Two activists are involved in grass-roots campaigns ... pushing [for] what’s called limited home rule in Ohio townships and a community bill of rights in…
Press Release: Washington Communities Launch Statewide Network To Advocate for Community Rights
SPOKANE: In late July, citizens from Washington communities gathered in Spokane to launch the Washington Community Rights Network (WCRN). Network members released The Spokane Declaration,…
Akron Beacon Journal: Home rule battle moves into Mahoning County
The home rule fight over natural gas drilling has come to Ohio.
Alliance for Sustainable Communities: The Importance of Being Radical
As an activist in Easton, there is one crucial challenge I have encountered in trying to engage residents in any cause, regardless of the issue.…
CELDF Press Release: Las Vegas, New Mexico, Adopts Community Bill of Rights; Bans Corporations from Fracking for Shale Gas
In front of a standing-room only crowd of residents, by a vote of 3-1, the City Council, Las Vegas, New Mexico enacted the Las Vegas…
Las Vegas Optic: Anti-fracking law adopted
The Las Vegas, NM, City Council adopted a Community Bill of Rights ordinance establishing rights to clean water and to local self-government, banning fracking as…
Las Vegas Optic: Support for city’s ‘rights’ ordinance
Community members in Las Vegas, NM, urge support for their Las Vegas Community Bill of Rights and Local Self-Government Ordinance, which bans fracking.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Op/Ed by CELDF’s Ben Price – Fracking spurs a municipal mutiny in Pennsylvania
Not content to leave Pennsylvania communities with any control over gas drilling within their borders, state legislators have stripped municipalities of their zoning authority under…
Santa Monica Patch: Council Moves Toward Making ‘Green’ Goals Mandatory
Santa Monica City Council members unanimously passed a resolution backing a bill of rights for the environment, which would give legal standing to city officials…

The Best Government the 1% Can Buy
Is Reversing Citizens United or Corporate Personhood Enough?
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Who knows best: On drilling, Republicans sell out on local control
Republicans often say they are advocates of local control, repeating bromides such as "the people know better than the politicians or bureaucrats." But not when…
Turning Occupation into Lasting Change
If the Occupy movement is to succeed over time, it must follow the lead of community rights building efforts that have begun work to dismantle…
Wired: Giving Nature Its Own Rights Might Avert Future Oil Disasters
Considering the rights of ecosystems dates to 1972 with Christopher Stone, and has evolved today to local laws establishing Rights of Nature as a means…
State Bar to Propose Reforms
The Pennsylvania Bar Association joined the fray last week by announcing the formation of a review commission to offer recommendations on what sort of constitutional…
Constitutional changes not imminent prospect
The Pennsylvania Bar Association joined the fray last week by announcing the formation of a review commission to offer recommendations on what sort of constitutional…
Press Release: Laying the Groundwork for a People’s Constitutional Convention Pennsylvania Community Rights Network Launched
To organize a people’s convention of delegates, representing municipal communities, who will propose constitutional changes to secure the inalienable right to local, community self-government free…

The New York Times: Ecuador Constitution Grants Rights to Nature
Ecuador makes history with the people's adoption of a new Constitution recognizing the Rights of Nature to exist and flourish.
Los Angeles Times: Ecology in Ecuador
Ecuador citizens are poised to vote on the adoption of the world's first Constitution recognizing the Rights of Nature.

Yes! Magazine: Communities Take Power: The Citizens of Barnstead, New Hampshire, Used Local Law to Keep Corporate Giants Out of Their Water
Barnstead, NH, residents use community rights to make governing decisions and protect their water from corporations.
Barnstead & Nottingham, NH, Live Up To Their State Constitution
The story of how two communities changed their thinking and their strategies, and became the first to adopt rights-based ordinances banning water privatization.
CELDF on the Radio
"Democracy Matters" Podcast for the week of Dec 13: A Debate on WikiLeaks, and featuring Part II of our interview with Professor Christopher Stone, author…