Search Results for: rights of nature
In emails, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce says undermining Rights of Nature “is essential to what we’re trying to accomplish.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Tish O’Dell, Ohio Community Organizer
CELDF.org
tish@celdf.org
440-552-6774
COLUMBUS, OH: In April 2019, Zachary Frymier, Director of Energy and Environmental Policy for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, reached out to an Ohio state representative with concerns about the Lake Erie Bill of Rights. The groundbreaking local initiative was proposed and adopted by Toledo, Ohio, voters two months earlier, recognizing residents’ rights to a clean and healthy environment and the rights of Lake Erie to exist, flourish, and evolve, while banning harmful corporate activities as violations of those rights.
“We have some language that we’d request be considered for the budget,” Frymier wrote. Language stating that ecosystems and nature “do not have [legal] standing,” he wrote, “is essential to what we’re trying to accomplish. If we could get that added I would be very grateful.” The language was added to an unrelated biennial budget bill and passed into law by the Ohio General Assembly, and signed by the Governor.
The emails were obtained through Ohio’s Public Records Act, by Ohio community rights organizer Bill Lyons. “People are under the impression that their elected representatives write the laws and the process is transparent. This shows that industry is doing it for them. It’s supposed to be The People’s budget, the representatives say, but this is just a mirage,” says Lyons.
“The fact is it’s not just the Ohio Chamber,” says the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund’s (CELDF) National Organizing Director Ben Price. CELDF helped draft the Lake Erie Bill of Rights and is helping defend it in federal court. “Across the country, front groups for America’s plutocrats are on a mission to privatize government,” says Price. “We don’t have government by the people. Corporations run the show. We’ve got to put an end to that.”
While state and corporate efforts to stop the growing Rights of Nature movement are building across the country, growing numbers of communities are surging ahead with citizen initiatives and state constitutional amendments to recognize those rights and elevate them above corporate “rights.” Communities have adopted more than 30 Rights of Nature laws in the United States since 2006. Internationally, Rights of Nature laws are recognized in New Zealand, Ecuador, Colombia, and other nations.
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.
Featured Image: Ohio Statehouse (Columbus, Ohio, USA) 1 by James St. John, Flickr Creative Commons
In emails, the Ohio Chamber of Commerce says undermining Rights of Nature “is essential to what we’re trying to accomplish.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Tish O’Dell, Ohio Community Organizer
CELDF.org
tish@celdf.org
440-552-6774
COLUMBUS, OH: In April 2019, Zachary Frymier, Director of Energy and Environmental Policy for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, reached out to an Ohio state representative with concerns about the Lake Erie Bill of Rights. The groundbreaking local initiative was proposed and adopted by Toledo, Ohio, voters two months earlier, recognizing residents’ rights to a clean and healthy environment and the rights of Lake Erie to exist, flourish, and evolve, while banning harmful corporate activities as violations of those rights.
“We have some language that we’d request be considered for the budget,” Frymier wrote. Language stating that ecosystems and nature “do not have [legal] standing,” he wrote, “is essential to what we’re trying to accomplish. If we could get that added I would be very grateful.” The language was added to an unrelated biennial budget bill and passed into law by the Ohio General Assembly, and signed by the Governor.
The emails were obtained through Ohio’s Public Records Act, by Ohio community rights organizer Bill Lyons. “People are under the impression that their elected representatives write the laws and the process is transparent. This shows that industry is doing it for them. It’s supposed to be The People’s budget, the representatives say, but this is just a mirage,” says Lyons.
“The fact is it’s not just the Ohio Chamber,” says the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund’s (CELDF) National Organizing Director Ben Price. CELDF helped draft the Lake Erie Bill of Rights and is helping defend it in federal court. “Across the country, front groups for America’s plutocrats are on a mission to privatize government,” says Price. “We don’t have government by the people. Corporations run the show. We’ve got to put an end to that.”
While state and corporate efforts to stop the growing Rights of Nature movement are building across the country, growing numbers of communities are surging ahead with citizen initiatives and state constitutional amendments to recognize those rights and elevate them above corporate “rights.” Communities have adopted more than 30 Rights of Nature laws in the United States since 2006. Internationally, Rights of Nature laws are recognized in New Zealand, Ecuador, Colombia, and other nations.
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.
Featured Image: Ohio Statehouse (Columbus, Ohio, USA) 1 by James St. John, Flickr Creative Commons
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie
Mike Ferner
mike.ferner@sbcglobal.net
419-729-7273
Toledoans for Safe Water
Markie Miller
SafeWaterToledo@gmail.com
419-665-3743
Toledo, OH:
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has signed a 2500+ page state budget bill which not only includes provisions attempting to abolish Rights of Nature law in the state of Ohio, but also contains hidden language to enhance protections for industrial agricultural operations, including animal factories and water privatization corporations.
Lake Eerie Advocates want to raise awareness that the Ohio legislature and Governor have opted to protect industry and the ‘rights’ of corporate constituents to pollute while simultaneously stripping the people of their rights to pass local laws and protect the rights of ecosystems that sustain their community. The budget bill also includes statutory provisions that permit and legalize the theft of a community water supply in the interest of corporate profit.
The budget bill states:
Nature or any ecosystem does not have standing to participate in or bring an action in any court of common pleas;
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No person, on behalf of or representing nature or an ecosystem, shall bring an action in any court of common pleas;
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In a civil action for nuisances involving agricultural activities, it is a complete defense if:
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The agricultural activities were conducted within an (…) agricultural district or on land devoted exclusively to agricultural use (…);
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The agricultural activities were established within the agricultural district prior to the plaintiff’s activities or interest on which the action is based;
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The plaintiff was not involved in agricultural production; and
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The agricultural activities were not in conflict with federal, state, and local laws and rules relating to the alleged nuisances or were conducted in accordance with generally accepted agriculture practices
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Markie Miller of TSW stated, “this sneaky and seemingly innocent language values, above everything, corporate ‘rights’ to destroy the natural life sources we all depend on, for immediate profit, the consequences be damned.”
In addition, the General Assembly has quietly installed significant new statutory powers in the Ohio Dept of Natural Resources to issue permits legalizing the theft of aquifer water, which when combined with the destruction of the rights of nature, seriously cripples a community’s only avenue to exert any control or protection over the privatization of their water source.
Lake Eerie advocates recognize the danger latent in this move on the part of the Ohio legislature.
“Do legislators and the governor understand what they’re doing by siding with corporations and making it illegal for people to protect the systems that support all life? The so-called ‘right to farm’ part of this bill has nothing to do with farming and everything to do with letting animal factories continue using Lake Erie as a free toilet. The stakes are high and we will defend the only Earth we have,” said Mike Ferner of Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie.
These legislative actions demonstrate the recent pattern in Ohio of revoking the democratic rights of citizens while legalizing destructive corporate harms.
Hilary Tore of TSW commented, “this budget bill is a clear violation of Ohio’s single-subject law, yet the legislature continues to cherry-pick which laws they want to follow. A government is created by the people to protect the people and their rights. We don’t create government to harm us, yet that is what we have.”
Following a Daily Show profile of the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, the Ohio legislature has agreed on a new state budget that bans Rights of Nature enforcement.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Tish O’Dell, Ohio Community Organizer
CELDF.org
tish@celdf.org
440-552-6774
COLUMBUS, OH: Yesterday, the Ohio Senate and House agreed on a new state budget that includes language to ban Rights of Nature enforcement.
Rights of Nature is a new legal paradigm that is gaining momentum in Ohio, across the U.S., and around the world. More than thirty communities in the U.S. have adopted Rights of Nature laws, which recognize the rights of ecosystems to exist and flourish, protecting communities and nature from increasing environmental threats. Similar laws and court decisions are in place in New Zealand, Ecuador, Colombia, and other countries. In February, Toledo, Ohio, residents overwhelmingly adopted the Lake Erie Bill of Rights – the first law in the U.S. recognizing the rights of a distinct ecosystem.
This week, The Daily Show featured the people of Toledo behind the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, determined to protect their only water source from harmful corporate activities, by using Rights of Nature. In response, the state of Ohio is cracking down to stop them.
The language in the Ohio budget bill creates a section (2305.011) that defines “Nature” and “Ecosystem” in law, and goes on to ban legal actions on behalf of or by nature or ecosystems. The budget reads:
“Nature or any ecosystem does not have standing to participate in or bring an action in any court of common pleas.
