Search Results for: rights of nature

Support Grows for Rights of Wetlands

by celdf

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin
CELDF, Attorney
Lindsey@shearwaterlaw.com
(360) 406-4321

Gillian Davies
Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands, Co-Convener
Society of Wetland Scientists Professional Certification Program, President-Elect
gdavies@bscgroup.com

A growing list of groups have signed onto a declaration for the rights of wetlands, spearheaded by an international group of wetlands scientists

In December, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) officially endorsed a proposal for a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands, organized by lawyers and scientists with the Society of Wetland Scientists’ Rights of Wetlands and Climate Change and Wetlands initiatives. The group is planning to share the Declaration with the 171 signatory countries of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention), and inviting them to work with others to move toward a framework that ensures the rights of wetlands are understood, respected and upheld, including through contributing knowledge and guidance on designated Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance. “CELDF is excited to endorse the efforts as a step toward recognizing and enforcing the rights of wetlands,” we wrote in December.

“The ongoing destabilization of the global climate and rapid loss of biodiversity impress upon us the urgency for shifting the human–Nature relationship to one of greater reciprocity and respect for Nature,” the authors of the Declaration write.

A growing number of groups are signing on in support, and in addition to CELDF and the Society of Wetland Scientists, include Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, Rights of Mother Earth, Rights of Nature Sweden, Wetlands International, Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature Europe, The Gaia Foundation, Earth Thrive, Funcaión Lagunas Costeras, Funcaión Montecito, Virginia Community Rights Network, Stichting Mission Lanka, Cobra Collective, National Community Rights Network, Earth Lore, Afrie, African Biodiversity Network, Grabe-Benin and Society for Alternative Learning & Transformation.

Una traducción al español del Declaración Universal de los Derechos de los Humedales: https://www.rightsofwetlands.org/sign-the-declaration-copy

As we collectively advance a paradigm shift in how ecosystems are treated by dominant systems of law, it will be critical to simultaneously develop interpretations of the rights of specific ecosystems, based upon local indigenous ecological knowledge, and the best available scientific research. This effort within the conventional scientific discipline to begin to apply science for the interpretation of ecosystem rights is exciting and needed.

“The Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands and its proposed adoption by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is an important step forward for ecosystem protections,” says Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin, one of CELDF’s lawyers. “Existing environmental law has not reversed ongoing ecological destruction, even as it has sometimes been effective at protecting particular habitats. We must both fight with the tools we have, while also creating new tools to respond to interconnected ecological and humanitarian crises. We look forward to working alongside wetland scientists and the parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.”

To read the Declaration and sign on in support visit: https://www.rightsofwetlands.org/

CELDF’s initial endorsement announcement: https://devceldf.org/2020/12/celdf-endorses-universal-declaration-rights-of-wetlands/

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) is helping build a decolonial movement for Community Rights and the Rights of Nature to advance democratic, economic, social, and environmental rights – building upward from the grassroots to the state, federal, and international levels.

Photo by Luca Bravo on Unsplash

Defending ‘Peaceful Change’: Friend of the Court Briefs Representing Over 500,000 Supporters Filed in Ohio Civil Rights Lawsuit Appeal

by celdf

Groups defend ballot initiative process used to advance Rights of Nature lawmaking in Ohio


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 8, 2020

CONTACT:
Elizabeth Dunne
Legal Strategist, Earth Law Center
edunne@earthlaw.org

Patricia Walker
Principal of Walker & Jocke, representing coalition of Ohio groups
330-721-0000

Greg Coleridge
Outreach Director, Move to Amend Coalition
greg@movetoamend.org

Tish O’Dell
Ohio Community Organizer, Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
tish@celdf.org

Cincinnati, OH: Amicus briefs have been filed in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Plaintiffs-Appellants in Beiersdorfer v. La Rose, et al. (No. 20-3557). The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of Ohio’s ballot access scheme for ballot initiatives. Plaintiffs from seven Ohio counties, representing Rights of Nature and corporate control ballot measures, sued the Ohio Secretary of State and Boards of Election officials in trial court for repeatedly keeping binding citizen-proposed laws and charters off the ballot despite satisfying procedural requirements, such as the requisite number of signatures.

Amicus briefs, filed by people or groups with a strong interest in a case, have been filed by:

Earth Law Center (ELC), representing thousands of supporters and hundreds of organizational partners. ELC works with grassroots organizations, local communities, Indigenous groups, and lawmakers to change anthropocentric worldviews and legal frameworks to recognize the rights of nature. Their brief reads:

“ELC has a strong interest in this case because it raises important questions about direct democracy, a tool often used to advocate for environmental protection, eco-centric laws, and rights of nature. Its outcome implicates the ability of people and communities to advocate for progressive laws that ensure clean and sustainable environments.”

A coalition of 20 Ohio groups, representing 18,750 members (full list of groups below). Their brief reads:

“The organizations represent rural, suburban and urban Ohio and surrounding states. They are experts in grassroots democracy. The protection of the fundamental right to bring peaceful change to their government through legislation created by the people brings them all together. The positive, peaceful change is through direct legislation, that includes initiatives, referendums, charter proposals and charter amendments.”

Move to Amend, a national coalition of over 480,000 individuals and 200 organizations seeking to create real democracy through constitutional reform. Their brief reads:

“Public accountability of elected officials demands a legitimately democratic ballot initiative process.”

Pro bono attorney for ELC Kevin Rivera said, “Ohio’s ballot access scheme imposes a severe burden on petitioners in violation of the First Amendment by allowing review of a proposed initiative’s content before it is even enacted. We hope Earth Law Center’s brief sheds light on the need for a fair initiative process.”

“The initiative process amplifies the people’s voice by giving them a direct role in lawmaking. Many of the plaintiffs in the Beiersdorfer case advanced initiatives with provisions recognizing the inherent rights of nature, notably the Lake Erie Bill of Rights. ELC submits its amicus brief in solidarity with front line visionaries advancing the legal revolution necessary to reverse destructive patterns by writing human’s interconnectedness with the natural world into law,” said Elizabeth Dunne, ELC’s Legal Strategist.

