – When Democracy is Privatized

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

Read More | Blogs, Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Democratic Rights, Rights of Nature

Jul 31, 2023

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 »

Read More | Blogs, Community Rights, Democratic Rights, Rights of Nature

Jul 25, 2023

Wouldn’t You Say? – Ignorance as License

Anti-intellectualism is as American as hot dogs.

Read More | Blogs, Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Corporate 'Rights', Corporate Agriculture, Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, Houselessness, Rights of Nature, Water Privitization, Worker Exploitation

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.

Read More | Blogs, Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, News from the Grassroots, Rights of Nature

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?

Read More | Blogs, Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, Rights of Nature, Worker Exploitation

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.”

Read More | Chemical Trespass, Community Rights, Democratic Rights, Extraction & Pollution, News, Rights of Nature

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.”

Read More | Blogs, Community Rights, Democratic Rights, Rights of Nature