No person, on behalf of or representing nature or an ecosystem, shall bring an action in any court of common pleas.”
Since 2012, nearly three dozen Rights of Nature initiatives have qualified for city and county ballots, and have faced varying levels of obstruction. Fourteen measures have been removed from the ballot and not allowed a vote, five have been passed into law by voters.
“When peoples’ movements work to expand rights, we see legislative efforts to stop them,” says the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund’s (CELDF) organizer Tish O’Dell. “It is a pattern that has been repeated over and over. In recent years when LGBTQ+ marriage equality was gaining momentum, reactionary states began to ban it. Today, it is the Ohio legislature, desperate to stop another expansion of rights. This won’t work either. The Ohio legislature is on the wrong side of history – the Rights of Nature train has already left the station.”
Despite the legislature’s attempts at dissuading the movement, residents of Williams County, Ohio, gathered 2,077 valid signatures to place a new county charter on the November 2019 ballot that would recognize the rights of the Michindoh Aquifer and protect it from privatization. They are facing opposition from the state and common pleas court to keep their initiative off the ballot. Columbus residents are also circulating petitions for a charter amendment to protect their water source, and seven other Ohio communities are fighting to protect their civil rights to propose such laws, against the state.
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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Both the House and Senate have approved language to ban Rights of Nature enforcement.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Tish O’Dell, Ohio Community Organizer
CELDF.org
tish@celdf.org
440-552-6774
COLUMBUS, OH: This Sunday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is scheduled to sign off on a new state budget for 2020-2021.
Hidden within the 3,000+ page document are several paragraphs prohibiting the enforcement of a paradigm-shifting concept that has taken root in the state: legally enforceable rights for ecosystems. The budget bill comes four months after residents of Toledo passed the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR) city charter amendment that recognizes the lake’s rights to “exist, flourish, and naturally evolve.”
The proposed House language reads:
“Nature or any ecosystem does not have standing to participate in or bring an action in any court of common pleas….No person, on behalf of or representing nature or an ecosystem, shall intervene in any manner.”
The state is coming out on the wrong side of history as the government tries to stop Rights of Nature, a concept that is experiencing accelerating growth around the planet.
The state is also attempting to stop Rights of Nature in court. Attorney General David Yost intervened on behalf of an agribusiness company to help overturn LEBOR. The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) helped draft LEBOR and is providing legal support to defend the people’s law.
As an apparent concession to Toledo residents, who adopted LEBOR because the state was failing to protect the Lake, Governor Mike DeWine proposed his H2Ohio plan to allocate $900 million dollars to invest in the health of Ohio waterways and Lake Erie. As with all other previous plans, the money will go towards future studies and vague solutions, such as “investing in technology to combat pollution.” No concrete plan to prohibit pollution is offered.
“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. Throwing more taxpayer dollars for ‘studies’ and ‘testing’ is not fooling anyone. The state cannot claim to be the sole protector of the Lake, while simultaneously opposing the people who are trying to protect the lake, siding with polluters, and trying to ban Rights of Nature!”
“Given dire warnings about the climate crisis and ecological devastation, the state’s actions are negligent. From Ecuador to New Zealand, to communities across the U.S., Rights of Nature laws are spreading because we must change our relationship with Nature. The time is now. Rights of Nature is here, and the state cannot stop this growing tide for change,” added Ellen Mavrich, Lorain County, Ohio Community Rights Network board member.
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.
Attorney General files complaint against the Lake Erie Bill of Rights protecting polluters
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
CELDF
Tish O’Dell, Ohio Community Organizer
440-552-6774
tish@celdf.org
COLUMBUS, OH: On Friday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a legal complaint to have the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR) overturned.
The AG’s filing comes less than two weeks after the Ohio House of Representatives adopted its 2020-2021 budget with provisions that prohibit anyone, including local governments, from enforcing recognized legal rights for ecosystems. Friday’s court filing is the state’s intervention in a lawsuit filed by the agribusiness industry against LEBOR, Drewes Farm Partnership v. City of Toledo. The Ohio Farm Bureau is backing the lawsuit.
In Friday’s complaint, the State of Ohio “requests the court issue a permanent injunction” to stop the City of Toledo, any person, or “fictitious entity…from enforcing any provisions of [the] Charter Amendment.”
In defending its title as “proprietor in trust to the waters of Lake Erie,” the state argues LEBOR must be invalidated because it “deprives” fictitious corporate “persons” of the “privilege of engaging in lawful operations.” This includes, according to the state, “sludge management permits and permits for the discharge of sewage, industrial waste, or other wastes.” The state argues that denying industries’ permission to pollute, which the state controls, would be a violation of the constitutional rights of fictitious corporate “persons” under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. As such, the state claims it is beyond the power of local voters to protect their own rights or the lake.
“The lake is dying and the AG says only the state of Ohio has the power to protect it. But it’s not. A generation has passed during which the Ohio legislature and governors have stood by enabling a corrupt system of permitting and willfully ignoring scientific data that has caused water quality and the Lake’s condition to worsen to crisis levels. The people have had enough. The state claims to be the sole trustee of Lake Erie, but they have forfeited that trust by their inaction. The lake and the people have suffered direct harm due to the state’s failure to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people and the lake. Our Constitution states that the people can step in when their government fails them,” said Tish O’Dell, CELDF Ohio Organizer.
Markie Miller of Toledoans for Safe Water added, “Because of the state’s failure to act on behalf of the people and Lake Erie, we have suffered without water and we fear the next contamination or algae bloom. We know Lake Erie is dying, so this winter, WE did what the state would not – we took action. We asserted our inalienable democratic right to pass a law that will actually protect the Lake and our community. Now, ‘our’ government claims the people’s law is invalid and our judiciary is keeping us out of the judicial process completely. We will not allow this government to sabotage our basic rights, the rights of the Lake, and – most importantly – the future of our children.”
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) is representing Toledoans as they fight to defend their Lake Erie Bill of Rights.
About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
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, local economy, and quality of life. Its mission is to build sustainable communities by assisting people to assert their right to local self-government and the rights of nature.
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But it’s not for the reasons you would hope
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
CELDF
Tish O’Dell, Ohio Community Organizer
440-552-6774
tish@celdf.org
COLUMBUS, OH: Today, the Ohio House of Representatives adopted its 2020-2021 budget with provisions that prohibit anyone, including local governments, from enforcing recognized legal rights for ecosystems.
The political maneuver is a direct response to the historic Lake Erie Bill of Rights passed by Toledo voters in February. That law recognizes legally enforceable rights for Erie, the 11th largest lake on the planet. It made national and international news.
At a time when the United Nations is reporting “unprecedented” rates of species extinction, such political strong arming to repress efforts to address the global crisis is in keeping with the state’s actions since 2014.
Over a dozen rights-based measures that included recognizing rights for ecosystems have been systematically stymied from being voted on by illegitimate actions taken by the Ohio supreme court, secretary of state, appointed board of elections officials, and the state legislature. Those tactics — ongoing for 5 years — are the subject of a federal Civil Rights lawsuit that communities jointly filed in February 2019.
“It’s not surprising that the Ohio legislature has the shameful distinction of being the first in the country to specifically name ecosystem rights – trying to quash them rather than taking the lead in recognizing them. This is the same state government that passed HB463 in 2016 in an attempt to stop communities from even advancing rights-based citizen initiatives,” stated Tish O’Dell, community organizer for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). CELDF assisted these Ohio communities through organizing and legal support as they drafted, advanced, and defended their measures.
Crystal Jankowski, organizer with Toledoans for Safe Water – the local group behind the Lake Erie Bill of Rights – stated, “The state legislature’s continued efforts to quash this growing movement tell us that we are on the right track. Whenever people advance rights – for people of color, women, LGBTQ+ communities, or others – we see the 1% try to stop it, but we are not going away. Rights of Nature is a paradigm shift that is wholly necessary. We are facing catastrophic global warming and species extinction. The people of the planet, including Toledo, will act locally to address the crisis. We do not need permission.”
About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
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, local economy, and quality of life. Its mission is to build sustainable communities by assisting people to assert their right to local self-government and the rights of nature.