The 20 Ohio groups are: Carroll Concerned Citizens, Cleveland Lead Advocates for Safe Housing, Cleveland Lead Safe Network, Cleveland Solar Cooperative, Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism, Cuyahoga County Progressive Caucus, Death Penalty Action, Environmental Campus Organization Eco, Fact Ohio, Freshwater Accountability Project, Medina County Indivisible, Medina County Together, Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition, Ovec-Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Single Payer Action Network of Ohio, Students for Energy Justice, Unitarian Universalist Justice Ohio, and West Shore Fact – Faith Communities Together For a Sustainable Future.

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund provided support for Plaintiffs in this lawsuit and their ballot initiative drives.

For more information and Plaintiff statements: https://celdf.org/2020/10/censoring-the-ballot/

Amicus briefs are available in the court docket, or upon request.

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) is building a movement for Community Rights and the Rights of Nature to advance democratic, economic, social, and environmental rights – building upward from the grassroots to the state, federal, and international level.

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Oregon Community Rights Organizer Featured in New Documentary ‘THE PEOPLE vs. AGENT ORANGE’

by celdf

Two women, one American and one Vietnamese, fight to hold the chemical industry accountable for a devastating legacy.

 

The award-winning documentary “The People vs. Agent Orange” follows the primary component of the notorious chemical Agent Orange. The film, directed by Kate Taverna and Alan Adelson, follows resistance in the United States, France, and Vietnam, and features Carol Van Strum, an active participant in Rights of Nature organizing in Oregon and lawmaking campaigns in Lincoln County.

The film has been premiering across the nation, including screenings co-sponsored by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. 

Its national premier is on June 28, 2021 on PBS’ Independent Lens.

The inspiring and enraging film follows women-led resistance to the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam war, and its use in Oregon, following the war. The viewer witnesses intimate behind-the-scenes access to grassroots resistance in Oregon and Vietnam and gut-wrenching first-person accounts of sacrifice and resolve.

As part of her activism, Van Strum of Oregon has supported lawmaking efforts in Lincoln County to ban aerial spraying and recognize rights of ecosystems. This work has led her to become the human spokesperson for the Siletz River watershed in active litigation coming out of a challenge to the aerial spray ban Lincoln County enacted in 2017. That law successfully banned aerial pesticide spraying for over two years. 

Van Strum has accomplished a lot while dealing with seismic personal tragedies — one directly connected to her activism and another due to systemic racism. In her book A Bitter Fog, she writes that “it [community rights] is the ticket to overturn the corporate rule of law.”

Her work, alongside Community Rights Lane County, was the subject of an investigation by The Intercept into corporate backlash to rights-based organizing in Oregon.

Film description:

The Agent Orange catastrophe did not end with the war in Vietnam. Today, all over the world, a primary component of that toxic herbicide controls weeds in farming, forestry, parks–even on children’s playgrounds. The chemical wreaks havoc on the human genome, causing deformed births and deadly cancers. After decades of struggle and tragic personal losses, two heroic women are leading a worldwide movement to end the plague and hold the manufacturers accountable.  

In France, Tran To Nga is suing the American chemical industry for poisoning her in Vietnam. In America, Carol Van Strum exposes the continuing use of toxic herbicides. Incriminating documents disappear. Activists are threatened. A helicopter technician secretly films the contamination of reservoirs, while a massive industrial cover-up goes on.

Watch the documentary trailer:

http:// https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JZzZRnvy1c

Organize a screening of “The People vs. Agent Orange” in your community.

Two women, one American and one Vietnamese, fight to hold the chemical industry accountable for a devastating legacy.

 

The award-winning documentary “The People vs. Agent Orange” follows the primary component of the notorious chemical Agent Orange. The film, directed by Kate Taverna and Alan Adelson, follows resistance in the United States, France, and Vietnam, and features Carol Van Strum, an active participant in Rights of Nature organizing in Oregon and lawmaking campaigns in Lincoln County.

The film has been premiering across the nation, including screenings co-sponsored by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. 

Its national premier is on June 28, 2021 on PBS’ Independent Lens.

The inspiring and enraging film follows women-led resistance to the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam war, and its use in Oregon, following the war. The viewer witnesses intimate behind-the-scenes access to grassroots resistance in Oregon and Vietnam and gut-wrenching first-person accounts of sacrifice and resolve.

As part of her activism, Van Strum of Oregon has supported lawmaking efforts in Lincoln County to ban aerial spraying and recognize rights of ecosystems. This work has led her to become the human spokesperson for the Siletz River watershed in active litigation coming out of a challenge to the aerial spray ban Lincoln County enacted in 2017. That law successfully banned aerial pesticide spraying for over two years. 

Van Strum has accomplished a lot while dealing with seismic personal tragedies — one directly connected to her activism and another due to systemic racism. In her book A Bitter Fog, she writes that “it [community rights] is the ticket to overturn the corporate rule of law.”

Her work, alongside Community Rights Lane County, was the subject of an investigation by The Intercept into corporate backlash to rights-based organizing in Oregon.

Film description:

The Agent Orange catastrophe did not end with the war in Vietnam. Today, all over the world, a primary component of that toxic herbicide controls weeds in farming, forestry, parks–even on children’s playgrounds. The chemical wreaks havoc on the human genome, causing deformed births and deadly cancers. After decades of struggle and tragic personal losses, two heroic women are leading a worldwide movement to end the plague and hold the manufacturers accountable.  

In France, Tran To Nga is suing the American chemical industry for poisoning her in Vietnam. In America, Carol Van Strum exposes the continuing use of toxic herbicides. Incriminating documents disappear. Activists are threatened. A helicopter technician secretly films the contamination of reservoirs, while a massive industrial cover-up goes on.

Watch the documentary trailer:

http:// https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JZzZRnvy1c

Organize a screening of “The People vs. Agent Orange” in your community.

Two women, one American and one Vietnamese, fight to hold the chemical industry accountable for a devastating legacy.

 

The award-winning documentary “The People vs. Agent Orange” follows the primary component of the notorious chemical Agent Orange. The film, directed by Kate Taverna and Alan Adelson, follows resistance in the United States, France, and Vietnam, and features Carol Van Strum, an active participant in Rights of Nature organizing in Oregon and lawmaking campaigns in Lincoln County.

The film has been premiering across the nation, including screenings co-sponsored by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. 

Its national premier is on June 28, 2021 on PBS’ Independent Lens.

The inspiring and enraging film follows women-led resistance to the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam war, and its use in Oregon, following the war. The viewer witnesses intimate behind-the-scenes access to grassroots resistance in Oregon and Vietnam and gut-wrenching first-person accounts of sacrifice and resolve.

As part of her activism, Van Strum of Oregon has supported lawmaking efforts in Lincoln County to ban aerial spraying and recognize rights of ecosystems. This work has led her to become the human spokesperson for the Siletz River watershed in active litigation coming out of a challenge to the aerial spray ban Lincoln County enacted in 2017. That law successfully banned aerial pesticide spraying for over two years. 

Van Strum has accomplished a lot while dealing with seismic personal tragedies — one directly connected to her activism and another due to systemic racism. In her book A Bitter Fog, she writes that “it [community rights] is the ticket to overturn the corporate rule of law.”

Her work, alongside Community Rights Lane County, was the subject of an investigation by The Intercept into corporate backlash to rights-based organizing in Oregon.

Film description:

The Agent Orange catastrophe did not end with the war in Vietnam. Today, all over the world, a primary component of that toxic herbicide controls weeds in farming, forestry, parks–even on children’s playgrounds. The chemical wreaks havoc on the human genome, causing deformed births and deadly cancers. After decades of struggle and tragic personal losses, two heroic women are leading a worldwide movement to end the plague and hold the manufacturers accountable.  

In France, Tran To Nga is suing the American chemical industry for poisoning her in Vietnam. In America, Carol Van Strum exposes the continuing use of toxic herbicides. Incriminating documents disappear. Activists are threatened. A helicopter technician secretly films the contamination of reservoirs, while a massive industrial cover-up goes on.

Watch the documentary trailer:

http:// https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JZzZRnvy1c

Organize a screening of “The People vs. Agent Orange” in your community.

Two women, one American and one Vietnamese, fight to hold the chemical industry accountable for a devastating legacy.

 

The award-winning documentary “The People vs. Agent Orange” follows the primary component of the notorious chemical Agent Orange. The film, directed by Kate Taverna and Alan Adelson, follows resistance in the United States, France, and Vietnam, and features Carol Van Strum, an active participant in Rights of Nature organizing in Oregon and lawmaking campaigns in Lincoln County.

The film has been premiering across the nation, including screenings co-sponsored by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. 

Its national premier is on June 28, 2021 on PBS’ Independent Lens.

The inspiring and enraging film follows women-led resistance to the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam war, and its use in Oregon, following the war. The viewer witnesses intimate behind-the-scenes access to grassroots resistance in Oregon and Vietnam and gut-wrenching first-person accounts of sacrifice and resolve.

As part of her activism, Van Strum of Oregon has supported lawmaking efforts in Lincoln County to ban aerial spraying and recognize rights of ecosystems. This work has led her to become the human spokesperson for the Siletz River watershed in active litigation coming out of a challenge to the aerial spray ban Lincoln County enacted in 2017. That law successfully banned aerial pesticide spraying for over two years. 

Van Strum has accomplished a lot while dealing with seismic personal tragedies — one directly connected to her activism and another due to systemic racism. In her book A Bitter Fog, she writes that “it [community rights] is the ticket to overturn the corporate rule of law.”

Her work, alongside Community Rights Lane County, was the subject of an investigation by The Intercept into corporate backlash to rights-based organizing in Oregon.

Film description:

The Agent Orange catastrophe did not end with the war in Vietnam. Today, all over the world, a primary component of that toxic herbicide controls weeds in farming, forestry, parks–even on children’s playgrounds. The chemical wreaks havoc on the human genome, causing deformed births and deadly cancers. After decades of struggle and tragic personal losses, two heroic women are leading a worldwide movement to end the plague and hold the manufacturers accountable.  

In France, Tran To Nga is suing the American chemical industry for poisoning her in Vietnam. In America, Carol Van Strum exposes the continuing use of toxic herbicides. Incriminating documents disappear. Activists are threatened. A helicopter technician secretly films the contamination of reservoirs, while a massive industrial cover-up goes on.

Watch the documentary trailer:

http:// https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JZzZRnvy1c

Organize a screening of “The People vs. Agent Orange” in your community.

Two women, one American and one Vietnamese, fight to hold the chemical industry accountable for a devastating legacy.

 

The award-winning documentary “The People vs. Agent Orange” follows the primary component of the notorious chemical Agent Orange. The film, directed by Kate Taverna and Alan Adelson, follows resistance in the United States, France, and Vietnam, and features Carol Van Strum, an active participant in Rights of Nature organizing in Oregon and lawmaking campaigns in Lincoln County.

The film has been premiering across the nation, including screenings co-sponsored by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. 

Its national premier is on June 28, 2021 on PBS’ Independent Lens.

The inspiring and enraging film follows women-led resistance to the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam war, and its use in Oregon, following the war. The viewer witnesses intimate behind-the-scenes access to grassroots resistance in Oregon and Vietnam and gut-wrenching first-person accounts of sacrifice and resolve.

As part of her activism, Van Strum of Oregon has supported lawmaking efforts in Lincoln County to ban aerial spraying and recognize rights of ecosystems. This work has led her to become the human spokesperson for the Siletz River watershed in active litigation coming out of a challenge to the aerial spray ban Lincoln County enacted in 2017. That law successfully banned aerial pesticide spraying for over two years. 

Van Strum has accomplished a lot while dealing with seismic personal tragedies — one directly connected to her activism and another due to systemic racism. In her book A Bitter Fog, she writes that “it [community rights] is the ticket to overturn the corporate rule of law.”