First law securing the rights of a plant species to exist and flourish
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Nicolette Slagle
Honor the Earth
nicolette@honorearth.org
218-979-0168
MERCERSBURG, PA: The White Earth Band of Ojibwe – part of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe – adopted a Rights of Manoomin law. The law protects legal rights of manoomin, or wild rice, securing on- and off-reservation protection of manoomin and the clean, fresh water resources and habitats on which it depends. The 1855 Treaty Authority adopted the Rights of Manoomin as well.
The White Earth tribal resolution explains that Rights of Manoomin was adopted because “it has become necessary to provide a legal basis to protect wild rice and fresh water resources as part of our primary treaty foods for future generations.” This comes as wild rice, a traditional staple and sacred food for this Nation, faces significant impacts from habitat loss, climate change, development, genetic engineering, and other threats.
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) assisted Honor the Earth, an indigenous-led environmental advocacy group, in the development of the law.
“Manoomin is sacred to the Anishinaabeg, and it is time the law reflects this,” explains Winona LaDuke, Honor the Earth’s executive director.
“This is a very important step forward in the Rights of Nature movement, as this is the very first law to recognize legal rights of a plant species,” adds a CELDF representative.
CELDF has pioneered the first world’s first rights of nature laws, through its partnerships with communities and groups across the United States, with tribal nations, as well as with organizations in Nepal, India, Australia, and other countries.
– 30 –
Honor the Earth
607 Main Street, Callway, MN 56521
honorearth.org
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
P.O. Box 360, Mercersburg, PA 17236
celdf.org
Featured image: Wild Rice and Wild Clouds by Brett Whaley, Flickr Creative Commons
First law securing the rights of a plant species to exist and flourish
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Nicolette Slagle
Honor the Earth
nicolette@honorearth.org
218-979-0168
MERCERSBURG, PA: The White Earth Band of Ojibwe – part of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe – adopted a Rights of Manoomin law. The law protects legal rights of manoomin, or wild rice, securing on- and off-reservation protection of manoomin and the clean, fresh water resources and habitats on which it depends. The 1855 Treaty Authority adopted the Rights of Manoomin as well.
The White Earth tribal resolution explains that Rights of Manoomin was adopted because “it has become necessary to provide a legal basis to protect wild rice and fresh water resources as part of our primary treaty foods for future generations.” This comes as wild rice, a traditional staple and sacred food for this Nation, faces significant impacts from habitat loss, climate change, development, genetic engineering, and other threats.
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) assisted Honor the Earth, an indigenous-led environmental advocacy group, in the development of the law.
“Manoomin is sacred to the Anishinaabeg, and it is time the law reflects this,” explains Winona LaDuke, Honor the Earth’s executive director.
“This is a very important step forward in the Rights of Nature movement, as this is the very first law to recognize legal rights of a plant species,” adds a CELDF representative.
CELDF has pioneered the first world’s first rights of nature laws, through its partnerships with communities and groups across the United States, with tribal nations, as well as with organizations in Nepal, India, Australia, and other countries.
– 30 –
Honor the Earth
607 Main Street, Callway, MN 56521
honorearth.org
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
P.O. Box 360, Mercersburg, PA 17236
celdf.org
Featured image: Wild Rice and Wild Clouds by Brett Whaley, Flickr Creative Commons
See the Toledo Blade.
See the Toledo Blade.
With a 70-percent affirmative vote of its membership, the National Lawyers Guild has incorporated advancement of “the rights of ecosystems” into its Guild Constitution.
The National Lawyers Guild Constitution’s Preamble now reads:
“The National Lawyers Guild is an association dedicated to the need for basic change in the structure of our political and economic system. We seek to unite the lawyers, law students, legal workers and jailhouse lawyers of America in an organization which shall function as an effective political and social force in the service of the people, to the end that human rights and the rights of ecosystems shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests…”
Marti Schmidt, an employment law attorney in Seattle, proposed the change last year, and several members of the association added statements of support.
“The truth of the matter is that the rights of ecosystems are human rights. Humans are a part of the ecosystem; they are not separate from it. Rather than a relationship based on human domination, we must recognize that the humans are dependent on ecosystems.” Nathan C. Frischkorn – AZ
“If we aim to keep fighting for democracy and justice, we must necessarily fight for the ecosystems on which all life depends. The Guild has always been at the vanguard of the struggle for human rights. Now it must also step forward and speak up for the rights of nature.” Karen Hoffman – PA
The National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and most extensive network of public interest and human rights activists working within the legal system. It was founded in 1937 by progressive lawyers and jurists who believed then – and now – theirs is a major role in reconstructing legal values to emphasize human rights over property rights. Over the past 82 years they have:
- helped prosecute Nazis at Nuremburg,
- participated in Hansberry v. Lee,
- represented the U.S. in the founding of the United Nations,
- founded the American Trial Lawyers Association and the Center for Constitutional Rights,
- represented accused during the McCarthy Era, and
- represented civil rights activists and the Chicago 7 in the 1960s.
Several National Lawyers Guild attorneys who were involved also represent the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which applauds the inclusion of ecosystem rights.
“Recognizing the rights of the earth and its ecosystems is going to take time, and this social movement will progress in stages. The first stage is just being able to think the thought that ecosystems can have rights, and not be merely property.” Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin – WA
CELDF’s National Organizing Director Ben Price remembers 2008, when CELDF assisted in the drafting of Rights of Nature provisions for Ecuador’s new constitution. The Ecuadorian people adopted their new constitution overwhelmingly, with nearly 64% of the vote. Today, Rights of Nature is a growing global movement.
“When the tide of history changes, you can feel strong currents and undertows all around you,” reflects Ben Price, CELDF’s National Organizer Director. “When Ecuador followed the lead of little Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, by recognizing in law the intrinsic, unalienable Rights of Nature, I could feel the sea change and I knew that although it would take time, in the end, nothing would ever be the same.”
Still engaged in the work a decade later, Price realizes that “our instincts were right, and all the pragmatic reasons why it is not practical to recognize unalienable rights for Nature are manifestly wrong. Materialism is literally substance abuse. We can either awaken from the pipe dream of dominion over the world or perish in our self-delusion. The era of the reign of property and wealth are coming to an end. The Earth won’t long suffer to be enslaved by greed and the philosophy of the parasite. The project of turning the living world into money and power has failed to serve people or Nature.”
When asked how the work has grown and changed, Price recognizes that “the movement for the Rights of Nature has taken on a life of its own. Dozens of U.S. communities have enacted legal recognition of the rights of ecosystems. Native American councils have taken up the cause, and other nation-states, like India, New Zealand and Bolivia have taken action. The idea that Nature has rights offends only those whose privilege and power are threatened by the thought that they may no longer act with impunity toward the world on which we depend for health and life. It is a wholesome, common sense, normal notion that, as the people stir from the long coma of civilization under the dictatorship of greed, the Rights of Nature will eventually gain universal acceptance.”
Price feels it is now important to acknowledge that “it isn’t the invocation of human law, but a nurturing spirit that will lead eventually to right-relationship with the world. We have embarked on a mission to change the human paradigm, to reject the naive philosophy of human exceptionalism and separateness from Nature. For now, as we begin to resist and cure the pathology of empire built upon the legal fiction of property, we must rely on new life-affirming laws that will act like counter-spells to the trance-inducing legal deceptions of the past.”
International Rights of Nature Symposium
Quito, Ecuador
September 27 – 28, 2018
This Thursday and Friday! Rights of Nature champions from around the world are gathering in Quito, Ecuador, for this week’s International Rights of Nature Symposium and celebration, including a CELDF representative.
Today, CELDF has assisted more than thirty communities in the United States to adopt laws recognizing the rights of ecosystems to exist and flourish. We are working with our partners in India to advance the rights of the Ganges River, in Nepal to recognize the rights of the Himalayas, in Australia to to recognize the Rights of the Great Barrier Reef, and dozens of other countries and communities around the globe.
Your support makes our Rights of Nature work viable. Please donate today – a better world is possible with your help.
Featured image: Hibiscus Blooms by Les Williams, Flickr Creative Commons
CELDF’s National Organizing Director Ben Price remembers 2008, when CELDF assisted in the drafting of Rights of Nature provisions for Ecuador’s new constitution. The Ecuadorian people adopted their new constitution overwhelmingly, with nearly 64% of the vote. Today, Rights of Nature is a growing global movement.