Her work, alongside Community Rights Lane County, was the subject of an investigation by The Intercept into corporate backlash to rights-based organizing in Oregon.

Film description:

The Agent Orange catastrophe did not end with the war in Vietnam. Today, all over the world, a primary component of that toxic herbicide controls weeds in farming, forestry, parks–even on children’s playgrounds. The chemical wreaks havoc on the human genome, causing deformed births and deadly cancers. After decades of struggle and tragic personal losses, two heroic women are leading a worldwide movement to end the plague and hold the manufacturers accountable.  

In France, Tran To Nga is suing the American chemical industry for poisoning her in Vietnam. In America, Carol Van Strum exposes the continuing use of toxic herbicides. Incriminating documents disappear. Activists are threatened. A helicopter technician secretly films the contamination of reservoirs, while a massive industrial cover-up goes on.

Watch the documentary trailer:

http:// https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JZzZRnvy1c

Organize a screening of “The People vs. Agent Orange” in your community.

Two women, one American and one Vietnamese, fight to hold the chemical industry accountable for a devastating legacy.

 

The award-winning documentary “The People vs. Agent Orange” follows the primary component of the notorious chemical Agent Orange. The film, directed by Kate Taverna and Alan Adelson, follows resistance in the United States, France, and Vietnam, and features Carol Van Strum, an active participant in Rights of Nature organizing in Oregon and lawmaking campaigns in Lincoln County.

The film has been premiering across the nation, including screenings co-sponsored by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. 

Its national premier is on June 28, 2021 on PBS’ Independent Lens.

The inspiring and enraging film follows women-led resistance to the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam war, and its use in Oregon, following the war. The viewer witnesses intimate behind-the-scenes access to grassroots resistance in Oregon and Vietnam and gut-wrenching first-person accounts of sacrifice and resolve.

As part of her activism, Van Strum of Oregon has supported lawmaking efforts in Lincoln County to ban aerial spraying and recognize rights of ecosystems. This work has led her to become the human spokesperson for the Siletz River watershed in active litigation coming out of a challenge to the aerial spray ban Lincoln County enacted in 2017. That law successfully banned aerial pesticide spraying for over two years. 

Van Strum has accomplished a lot while dealing with seismic personal tragedies — one directly connected to her activism and another due to systemic racism. In her book A Bitter Fog, she writes that “it [community rights] is the ticket to overturn the corporate rule of law.”

Her work, alongside Community Rights Lane County, was the subject of an investigation by The Intercept into corporate backlash to rights-based organizing in Oregon.

Film description:

The Agent Orange catastrophe did not end with the war in Vietnam. Today, all over the world, a primary component of that toxic herbicide controls weeds in farming, forestry, parks–even on children’s playgrounds. The chemical wreaks havoc on the human genome, causing deformed births and deadly cancers. After decades of struggle and tragic personal losses, two heroic women are leading a worldwide movement to end the plague and hold the manufacturers accountable.  

In France, Tran To Nga is suing the American chemical industry for poisoning her in Vietnam. In America, Carol Van Strum exposes the continuing use of toxic herbicides. Incriminating documents disappear. Activists are threatened. A helicopter technician secretly films the contamination of reservoirs, while a massive industrial cover-up goes on.

Watch the documentary trailer:

http:// https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JZzZRnvy1c

Organize a screening of “The People vs. Agent Orange” in your community.

Module 3: Nature’s Rebellion Against the Corporate State

by celdf

Module three: Decolonizing Nature – a Movement’s Voice in the Rebellion

Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 6:30 pm EST.

For decades Lake Erie has had a reputation as a “dead lake.” It’s time for that to change.

In 2014 nearly 500,000 people lost their water in and around Toledo, Ohio due to a harmful bloom of toxic algae. In 2019, Lake Erie became the first ecosystem in the nation to have it’s right to exist, flourish, and thrive recognized in law – the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR). The law has since been stifled by corporate opposition and state preemption, but these actions only reinforce that LEBOR posed a real threat to the status quo.

Join us for this final installment of a three part webinar series. In parts 1 and 2 we looked at a Community’s and a Great Lake’s rebellion against a system that allows both to be harmed. In this webinar we will broaden out the strategy of Rights of Nature as a global movement for systemic change. In order to profoundly change our relationship with Nature we must decolonize the law. Rights of Nature is rooted in Indigenous knowledge and must be expanded into western law and culture. Join us for an open discussion with CELDF legal professionals on decolonizing law, culture, and our relationship with Nature. 

This is a three part series – please register for each module separately. 

Module 1: A Community’s Voice in the Rebellion: Impacts on Nature and Community
Thursday, September. 3 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch Module One. 

Module 2:  A Lake’s Voice in the Rebellion: Violating the Rights of Lake Erie
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch Module Two.

Module 3: A Movement’s Voice in the Rebellion: Growing a Rights of Nature Movement
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch Below! 

Speakers


Kira Kelley is the chair of the Vermont National Lawyers Guild and a contract attorney with CELDF. As an anarchist and an abolitionist, Kira’s life’s work is to render the legal profession obsolete.

 

 

Lindsey Schromen-Wawrinis an attorney in Washington State, in Klallam Territory (nəxʷsƛ̕áy̕əm̕), where he also serves as a city councilmember. He has represented the Little Mahoning Watershed, Crystal Spring Ecosystem, and Lake Erie Ecosystem, and published on rights of nature in Representing Ecosystems in Court: An Introduction for Practitioners, 31 Tulane Envtl. L.J. 279 (2018); Nature’s Rights through Lawmaking in the United States, in La Follette & Maser (Eds.), Sustainability and the Rights of Nature in Practise (CRC Press 2019); and a forthcoming law textbook on earth law by Wolters Kluwer. He graduated from Oberlin College, and from Gonzaga University School of Law with highest honors and pro bono distinction.