“When the tide of history changes, you can feel strong currents and undertows all around you,” reflects Ben Price, CELDF’s National Organizer Director. “When Ecuador followed the lead of little Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, by recognizing in law the intrinsic, unalienable Rights of Nature, I could feel the sea change and I knew that although it would take time, in the end, nothing would ever be the same.”
Still engaged in the work a decade later, Price realizes that “our instincts were right, and all the pragmatic reasons why it is not practical to recognize unalienable rights for Nature are manifestly wrong. Materialism is literally substance abuse. We can either awaken from the pipe dream of dominion over the world or perish in our self-delusion. The era of the reign of property and wealth are coming to an end. The Earth won’t long suffer to be enslaved by greed and the philosophy of the parasite. The project of turning the living world into money and power has failed to serve people or Nature.”
When asked how the work has grown and changed, Price recognizes that “the movement for the Rights of Nature has taken on a life of its own. Dozens of U.S. communities have enacted legal recognition of the rights of ecosystems. Native American councils have taken up the cause, and other nation-states, like India, New Zealand and Bolivia have taken action. The idea that Nature has rights offends only those whose privilege and power are threatened by the thought that they may no longer act with impunity toward the world on which we depend for health and life. It is a wholesome, common sense, normal notion that, as the people stir from the long coma of civilization under the dictatorship of greed, the Rights of Nature will eventually gain universal acceptance.”
Price feels it is now important to acknowledge that “it isn’t the invocation of human law, but a nurturing spirit that will lead eventually to right-relationship with the world. We have embarked on a mission to change the human paradigm, to reject the naive philosophy of human exceptionalism and separateness from Nature. For now, as we begin to resist and cure the pathology of empire built upon the legal fiction of property, we must rely on new life-affirming laws that will act like counter-spells to the trance-inducing legal deceptions of the past.”
International Rights of Nature Symposium
Quito, Ecuador
September 27 – 28, 2018
This Thursday and Friday! Rights of Nature champions from around the world are gathering in Quito, Ecuador, for this week’s International Rights of Nature Symposium and celebration, including a CELDF representative.
Today, CELDF has assisted more than thirty communities in the United States to adopt laws recognizing the rights of ecosystems to exist and flourish. We are working with our partners in India to advance the rights of the Ganges River, in Nepal to recognize the rights of the Himalayas, in Australia to to recognize the Rights of the Great Barrier Reef, and dozens of other countries and communities around the globe.
Your support makes our Rights of Nature work viable. Please donate today – a better world is possible with your help.
Featured image: Hibiscus Blooms by Les Williams, Flickr Creative Commons
CELDF’s National Organizing Director Ben Price remembers 2008, when CELDF assisted in the drafting of Rights of Nature provisions for Ecuador’s new constitution. The Ecuadorian people adopted their new constitution overwhelmingly, with nearly 64% of the vote. Today, Rights of Nature is a growing global movement.
“When the tide of history changes, you can feel strong currents and undertows all around you,” reflects Ben Price, CELDF’s National Organizer Director. “When Ecuador followed the lead of little Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, by recognizing in law the intrinsic, unalienable Rights of Nature, I could feel the sea change and I knew that although it would take time, in the end, nothing would ever be the same.”
Still engaged in the work a decade later, Price realizes that “our instincts were right, and all the pragmatic reasons why it is not practical to recognize unalienable rights for Nature are manifestly wrong. Materialism is literally substance abuse. We can either awaken from the pipe dream of dominion over the world or perish in our self-delusion. The era of the reign of property and wealth are coming to an end. The Earth won’t long suffer to be enslaved by greed and the philosophy of the parasite. The project of turning the living world into money and power has failed to serve people or Nature.”
When asked how the work has grown and changed, Price recognizes that “the movement for the Rights of Nature has taken on a life of its own. Dozens of U.S. communities have enacted legal recognition of the rights of ecosystems. Native American councils have taken up the cause, and other nation-states, like India, New Zealand and Bolivia have taken action. The idea that Nature has rights offends only those whose privilege and power are threatened by the thought that they may no longer act with impunity toward the world on which we depend for health and life. It is a wholesome, common sense, normal notion that, as the people stir from the long coma of civilization under the dictatorship of greed, the Rights of Nature will eventually gain universal acceptance.”
Price feels it is now important to acknowledge that “it isn’t the invocation of human law, but a nurturing spirit that will lead eventually to right-relationship with the world. We have embarked on a mission to change the human paradigm, to reject the naive philosophy of human exceptionalism and separateness from Nature. For now, as we begin to resist and cure the pathology of empire built upon the legal fiction of property, we must rely on new life-affirming laws that will act like counter-spells to the trance-inducing legal deceptions of the past.”
International Rights of Nature Symposium
Quito, Ecuador
September 27 – 28, 2018
This Thursday and Friday! Rights of Nature champions from around the world are gathering in Quito, Ecuador, for this week’s International Rights of Nature Symposium and celebration, including a CELDF representative.
Today, CELDF has assisted more than thirty communities in the United States to adopt laws recognizing the rights of ecosystems to exist and flourish. We are working with our partners in India to advance the rights of the Ganges River, in Nepal to recognize the rights of the Himalayas, in Australia to to recognize the Rights of the Great Barrier Reef, and dozens of other countries and communities around the globe.
Your support makes our Rights of Nature work viable. Please donate today – a better world is possible with your help.
Featured image: Hibiscus Blooms by Les Williams, Flickr Creative Commons
CELDF’s National Organizing Director Ben Price remembers 2008, when CELDF assisted in the drafting of Rights of Nature provisions for Ecuador’s new constitution. The Ecuadorian people adopted their new constitution overwhelmingly, with nearly 64% of the vote. Today, Rights of Nature is a growing global movement.
“When the tide of history changes, you can feel strong currents and undertows all around you,” reflects Ben Price, CELDF’s National Organizer Director. “When Ecuador followed the lead of little Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, by recognizing in law the intrinsic, unalienable Rights of Nature, I could feel the sea change and I knew that although it would take time, in the end, nothing would ever be the same.”
Still engaged in the work a decade later, Price realizes that “our instincts were right, and all the pragmatic reasons why it is not practical to recognize unalienable rights for Nature are manifestly wrong. Materialism is literally substance abuse. We can either awaken from the pipe dream of dominion over the world or perish in our self-delusion. The era of the reign of property and wealth are coming to an end. The Earth won’t long suffer to be enslaved by greed and the philosophy of the parasite. The project of turning the living world into money and power has failed to serve people or Nature.”
When asked how the work has grown and changed, Price recognizes that “the movement for the Rights of Nature has taken on a life of its own. Dozens of U.S. communities have enacted legal recognition of the rights of ecosystems. Native American councils have taken up the cause, and other nation-states, like India, New Zealand and Bolivia have taken action. The idea that Nature has rights offends only those whose privilege and power are threatened by the thought that they may no longer act with impunity toward the world on which we depend for health and life. It is a wholesome, common sense, normal notion that, as the people stir from the long coma of civilization under the dictatorship of greed, the Rights of Nature will eventually gain universal acceptance.”
Price feels it is now important to acknowledge that “it isn’t the invocation of human law, but a nurturing spirit that will lead eventually to right-relationship with the world. We have embarked on a mission to change the human paradigm, to reject the naive philosophy of human exceptionalism and separateness from Nature. For now, as we begin to resist and cure the pathology of empire built upon the legal fiction of property, we must rely on new life-affirming laws that will act like counter-spells to the trance-inducing legal deceptions of the past.”
International Rights of Nature Symposium
Quito, Ecuador
September 27 – 28, 2018
This Thursday and Friday! Rights of Nature champions from around the world are gathering in Quito, Ecuador, for this week’s International Rights of Nature Symposium and celebration, including a CELDF representative.
Today, CELDF has assisted more than thirty communities in the United States to adopt laws recognizing the rights of ecosystems to exist and flourish. We are working with our partners in India to advance the rights of the Ganges River, in Nepal to recognize the rights of the Himalayas, in Australia to to recognize the Rights of the Great Barrier Reef, and dozens of other countries and communities around the globe.
Your support makes our Rights of Nature work viable. Please donate today – a better world is possible with your help.