Will Falk is a biophilic writer and lawyer. He believes the intensifying destruction of the natural world is the most pressing issue confronting us today. His first book How Dams Fall describing his relationship with the Colorado River and his involvement in the first-ever federal lawsuit seeking rights for a major ecosystem was published by HomeBound Publications in 2019. He is currently traveling through the Ohio River basin writing a book tentatively titled, The Ohio River Speaks. You can follow his journey at TheOhioRiverSpeaks.org.

Karen Hoffmann is an attorney at Syrena Law in Philadelphia. Since 2017, she has worked with CELDF to represent communities across Pennsylvania fighting to protect their environment by advancing rights of nature. She also practices immigration law, and received the 2019 Pro Bono Award from the U.S. District Court for N.D. Illinois for litigation to reunite separated families. She believes the wrong ICE is melting.

Module three: Decolonizing Nature – a Movement’s Voice in the Rebellion

Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 6:30 pm EST.

For decades Lake Erie has had a reputation as a “dead lake.” It’s time for that to change.

In 2014 nearly 500,000 people lost their water in and around Toledo, Ohio due to a harmful bloom of toxic algae. In 2019, Lake Erie became the first ecosystem in the nation to have it’s right to exist, flourish, and thrive recognized in law – the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR). The law has since been stifled by corporate opposition and state preemption, but these actions only reinforce that LEBOR posed a real threat to the status quo.

Join us for this final installment of a three part webinar series. In parts 1 and 2 we looked at a Community’s and a Great Lake’s rebellion against a system that allows both to be harmed. In this webinar we will broaden out the strategy of Rights of Nature as a global movement for systemic change. In order to profoundly change our relationship with Nature we must decolonize the law. Rights of Nature is rooted in Indigenous knowledge and must be expanded into western law and culture. Join us for an open discussion with CELDF legal professionals on decolonizing law, culture, and our relationship with Nature. 

This is a three part series – please register for each module separately. 

Module 1: A Community’s Voice in the Rebellion: Impacts on Nature and Community
Thursday, September. 3 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch Module One. 

Module 2:  A Lake’s Voice in the Rebellion: Violating the Rights of Lake Erie
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch Module Two.

Module 3: A Movement’s Voice in the Rebellion: Growing a Rights of Nature Movement
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch Below! 

Speakers


Kira Kelley is the chair of the Vermont National Lawyers Guild and a contract attorney with CELDF. As an anarchist and an abolitionist, Kira’s life’s work is to render the legal profession obsolete.

 

 

Lindsey Schromen-Wawrinis an attorney in Washington State, in Klallam Territory (nəxʷsƛ̕áy̕əm̕), where he also serves as a city councilmember. He has represented the Little Mahoning Watershed, Crystal Spring Ecosystem, and Lake Erie Ecosystem, and published on rights of nature in Representing Ecosystems in Court: An Introduction for Practitioners, 31 Tulane Envtl. L.J. 279 (2018); Nature’s Rights through Lawmaking in the United States, in La Follette & Maser (Eds.), Sustainability and the Rights of Nature in Practise (CRC Press 2019); and a forthcoming law textbook on earth law by Wolters Kluwer. He graduated from Oberlin College, and from Gonzaga University School of Law with highest honors and pro bono distinction.

Will Falk is a biophilic writer and lawyer. He believes the intensifying destruction of the natural world is the most pressing issue confronting us today. His first book How Dams Fall describing his relationship with the Colorado River and his involvement in the first-ever federal lawsuit seeking rights for a major ecosystem was published by HomeBound Publications in 2019. He is currently traveling through the Ohio River basin writing a book tentatively titled, The Ohio River Speaks. You can follow his journey at TheOhioRiverSpeaks.org.

Karen Hoffmann is an attorney at Syrena Law in Philadelphia. Since 2017, she has worked with CELDF to represent communities across Pennsylvania fighting to protect their environment by advancing rights of nature. She also practices immigration law, and received the 2019 Pro Bono Award from the U.S. District Court for N.D. Illinois for litigation to reunite separated families. She believes the wrong ICE is melting.

Module 2: Nature’s Rebellion Against the Corporate State

by celdf

Module two: A Lake’s voice in the rebellion

Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 6:30 pm EST.

For decades Lake Erie has had a reputation as a “dead lake.” It’s time for that to change.

In 2014 nearly 500,000 people lost their water in and around Toledo, Ohio due to a harmful bloom of toxic algae. In 2019, Lake Erie became the first ecosystem in the nation to have it’s right to exist, flourish, and thrive recognized in law – the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR). The law has since been stifled by corporate opposition and state preemption, but these actions only reinforce that LEBOR posed a real threat to the status quo.

Join us for this second installment of a three part webinar series. Industrial agriculture isn’t the only assault on Lake Erie. In this segment we will take a closer look at the many threats that harm Lake Erie and the communities she supports. Too often, the impacts of these harms are disproportionately felt across a community. We’ve got three legal professionals representing the voice of Lake Erie – sharing their knowledge on the harmful impacts of fracking “brine”,  renewable energy and how both the pollution and the system create ecological as well as social justice issues for communities. Activities that impact the ecosystem as a whole may call for a more unique approach to finding a solution. Is our energy best spent on tackling single issues? We’ll  look at these issues from a systems perspective. 

This is a three part series – please register for each module separately. Below is the registration for our first module.

Module 1: A Community’s Voice in the Rebellion: Impacts on Nature and Community 
Thursday, September. 3 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch Module One. 

Module 2:  A Lake’s Voice in the Rebellion: Violating the Rights of Lake Erie
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch the recording below. 

Module 3: A Movement’s Voice in the Rebellion: Growing a Rights of Nature Movement
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch here. 

Speakers

Taru Taylor went to law school to learn all about how We the People are the first branch of government, that as jurors and electors we check and balance the other three branches of government. Actually, he learned most of this popular-sovereignty and  social-contract stuff on his own. But now he has a fancy law degree to show for all the lies of omission his law professors told him.