Featured image: Hibiscus Blooms by Les Williams, Flickr Creative Commons
CELDF’s National Organizing Director Ben Price remembers 2008, when CELDF assisted in the drafting of Rights of Nature provisions for Ecuador’s new constitution. The Ecuadorian people adopted their new constitution overwhelmingly, with nearly 64% of the vote. Today, Rights of Nature is a growing global movement.
“When the tide of history changes, you can feel strong currents and undertows all around you,” reflects Ben Price, CELDF’s National Organizer Director. “When Ecuador followed the lead of little Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, by recognizing in law the intrinsic, unalienable Rights of Nature, I could feel the sea change and I knew that although it would take time, in the end, nothing would ever be the same.”
Still engaged in the work a decade later, Price realizes that “our instincts were right, and all the pragmatic reasons why it is not practical to recognize unalienable rights for Nature are manifestly wrong. Materialism is literally substance abuse. We can either awaken from the pipe dream of dominion over the world or perish in our self-delusion. The era of the reign of property and wealth are coming to an end. The Earth won’t long suffer to be enslaved by greed and the philosophy of the parasite. The project of turning the living world into money and power has failed to serve people or Nature.”
When asked how the work has grown and changed, Price recognizes that “the movement for the Rights of Nature has taken on a life of its own. Dozens of U.S. communities have enacted legal recognition of the rights of ecosystems. Native American councils have taken up the cause, and other nation-states, like India, New Zealand and Bolivia have taken action. The idea that Nature has rights offends only those whose privilege and power are threatened by the thought that they may no longer act with impunity toward the world on which we depend for health and life. It is a wholesome, common sense, normal notion that, as the people stir from the long coma of civilization under the dictatorship of greed, the Rights of Nature will eventually gain universal acceptance.”
Price feels it is now important to acknowledge that “it isn’t the invocation of human law, but a nurturing spirit that will lead eventually to right-relationship with the world. We have embarked on a mission to change the human paradigm, to reject the naive philosophy of human exceptionalism and separateness from Nature. For now, as we begin to resist and cure the pathology of empire built upon the legal fiction of property, we must rely on new life-affirming laws that will act like counter-spells to the trance-inducing legal deceptions of the past.”
International Rights of Nature Symposium
Quito, Ecuador
September 27 – 28, 2018
This Thursday and Friday! Rights of Nature champions from around the world are gathering in Quito, Ecuador, for this week’s International Rights of Nature Symposium and celebration, including a CELDF representative.
Today, CELDF has assisted more than thirty communities in the United States to adopt laws recognizing the rights of ecosystems to exist and flourish. We are working with our partners in India to advance the rights of the Ganges River, in Nepal to recognize the rights of the Himalayas, in Australia to to recognize the Rights of the Great Barrier Reef, and dozens of other countries and communities around the globe.
Your support makes our Rights of Nature work viable. Please donate today – a better world is possible with your help.
Featured image: Hibiscus Blooms by Les Williams, Flickr Creative Commons
CELDF’s National Organizing Director Ben Price remembers 2008, when CELDF assisted in the drafting of Rights of Nature provisions for Ecuador’s new constitution. The Ecuadorian people adopted their new constitution overwhelmingly, with nearly 64% of the vote. Today, Rights of Nature is a growing global movement.
“When the tide of history changes, you can feel strong currents and undertows all around you,” reflects Ben Price, CELDF’s National Organizer Director. “When Ecuador followed the lead of little Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, by recognizing in law the intrinsic, unalienable Rights of Nature, I could feel the sea change and I knew that although it would take time, in the end, nothing would ever be the same.”
Still engaged in the work a decade later, Price realizes that “our instincts were right, and all the pragmatic reasons why it is not practical to recognize unalienable rights for Nature are manifestly wrong. Materialism is literally substance abuse. We can either awaken from the pipe dream of dominion over the world or perish in our self-delusion. The era of the reign of property and wealth are coming to an end. The Earth won’t long suffer to be enslaved by greed and the philosophy of the parasite. The project of turning the living world into money and power has failed to serve people or Nature.”
When asked how the work has grown and changed, Price recognizes that “the movement for the Rights of Nature has taken on a life of its own. Dozens of U.S. communities have enacted legal recognition of the rights of ecosystems. Native American councils have taken up the cause, and other nation-states, like India, New Zealand and Bolivia have taken action. The idea that Nature has rights offends only those whose privilege and power are threatened by the thought that they may no longer act with impunity toward the world on which we depend for health and life. It is a wholesome, common sense, normal notion that, as the people stir from the long coma of civilization under the dictatorship of greed, the Rights of Nature will eventually gain universal acceptance.”
Price feels it is now important to acknowledge that “it isn’t the invocation of human law, but a nurturing spirit that will lead eventually to right-relationship with the world. We have embarked on a mission to change the human paradigm, to reject the naive philosophy of human exceptionalism and separateness from Nature. For now, as we begin to resist and cure the pathology of empire built upon the legal fiction of property, we must rely on new life-affirming laws that will act like counter-spells to the trance-inducing legal deceptions of the past.”
International Rights of Nature Symposium
Quito, Ecuador
September 27 – 28, 2018
This Thursday and Friday! Rights of Nature champions from around the world are gathering in Quito, Ecuador, for this week’s International Rights of Nature Symposium and celebration, including a CELDF representative.
Today, CELDF has assisted more than thirty communities in the United States to adopt laws recognizing the rights of ecosystems to exist and flourish. We are working with our partners in India to advance the rights of the Ganges River, in Nepal to recognize the rights of the Himalayas, in Australia to to recognize the Rights of the Great Barrier Reef, and dozens of other countries and communities around the globe.
Your support makes our Rights of Nature work viable. Please donate today – a better world is possible with your help.
Featured image: Hibiscus Blooms by Les Williams, Flickr Creative Commons
CELDF’s National Organizing Director Ben Price remembers 2008, when CELDF assisted in the drafting of Rights of Nature provisions for Ecuador’s new constitution. The Ecuadorian people adopted their new constitution overwhelmingly, with nearly 64% of the vote. Today, Rights of Nature is a growing global movement.
“When the tide of history changes, you can feel strong currents and undertows all around you,” reflects Ben Price, CELDF’s National Organizer Director. “When Ecuador followed the lead of little Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, by recognizing in law the intrinsic, unalienable Rights of Nature, I could feel the sea change and I knew that although it would take time, in the end, nothing would ever be the same.”
Still engaged in the work a decade later, Price realizes that “our instincts were right, and all the pragmatic reasons why it is not practical to recognize unalienable rights for Nature are manifestly wrong. Materialism is literally substance abuse. We can either awaken from the pipe dream of dominion over the world or perish in our self-delusion. The era of the reign of property and wealth are coming to an end. The Earth won’t long suffer to be enslaved by greed and the philosophy of the parasite. The project of turning the living world into money and power has failed to serve people or Nature.”
When asked how the work has grown and changed, Price recognizes that “the movement for the Rights of Nature has taken on a life of its own. Dozens of U.S. communities have enacted legal recognition of the rights of ecosystems. Native American councils have taken up the cause, and other nation-states, like India, New Zealand and Bolivia have taken action. The idea that Nature has rights offends only those whose privilege and power are threatened by the thought that they may no longer act with impunity toward the world on which we depend for health and life. It is a wholesome, common sense, normal notion that, as the people stir from the long coma of civilization under the dictatorship of greed, the Rights of Nature will eventually gain universal acceptance.”
Price feels it is now important to acknowledge that “it isn’t the invocation of human law, but a nurturing spirit that will lead eventually to right-relationship with the world. We have embarked on a mission to change the human paradigm, to reject the naive philosophy of human exceptionalism and separateness from Nature. For now, as we begin to resist and cure the pathology of empire built upon the legal fiction of property, we must rely on new life-affirming laws that will act like counter-spells to the trance-inducing legal deceptions of the past.”
International Rights of Nature Symposium
Quito, Ecuador
September 27 – 28, 2018
This Thursday and Friday! Rights of Nature champions from around the world are gathering in Quito, Ecuador, for this week’s International Rights of Nature Symposium and celebration, including a CELDF representative.
Today, CELDF has assisted more than thirty communities in the United States to adopt laws recognizing the rights of ecosystems to exist and flourish. We are working with our partners in India to advance the rights of the Ganges River, in Nepal to recognize the rights of the Himalayas, in Australia to to recognize the Rights of the Great Barrier Reef, and dozens of other countries and communities around the globe.