 

 

 

 

Heather Kuhn lives in Buffalo, NY, and is currently attending the University of Buffalo School of Law. Heather has had a passion for environmental and social justice. Heather has worked with other community members on multiple issues in Buffalo, ranging from labeling genetically modified food, organizing food cooperatives to incorporate local businesses and ideas, and banning hydraulic-fracturing in New York. She is currently networking with people in the Western New York area to protect Lake Erie from corporations who want to install wind turbines to export energy and resources from the Western New York region to downstate New York, NY. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Community and Human Services. She then received her Post-Bachelor’s Paralegal certificate and worked as an intern with the Reddy Law Firm working on civil rights litigation. She then went on to work at Neighborhood Legal Services as a paralegal and worked to help people with Public Benefits issues, homeless issues requiring placement in homeless shelters, and she also helped people with supplemental security income appeals.

 

Terry Lodge is an Ohio trial lawyer living in Toledo who has represented many clients in civil rights, civil liberties, and environmental cases. An advocate for the public interest in energy policy issues, he has litigated nuclear power safety and environmental issues for over 40 years. He has also represented opponents of nuclear weapons and mountaintop removal mining. More recently he has also been working with the nonprofit Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund assisting and defending communities fighting for local self governance and rights of nature. He believes the return to democratic roots is essential to resist climate chaos and be an equitable society

Module two: A Lake’s voice in the rebellion

Wednesday, Sept. 9 at 6:30 pm EST.

For decades Lake Erie has had a reputation as a “dead lake.” It’s time for that to change.

In 2014 nearly 500,000 people lost their water in and around Toledo, Ohio due to a harmful bloom of toxic algae. In 2019, Lake Erie became the first ecosystem in the nation to have it’s right to exist, flourish, and thrive recognized in law – the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR). The law has since been stifled by corporate opposition and state preemption, but these actions only reinforce that LEBOR posed a real threat to the status quo.

Join us for this second installment of a three part webinar series. Industrial agriculture isn’t the only assault on Lake Erie. In this segment we will take a closer look at the many threats that harm Lake Erie and the communities she supports. Too often, the impacts of these harms are disproportionately felt across a community. We’ve got three legal professionals representing the voice of Lake Erie – sharing their knowledge on the harmful impacts of fracking “brine”,  renewable energy and how both the pollution and the system create ecological as well as social justice issues for communities. Activities that impact the ecosystem as a whole may call for a more unique approach to finding a solution. Is our energy best spent on tackling single issues? We’ll  look at these issues from a systems perspective. 

This is a three part series – please register for each module separately. Below is the registration for our first module.

Module 1: A Community’s Voice in the Rebellion: Impacts on Nature and Community 
Thursday, September. 3 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch Module One. 

Module 2:  A Lake’s Voice in the Rebellion: Violating the Rights of Lake Erie
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch the recording below. 

Module 3: A Movement’s Voice in the Rebellion: Growing a Rights of Nature Movement
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch here. 

Speakers

Taru Taylor went to law school to learn all about how We the People are the first branch of government, that as jurors and electors we check and balance the other three branches of government. Actually, he learned most of this popular-sovereignty and  social-contract stuff on his own. But now he has a fancy law degree to show for all the lies of omission his law professors told him.

 

 

 

 

Heather Kuhn lives in Buffalo, NY, and is currently attending the University of Buffalo School of Law. Heather has had a passion for environmental and social justice. Heather has worked with other community members on multiple issues in Buffalo, ranging from labeling genetically modified food, organizing food cooperatives to incorporate local businesses and ideas, and banning hydraulic-fracturing in New York. She is currently networking with people in the Western New York area to protect Lake Erie from corporations who want to install wind turbines to export energy and resources from the Western New York region to downstate New York, NY. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Community and Human Services. She then received her Post-Bachelor’s Paralegal certificate and worked as an intern with the Reddy Law Firm working on civil rights litigation. She then went on to work at Neighborhood Legal Services as a paralegal and worked to help people with Public Benefits issues, homeless issues requiring placement in homeless shelters, and she also helped people with supplemental security income appeals.

 

Terry Lodge is an Ohio trial lawyer living in Toledo who has represented many clients in civil rights, civil liberties, and environmental cases. An advocate for the public interest in energy policy issues, he has litigated nuclear power safety and environmental issues for over 40 years. He has also represented opponents of nuclear weapons and mountaintop removal mining. More recently he has also been working with the nonprofit Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund assisting and defending communities fighting for local self governance and rights of nature. He believes the return to democratic roots is essential to resist climate chaos and be an equitable society

Webinar: Nature’s Rebellion Against the Corporate State

by celdf

Module one: A Community’s voice in the rebellion

Thursday, Sept. 3 at 6:30 pm EST.

For decades Lake Erie has had a reputation as a “dead lake.” It’s time for that to change.

In 2014 nearly 500,000 people lost their water in and around Toledo, Ohio due to a harmful bloom of toxic algae. In 2019, Lake Erie became the first ecosystem in the nation to have it’s right to exist, flourish, and thrive recognized in law – the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR). The law has since been stifled by corporate opposition and state preemption, but these actions only reinforce that LEBOR posed a real threat to the status quo.

Join us for this first installment of a three part webinar series. In this segment we will frame a local region’s single issue  problem in Northwest Ohio and take a look at how corporate agriculture impacts the water quality of the western Lake Erie Basin and how this in turn affects all the residents of the region. These ecological impacts translate back into the community in the form of water affordability issues, expensive treatment upgrades, health impacts and water shut offs. Finally, we’ll take a look at how Toledoans responded to the water crisis by asserting their right to local self-governance as they drove the Rights of Nature into law.

This is a three part series – please register for each module separately. Below is the registration for our first module.

Module 1: A Community’s Voice in the Rebellion: Impacts on Nature and Community 
Thursday, September. 3 at 6:30 pm EST. See the Recording posted below!  

Module 2:  A Lake’s Voice in the Rebellion: Violating the Rights of Lake Erie
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch Here. 

Module 3: A Movement’s Voice in the Rebellion: Growing a Rights of Nature Movement
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch Here.