Your support makes our Rights of Nature work viable. Please donate today – a better world is possible with your help.
Featured image: Hibiscus Blooms by Les Williams, Flickr Creative Commons
CELDF’s National Organizing Director Ben Price remembers 2008, when CELDF assisted in the drafting of Rights of Nature provisions for Ecuador’s new constitution. The Ecuadorian people adopted their new constitution overwhelmingly, with nearly 64% of the vote. Today, Rights of Nature is a growing global movement.
“When the tide of history changes, you can feel strong currents and undertows all around you,” reflects Ben Price, CELDF’s National Organizer Director. “When Ecuador followed the lead of little Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, by recognizing in law the intrinsic, unalienable Rights of Nature, I could feel the sea change and I knew that although it would take time, in the end, nothing would ever be the same.”
Still engaged in the work a decade later, Price realizes that “our instincts were right, and all the pragmatic reasons why it is not practical to recognize unalienable rights for Nature are manifestly wrong. Materialism is literally substance abuse. We can either awaken from the pipe dream of dominion over the world or perish in our self-delusion. The era of the reign of property and wealth are coming to an end. The Earth won’t long suffer to be enslaved by greed and the philosophy of the parasite. The project of turning the living world into money and power has failed to serve people or Nature.”
When asked how the work has grown and changed, Price recognizes that “the movement for the Rights of Nature has taken on a life of its own. Dozens of U.S. communities have enacted legal recognition of the rights of ecosystems. Native American councils have taken up the cause, and other nation-states, like India, New Zealand and Bolivia have taken action. The idea that Nature has rights offends only those whose privilege and power are threatened by the thought that they may no longer act with impunity toward the world on which we depend for health and life. It is a wholesome, common sense, normal notion that, as the people stir from the long coma of civilization under the dictatorship of greed, the Rights of Nature will eventually gain universal acceptance.”
Price feels it is now important to acknowledge that “it isn’t the invocation of human law, but a nurturing spirit that will lead eventually to right-relationship with the world. We have embarked on a mission to change the human paradigm, to reject the naive philosophy of human exceptionalism and separateness from Nature. For now, as we begin to resist and cure the pathology of empire built upon the legal fiction of property, we must rely on new life-affirming laws that will act like counter-spells to the trance-inducing legal deceptions of the past.”
International Rights of Nature Symposium
Quito, Ecuador
September 27 – 28, 2018
This Thursday and Friday! Rights of Nature champions from around the world are gathering in Quito, Ecuador, for this week’s International Rights of Nature Symposium and celebration, including a CELDF representative.
Today, CELDF has assisted more than thirty communities in the United States to adopt laws recognizing the rights of ecosystems to exist and flourish. We are working with our partners in India to advance the rights of the Ganges River, in Nepal to recognize the rights of the Himalayas, in Australia to to recognize the Rights of the Great Barrier Reef, and dozens of other countries and communities around the globe.
Your support makes our Rights of Nature work viable. Please donate today – a better world is possible with your help.
Featured image: Hibiscus Blooms by Les Williams, Flickr Creative Commons
Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Ecuador’s Landmark Constitution
Happy birthday, Mother Earth!
Well, that’s not exactly accurate. How about…
Feliz aniversario, Pachamama y Ecuador!
Ten Year Anniversary for First Rights of Nature Constitution
Next week marks the tenth anniversary of Ecuador’s Constitution, which recognizes legally enforceable Rights of Nature “to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”
As a CELDF representative said at the time, “With this vote, the people of Ecuador are leading the way for countries around the world to fundamentally change how we protect Nature.”
For beyond setting a legal precedent on the existence of Nature’s rights, Ecuador’s Constitution also challenges the people of the world to speak and act on behalf of Pachamama, by stating, “Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.”
Recognizing Ecosystems as Rights-Bearing Entities
Over the past decade, that’s a challenge people and communities around the world have taken up, changing the legal recognition of ecosystems from being property to being acknowledged as rights-bearing entities. Throughout, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which assisted the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly in drafting the provisions, has provided legal counsel, guidance, and support to people around the world working to establish the Rights of Nature.
During the past ten years –
- Bolivia’s Legislative Assembly passed the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.
- Ecuador’s high court upheld that nation’s constitutional provisions in the Vilcabamba River case.
- Citizens of Nepal began a campaign toward constitutional Rights of Nature for the Himalayas.
- In Colombia, courts have now ruled that both the Atrato and Amazon River systems have rights to exist and flourish.
- The High Court of Uttarakhand in India has issued rulings recognizing the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers, glaciers, and other ecosystems as legal persons with certain rights. That same court, just this summer, declared, “Every species has an inherent right to live and are required to be protected by law,” effectively declaring legal rights for the entire animal kingdom.
- New Zealand’s Parliament has enacted both the Te Urewera Act and the Te Awa Tupua Act, recognizing the Te Urewera area and the Whanganui River ecosystem as legal entities with their own rights.
- A campaign for legal recognition of the rights of the Great Barrier Reef is currently in progress in Australia.
- In the United States, more than thirty communities have adopted Rights of Nature laws, with efforts under way in Ohio, Oregon, and other states to amend state constitutions and recognize the Rights of Nature.
- Pope Francis has declared, “A true ‘right of the environment’ does exist.”
A Growing Movement
People worldwide are listening, watching, and acting in this transformational movement to embrace and defend Mother Earth’s rights. Some come to it spiritually, following the lead of Pope Francis, or – as the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin is doing with their constitutional amendment – reclaiming their traditional worldview. Others come to it philosophically, having found resonance in the logical arguments of Christopher Stone’s essay, “Should Trees Have Standing: Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” Still others grasp the need to acknowledge Mother Earth’s rights from the scientific view in James Lovelock’s and Lynn Margulis’ Gaia theory.
And sadly, far too many people have found their way to Rights of Nature because they have been sickened – literally and figuratively – by the effects of enslaving Mother Earth and her land, water, air, plant life, and animals to create corporate profits. They recognize their individual and collective health and lives are dependent on Nature’s right to exist and thrive. And they are willing to fight for their own lives and Hers.
As we congratulate the Ecuadorian people on this landmark ten-year anniversary and their recognition of the Rights of Nature, there is great hope. This is more than Mother Earth’s rights maturing and growing. It’s the promise that – perhaps – humanity is finally “coming of age.” We are rejecting the creed of “human exceptionalism” and the devastation it has caused, and instead embracing the truth that Earth, nature, people – life itself – is a symbiotic whole.
CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature are leading the way in the Rights of Nature Movement across the United States and around the world. From Tamaqua Borough, PA, to Lincoln County, OR; and from Ecuador to Australia, CELDF is there. Your donation helps us meet the growing requests for our help – please donate today!
Interested in learning more about Rights of Nature and how you can advance those rights in your community? Contact us at info@celdf.org
Featured image: Bandera del Ecuador by Yamil Salinas Martínez, Flickr Creative Commons.
Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Ecuador’s Landmark Constitution
Happy birthday, Mother Earth!
Well, that’s not exactly accurate. How about…
Feliz aniversario, Pachamama y Ecuador!
Ten Year Anniversary for First Rights of Nature Constitution
Next week marks the tenth anniversary of Ecuador’s Constitution, which recognizes legally enforceable Rights of Nature “to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”
As a CELDF representative said at the time, “With this vote, the people of Ecuador are leading the way for countries around the world to fundamentally change how we protect Nature.”
For beyond setting a legal precedent on the existence of Nature’s rights, Ecuador’s Constitution also challenges the people of the world to speak and act on behalf of Pachamama, by stating, “Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.”
Recognizing Ecosystems as Rights-Bearing Entities
Over the past decade, that’s a challenge people and communities around the world have taken up, changing the legal recognition of ecosystems from being property to being acknowledged as rights-bearing entities. Throughout, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which assisted the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly in drafting the provisions, has provided legal counsel, guidance, and support to people around the world working to establish the Rights of Nature.
During the past ten years –
- Bolivia’s Legislative Assembly passed the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.
- Ecuador’s high court upheld that nation’s constitutional provisions in the Vilcabamba River case.
- Citizens of Nepal began a campaign toward constitutional Rights of Nature for the Himalayas.