Speakers

Sherry Fleming lives on a small homestead in rural NW Ohio. Over 20 years ago, Sherry and other members of the community found themselves organizing to protect themselves and the environment from the impacts of factory farms. Since that time, she has worked at the state and local level on issues involving environmental justice, local food networks, water quality, industrial scale agricultural and fracking. Sherry co-founded the local citizen group, the Williams County Alliance. In 2019, the Alliance worked to place a community rights-based citizen initiative on the ballot to prevent privatization of the county’s only source of water, the Michindoh aquifer. Sherry currently serves as chair of the Williams County Alliance, board member for the Ohio Community Rights Network and coordinator for the Bryan Co-op.

Alexis Smith started as a part-time intern for Freshwater Future in June of 2019. She helped launch and test Freshwater Future’s storm-water tracking app, assisted with organizing and managing databases, and engaging Toledo community youth in water education and activities.  Prior to her work for Freshwater Future, Alexis worked 18 months in the spine orthopedics industry at Life Spine Inc. as a project engineer intern while completing her undergraduate studies at the University of Toledo. She later graduated with a B.S. in Bioengeering in May 2019. She currently works for Freshwater Future full-time continuing her work with the storm-water app, youth and community engagement, as well as supporting Freshwater Future in all of its technology needs.

Alicia Smith manages the Great Lakes Network and guides Freshwater Future’s engagement in state and federal policy. In Alicia’s most recent position she served as the Executive Director of Youth Commission and Manager of Youth and Recreation for the City of Toledo. She is the founder of a Toledo, Ohio community organization, Junction Coalition, that started as an opportunity to help the community help themselves through partnering with others to address social, economic, and environmental issues and improve the community’s quality of life.  Alicia’s doctoral studies at the University of Toledo focus on the educational development of youth of color within low socioeconomic and disenfranchised communities. She acquired a Bachelor of Arts in education and counseling, as well as a Master of Arts in criminal justice and juvenile law from the University of Toledo.

Markie Miller is a member of the CELDF communication team. In 2014, nearly 500,000 people in and around her community of Toledo, Ohio lost access to clean and safe drinking water for three days due to a toxic algal bloom in the Western Basin of Lake Erie. This crisis was the catalyst for her work and passion for the Rights of Nature and Community Rights Movements. She quickly became a lead organizer and spokesperson for Toledoans for Safe Water – a grassroots citizens group in Toledo. She played a crucial role in drafting, petitioning, and eventually passing the Lake Erie Bill of Rights – a local law recognizing the legal right of Lake Erie to exist, flourish and thrive. Markie is a volunteer board member of the Ohio and National Community Rights Networks – working to advance the right to local self-governance and the rights of nature at the state and federal level.

Module one: A Community’s voice in the rebellion

Thursday, Sept. 3 at 6:30 pm EST.

For decades Lake Erie has had a reputation as a “dead lake.” It’s time for that to change.

In 2014 nearly 500,000 people lost their water in and around Toledo, Ohio due to a harmful bloom of toxic algae. In 2019, Lake Erie became the first ecosystem in the nation to have it’s right to exist, flourish, and thrive recognized in law – the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR). The law has since been stifled by corporate opposition and state preemption, but these actions only reinforce that LEBOR posed a real threat to the status quo.

Join us for this first installment of a three part webinar series. In this segment we will frame a local region’s single issue  problem in Northwest Ohio and take a look at how corporate agriculture impacts the water quality of the western Lake Erie Basin and how this in turn affects all the residents of the region. These ecological impacts translate back into the community in the form of water affordability issues, expensive treatment upgrades, health impacts and water shut offs. Finally, we’ll take a look at how Toledoans responded to the water crisis by asserting their right to local self-governance as they drove the Rights of Nature into law.

This is a three part series – please register for each module separately. Below is the registration for our first module.

Module 1: A Community’s Voice in the Rebellion: Impacts on Nature and Community 
Thursday, September. 3 at 6:30 pm EST. See the Recording posted below!  

Module 2:  A Lake’s Voice in the Rebellion: Violating the Rights of Lake Erie
Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch Here. 

Module 3: A Movement’s Voice in the Rebellion: Growing a Rights of Nature Movement
Tuesday, September 29, 2020 at 6:30 pm EST. Watch Here.

Speakers

Sherry Fleming lives on a small homestead in rural NW Ohio. Over 20 years ago, Sherry and other members of the community found themselves organizing to protect themselves and the environment from the impacts of factory farms. Since that time, she has worked at the state and local level on issues involving environmental justice, local food networks, water quality, industrial scale agricultural and fracking. Sherry co-founded the local citizen group, the Williams County Alliance. In 2019, the Alliance worked to place a community rights-based citizen initiative on the ballot to prevent privatization of the county’s only source of water, the Michindoh aquifer. Sherry currently serves as chair of the Williams County Alliance, board member for the Ohio Community Rights Network and coordinator for the Bryan Co-op.

Alexis Smith started as a part-time intern for Freshwater Future in June of 2019. She helped launch and test Freshwater Future’s storm-water tracking app, assisted with organizing and managing databases, and engaging Toledo community youth in water education and activities.  Prior to her work for Freshwater Future, Alexis worked 18 months in the spine orthopedics industry at Life Spine Inc. as a project engineer intern while completing her undergraduate studies at the University of Toledo. She later graduated with a B.S. in Bioengeering in May 2019. She currently works for Freshwater Future full-time continuing her work with the storm-water app, youth and community engagement, as well as supporting Freshwater Future in all of its technology needs.

Alicia Smith manages the Great Lakes Network and guides Freshwater Future’s engagement in state and federal policy. In Alicia’s most recent position she served as the Executive Director of Youth Commission and Manager of Youth and Recreation for the City of Toledo. She is the founder of a Toledo, Ohio community organization, Junction Coalition, that started as an opportunity to help the community help themselves through partnering with others to address social, economic, and environmental issues and improve the community’s quality of life.  Alicia’s doctoral studies at the University of Toledo focus on the educational development of youth of color within low socioeconomic and disenfranchised communities. She acquired a Bachelor of Arts in education and counseling, as well as a Master of Arts in criminal justice and juvenile law from the University of Toledo.