- In Colombia, courts have now ruled that both the Atrato and Amazon River systems have rights to exist and flourish.
- The High Court of Uttarakhand in India has issued rulings recognizing the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers, glaciers, and other ecosystems as legal persons with certain rights. That same court, just this summer, declared, “Every species has an inherent right to live and are required to be protected by law,” effectively declaring legal rights for the entire animal kingdom.
- New Zealand’s Parliament has enacted both the Te Urewera Act and the Te Awa Tupua Act, recognizing the Te Urewera area and the Whanganui River ecosystem as legal entities with their own rights.
- A campaign for legal recognition of the rights of the Great Barrier Reef is currently in progress in Australia.
- In the United States, more than thirty communities have adopted Rights of Nature laws, with efforts under way in Ohio, Oregon, and other states to amend state constitutions and recognize the Rights of Nature.
- Pope Francis has declared, “A true ‘right of the environment’ does exist.”
A Growing Movement
People worldwide are listening, watching, and acting in this transformational movement to embrace and defend Mother Earth’s rights. Some come to it spiritually, following the lead of Pope Francis, or – as the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin is doing with their constitutional amendment – reclaiming their traditional worldview. Others come to it philosophically, having found resonance in the logical arguments of Christopher Stone’s essay, “Should Trees Have Standing: Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” Still others grasp the need to acknowledge Mother Earth’s rights from the scientific view in James Lovelock’s and Lynn Margulis’ Gaia theory.
And sadly, far too many people have found their way to Rights of Nature because they have been sickened – literally and figuratively – by the effects of enslaving Mother Earth and her land, water, air, plant life, and animals to create corporate profits. They recognize their individual and collective health and lives are dependent on Nature’s right to exist and thrive. And they are willing to fight for their own lives and Hers.
As we congratulate the Ecuadorian people on this landmark ten-year anniversary and their recognition of the Rights of Nature, there is great hope. This is more than Mother Earth’s rights maturing and growing. It’s the promise that – perhaps – humanity is finally “coming of age.” We are rejecting the creed of “human exceptionalism” and the devastation it has caused, and instead embracing the truth that Earth, nature, people – life itself – is a symbiotic whole.
CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature are leading the way in the Rights of Nature Movement across the United States and around the world. From Tamaqua Borough, PA, to Lincoln County, OR; and from Ecuador to Australia, CELDF is there. Your donation helps us meet the growing requests for our help – please donate today!
Interested in learning more about Rights of Nature and how you can advance those rights in your community? Contact us at info@celdf.org
Featured image: Bandera del Ecuador by Yamil Salinas Martínez, Flickr Creative Commons.
Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Ecuador’s Landmark Constitution
Happy birthday, Mother Earth!
Well, that’s not exactly accurate. How about…
Feliz aniversario, Pachamama y Ecuador!
Ten Year Anniversary for First Rights of Nature Constitution
Next week marks the tenth anniversary of Ecuador’s Constitution, which recognizes legally enforceable Rights of Nature “to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”
As a CELDF representative said at the time, “With this vote, the people of Ecuador are leading the way for countries around the world to fundamentally change how we protect Nature.”
For beyond setting a legal precedent on the existence of Nature’s rights, Ecuador’s Constitution also challenges the people of the world to speak and act on behalf of Pachamama, by stating, “Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.”
Recognizing Ecosystems as Rights-Bearing Entities
Over the past decade, that’s a challenge people and communities around the world have taken up, changing the legal recognition of ecosystems from being property to being acknowledged as rights-bearing entities. Throughout, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which assisted the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly in drafting the provisions, has provided legal counsel, guidance, and support to people around the world working to establish the Rights of Nature.
During the past ten years –
- Bolivia’s Legislative Assembly passed the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.
- Ecuador’s high court upheld that nation’s constitutional provisions in the Vilcabamba River case.
- Citizens of Nepal began a campaign toward constitutional Rights of Nature for the Himalayas.
- In Colombia, courts have now ruled that both the Atrato and Amazon River systems have rights to exist and flourish.
- The High Court of Uttarakhand in India has issued rulings recognizing the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers, glaciers, and other ecosystems as legal persons with certain rights. That same court, just this summer, declared, “Every species has an inherent right to live and are required to be protected by law,” effectively declaring legal rights for the entire animal kingdom.
- New Zealand’s Parliament has enacted both the Te Urewera Act and the Te Awa Tupua Act, recognizing the Te Urewera area and the Whanganui River ecosystem as legal entities with their own rights.
- A campaign for legal recognition of the rights of the Great Barrier Reef is currently in progress in Australia.
- In the United States, more than thirty communities have adopted Rights of Nature laws, with efforts under way in Ohio, Oregon, and other states to amend state constitutions and recognize the Rights of Nature.
- Pope Francis has declared, “A true ‘right of the environment’ does exist.”
A Growing Movement
People worldwide are listening, watching, and acting in this transformational movement to embrace and defend Mother Earth’s rights. Some come to it spiritually, following the lead of Pope Francis, or – as the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin is doing with their constitutional amendment – reclaiming their traditional worldview. Others come to it philosophically, having found resonance in the logical arguments of Christopher Stone’s essay, “Should Trees Have Standing: Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” Still others grasp the need to acknowledge Mother Earth’s rights from the scientific view in James Lovelock’s and Lynn Margulis’ Gaia theory.
And sadly, far too many people have found their way to Rights of Nature because they have been sickened – literally and figuratively – by the effects of enslaving Mother Earth and her land, water, air, plant life, and animals to create corporate profits. They recognize their individual and collective health and lives are dependent on Nature’s right to exist and thrive. And they are willing to fight for their own lives and Hers.
As we congratulate the Ecuadorian people on this landmark ten-year anniversary and their recognition of the Rights of Nature, there is great hope. This is more than Mother Earth’s rights maturing and growing. It’s the promise that – perhaps – humanity is finally “coming of age.” We are rejecting the creed of “human exceptionalism” and the devastation it has caused, and instead embracing the truth that Earth, nature, people – life itself – is a symbiotic whole.
CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature are leading the way in the Rights of Nature Movement across the United States and around the world. From Tamaqua Borough, PA, to Lincoln County, OR; and from Ecuador to Australia, CELDF is there. Your donation helps us meet the growing requests for our help – please donate today!
Interested in learning more about Rights of Nature and how you can advance those rights in your community? Contact us at info@celdf.org
Featured image: Bandera del Ecuador by Yamil Salinas Martínez, Flickr Creative Commons.
Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Ecuador’s Landmark Constitution
Happy birthday, Mother Earth!
Well, that’s not exactly accurate. How about…
Feliz aniversario, Pachamama y Ecuador!
Ten Year Anniversary for First Rights of Nature Constitution
Next week marks the tenth anniversary of Ecuador’s Constitution, which recognizes legally enforceable Rights of Nature “to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”
As a CELDF representative said at the time, “With this vote, the people of Ecuador are leading the way for countries around the world to fundamentally change how we protect Nature.”
For beyond setting a legal precedent on the existence of Nature’s rights, Ecuador’s Constitution also challenges the people of the world to speak and act on behalf of Pachamama, by stating, “Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.”
Recognizing Ecosystems as Rights-Bearing Entities
Over the past decade, that’s a challenge people and communities around the world have taken up, changing the legal recognition of ecosystems from being property to being acknowledged as rights-bearing entities. Throughout, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which assisted the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly in drafting the provisions, has provided legal counsel, guidance, and support to people around the world working to establish the Rights of Nature.
During the past ten years –
- Bolivia’s Legislative Assembly passed the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.
- Ecuador’s high court upheld that nation’s constitutional provisions in the Vilcabamba River case.
- Citizens of Nepal began a campaign toward constitutional Rights of Nature for the Himalayas.
- In Colombia, courts have now ruled that both the Atrato and Amazon River systems have rights to exist and flourish.
- The High Court of Uttarakhand in India has issued rulings recognizing the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers, glaciers, and other ecosystems as legal persons with certain rights. That same court, just this summer, declared, “Every species has an inherent right to live and are required to be protected by law,” effectively declaring legal rights for the entire animal kingdom.
- New Zealand’s Parliament has enacted both the Te Urewera Act and the Te Awa Tupua Act, recognizing the Te Urewera area and the Whanganui River ecosystem as legal entities with their own rights.