Markie Miller is a member of the CELDF communication team. In 2014, nearly 500,000 people in and around her community of Toledo, Ohio lost access to clean and safe drinking water for three days due to a toxic algal bloom in the Western Basin of Lake Erie. This crisis was the catalyst for her work and passion for the Rights of Nature and Community Rights Movements. She quickly became a lead organizer and spokesperson for Toledoans for Safe Water – a grassroots citizens group in Toledo. She played a crucial role in drafting, petitioning, and eventually passing the Lake Erie Bill of Rights – a local law recognizing the legal right of Lake Erie to exist, flourish and thrive. Markie is a volunteer board member of the Ohio and National Community Rights Networks – working to advance the right to local self-governance and the rights of nature at the state and federal level.

Staying Home with Josh Fox: Preemption and Property Rights

by Outside Publication

CELDF National Organizing Director, Ben Price, discusses preemption and the current legal framework that obstructs local democracy and the advancement of the Rights of Nature.

https://www.facebook.com/gaslandmovie/videos/1125964571109736/

CELDF National Organizing Director, Ben Price, discusses preemption and the current legal framework that obstructs local democracy and the advancement of the Rights of Nature.

https://www.facebook.com/gaslandmovie/videos/1125964571109736/

Media Release: Rights of Michindoh Aquifer Encounter First Hurdle

by celdf

Updated July 12, 2019

Board of Elections refuses to certify signatures, deems county charter unconstitutional

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Tish O’Dell, Ohio Community Organizer
CELDF.org
tish@celdf.org
440-552-6774

BRYAN, OH: On Monday, the Williams County Board of Elections (BOE) attempted to block a proposed county charter initiative brought forward by residents seeking to protect the Michindoh Aquifer from privatization. The initiative recognizes the rights of the aquifer to exist and flourish. The BOE was responsible for verifying signatures and forwarding the initiative to county commissioners. Instead, they determined the initiative was unconstitutional. Petitioners gathered 2,077 valid signatures, well more than the required 1,364.

Williams County residents are threatened by the private company Artesian of Pioneer’s (AOP) proposed withdrawal and sale of millions of gallons of water daily, to outside municipalities and whoever else might want to purchase it. The Michindoh Aquifer spans nine counties across Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. It is Williams County’s only drinking water source. AOP is owned by a local mayor.

The BOE’s action is part of increasing attempts to quash Rights of Nature laws that are gaining momentum across Ohio and other states. Most recently, Toledo residents adopted the Lake Erie Bill of Rights in an effort to protect the Great Lake from pollution. An agribusiness corporation, backed by the Ohio Farm Bureau, and joined by the State of Ohio immediately filed suit to overturn LEBOR. That case is ongoing.

Sherry Fleming of Williams County Alliance (WCA), the local group behind the initiative, stated, “The BOE is responsible for certifying the signatures – not acting as judge to determine the constitutionality of a charter that has not even been enacted. This is beyond their authority. We, the people of Williams County are concerned about protecting our future – our land, water and community. This collusion between the BOE, corporations and our own purported government is clear, but it is not just, and we will not allow our essential drinking water to be privatized for profit.”

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) assisted WCA in drafting the charter. CELDF Ohio organizer Tish O’Dell stated, “The BOE chose to act outside their duties to prevent the initiative from going to the people for a vote. Stripping democratic rights is a dangerous trend we see across the state and the country. The people of Williams County will not give up so easily as our governing system tries to stop them from protecting themselves.”

CELDF filed a federal civil rights lawsuit last winter on behalf of seven Ohio communities who have been blocked from the ballot despite successfully qualifying similar initiatives.

The Williams County residents have requested the BOE initiate a lawsuit in the court of common pleas. The court must rule prior to 4:00 PM next Wednesday in order to give the county commissioners time to meet their required deadline per the Ohio Revised Code.

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) is building a movement for Community Rights and the Rights of Nature to advance democratic, economic, social, and environmental rights – building upward from the grassroots to the state, federal, and international level.

###

Press Release: Major Developments for Lake Erie Bill of Rights

by celdf

Updated July 24, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Tish O’Dell, Ohio Community Organizer
CELDF.org
tish@celdf.org
440-552-6774

A pending state ban on Rights of Nature. Anonymous legislators. A lawsuit to enforce the lake’s rights. A new county petition…

COLUMBUS, OH:  The Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR) made history when 61 percent of Toledo, Ohio, voters approved the groundbreaking law to establish legally enforceable rights for the 11th largest lake on Earth. Gaining national and international acclaim, it has helped accelerate a Rights of Nature movement that has seen other significant developments in Bangladesh, El Salvador, Mexico, New Hampshire,  White Earth Band (Minnesota), Yurok tribe (California), and elsewhere in 2019.

However, LEBOR faces significant obstacles and backlash in Ohio. A corporate lawsuit has been filed to overturn the law, which the State of Ohio is supporting, and the law faces a legislative attack by anonymous Ohio legislator(s).

But residents are not backing down. The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) has been assisting these communities on the ground and in the courtroom.

In the past week: 

Meanwhile:

Lake Erie news:

“By attempting to ban Rights of Nature enforcement, the state has delegitimized itself,” says CELDF’s Ohio organizer, Tish O’Dell. “The people of Toledo have exposed the truth. No one is protecting the Lake.”

“We are celebrating July 4th this week,” O’Dell continued. “This time 243 years ago, ordinary people making up communities across the colonies took action because they lived under a government that represented its own interests and the interests of its corporate allies, ignoring the needs and wants of the people. And so it is today. As those fireworks explode, I hope people think of the people in Toledo, Ohio who are challenging this system. They worked tirelessly and without pay to assert the ideals and beliefs of local self-governance. The people of Toledo, and nearly 200 other communities across the country, have had enough and are challenging this system.”

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) is building a movement for Community Rights and the Rights of Nature to advance democratic, economic, social, and environmental rights – building upward from the grassroots to the state, federal, and international level.

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