- A campaign for legal recognition of the rights of the Great Barrier Reef is currently in progress in Australia.
- In the United States, more than thirty communities have adopted Rights of Nature laws, with efforts under way in Ohio, Oregon, and other states to amend state constitutions and recognize the Rights of Nature.
- Pope Francis has declared, “A true ‘right of the environment’ does exist.”
A Growing Movement
People worldwide are listening, watching, and acting in this transformational movement to embrace and defend Mother Earth’s rights. Some come to it spiritually, following the lead of Pope Francis, or – as the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin is doing with their constitutional amendment – reclaiming their traditional worldview. Others come to it philosophically, having found resonance in the logical arguments of Christopher Stone’s essay, “Should Trees Have Standing: Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” Still others grasp the need to acknowledge Mother Earth’s rights from the scientific view in James Lovelock’s and Lynn Margulis’ Gaia theory.
And sadly, far too many people have found their way to Rights of Nature because they have been sickened – literally and figuratively – by the effects of enslaving Mother Earth and her land, water, air, plant life, and animals to create corporate profits. They recognize their individual and collective health and lives are dependent on Nature’s right to exist and thrive. And they are willing to fight for their own lives and Hers.
As we congratulate the Ecuadorian people on this landmark ten-year anniversary and their recognition of the Rights of Nature, there is great hope. This is more than Mother Earth’s rights maturing and growing. It’s the promise that – perhaps – humanity is finally “coming of age.” We are rejecting the creed of “human exceptionalism” and the devastation it has caused, and instead embracing the truth that Earth, nature, people – life itself – is a symbiotic whole.
CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature are leading the way in the Rights of Nature Movement across the United States and around the world. From Tamaqua Borough, PA, to Lincoln County, OR; and from Ecuador to Australia, CELDF is there. Your donation helps us meet the growing requests for our help – please donate today!
Interested in learning more about Rights of Nature and how you can advance those rights in your community? Contact us at info@celdf.org
Featured image: Bandera del Ecuador by Yamil Salinas Martínez, Flickr Creative Commons.
Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Ecuador’s Landmark Constitution
Happy birthday, Mother Earth!
Well, that’s not exactly accurate. How about…
Feliz aniversario, Pachamama y Ecuador!
Ten Year Anniversary for First Rights of Nature Constitution
Next week marks the tenth anniversary of Ecuador’s Constitution, which recognizes legally enforceable Rights of Nature “to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”
As a CELDF representative said at the time, “With this vote, the people of Ecuador are leading the way for countries around the world to fundamentally change how we protect Nature.”
For beyond setting a legal precedent on the existence of Nature’s rights, Ecuador’s Constitution also challenges the people of the world to speak and act on behalf of Pachamama, by stating, “Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.”
Recognizing Ecosystems as Rights-Bearing Entities
Over the past decade, that’s a challenge people and communities around the world have taken up, changing the legal recognition of ecosystems from being property to being acknowledged as rights-bearing entities. Throughout, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which assisted the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly in drafting the provisions, has provided legal counsel, guidance, and support to people around the world working to establish the Rights of Nature.
During the past ten years –
- Bolivia’s Legislative Assembly passed the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.
- Ecuador’s high court upheld that nation’s constitutional provisions in the Vilcabamba River case.
- Citizens of Nepal began a campaign toward constitutional Rights of Nature for the Himalayas.
- In Colombia, courts have now ruled that both the Atrato and Amazon River systems have rights to exist and flourish.
- The High Court of Uttarakhand in India has issued rulings recognizing the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers, glaciers, and other ecosystems as legal persons with certain rights. That same court, just this summer, declared, “Every species has an inherent right to live and are required to be protected by law,” effectively declaring legal rights for the entire animal kingdom.
- New Zealand’s Parliament has enacted both the Te Urewera Act and the Te Awa Tupua Act, recognizing the Te Urewera area and the Whanganui River ecosystem as legal entities with their own rights.
- A campaign for legal recognition of the rights of the Great Barrier Reef is currently in progress in Australia.
- In the United States, more than thirty communities have adopted Rights of Nature laws, with efforts under way in Ohio, Oregon, and other states to amend state constitutions and recognize the Rights of Nature.
- Pope Francis has declared, “A true ‘right of the environment’ does exist.”
A Growing Movement
People worldwide are listening, watching, and acting in this transformational movement to embrace and defend Mother Earth’s rights. Some come to it spiritually, following the lead of Pope Francis, or – as the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin is doing with their constitutional amendment – reclaiming their traditional worldview. Others come to it philosophically, having found resonance in the logical arguments of Christopher Stone’s essay, “Should Trees Have Standing: Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” Still others grasp the need to acknowledge Mother Earth’s rights from the scientific view in James Lovelock’s and Lynn Margulis’ Gaia theory.
And sadly, far too many people have found their way to Rights of Nature because they have been sickened – literally and figuratively – by the effects of enslaving Mother Earth and her land, water, air, plant life, and animals to create corporate profits. They recognize their individual and collective health and lives are dependent on Nature’s right to exist and thrive. And they are willing to fight for their own lives and Hers.
As we congratulate the Ecuadorian people on this landmark ten-year anniversary and their recognition of the Rights of Nature, there is great hope. This is more than Mother Earth’s rights maturing and growing. It’s the promise that – perhaps – humanity is finally “coming of age.” We are rejecting the creed of “human exceptionalism” and the devastation it has caused, and instead embracing the truth that Earth, nature, people – life itself – is a symbiotic whole.
CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature are leading the way in the Rights of Nature Movement across the United States and around the world. From Tamaqua Borough, PA, to Lincoln County, OR; and from Ecuador to Australia, CELDF is there. Your donation helps us meet the growing requests for our help – please donate today!
Interested in learning more about Rights of Nature and how you can advance those rights in your community? Contact us at info@celdf.org
Featured image: Bandera del Ecuador by Yamil Salinas Martínez, Flickr Creative Commons.
Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Ecuador’s Landmark Constitution
Happy birthday, Mother Earth!
Well, that’s not exactly accurate. How about…
Feliz aniversario, Pachamama y Ecuador!
Ten Year Anniversary for First Rights of Nature Constitution
Next week marks the tenth anniversary of Ecuador’s Constitution, which recognizes legally enforceable Rights of Nature “to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.”
As a CELDF representative said at the time, “With this vote, the people of Ecuador are leading the way for countries around the world to fundamentally change how we protect Nature.”
For beyond setting a legal precedent on the existence of Nature’s rights, Ecuador’s Constitution also challenges the people of the world to speak and act on behalf of Pachamama, by stating, “Every person, people, community or nationality, will be able to demand the recognitions of rights for nature before the public bodies.”
Recognizing Ecosystems as Rights-Bearing Entities
Over the past decade, that’s a challenge people and communities around the world have taken up, changing the legal recognition of ecosystems from being property to being acknowledged as rights-bearing entities. Throughout, the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which assisted the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly in drafting the provisions, has provided legal counsel, guidance, and support to people around the world working to establish the Rights of Nature.
During the past ten years –
- Bolivia’s Legislative Assembly passed the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth.
- Ecuador’s high court upheld that nation’s constitutional provisions in the Vilcabamba River case.
- Citizens of Nepal began a campaign toward constitutional Rights of Nature for the Himalayas.
- In Colombia, courts have now ruled that both the Atrato and Amazon River systems have rights to exist and flourish.
- The High Court of Uttarakhand in India has issued rulings recognizing the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers, glaciers, and other ecosystems as legal persons with certain rights. That same court, just this summer, declared, “Every species has an inherent right to live and are required to be protected by law,” effectively declaring legal rights for the entire animal kingdom.
- New Zealand’s Parliament has enacted both the Te Urewera Act and the Te Awa Tupua Act, recognizing the Te Urewera area and the Whanganui River ecosystem as legal entities with their own rights.
- A campaign for legal recognition of the rights of the Great Barrier Reef is currently in progress in Australia.
- In the United States, more than thirty communities have adopted Rights of Nature laws, with efforts under way in Ohio, Oregon, and other states to amend state constitutions and recognize the Rights of Nature.
- Pope Francis has declared, “A true ‘right of the environment’ does exist.”
A Growing Movement
People worldwide are listening, watching, and acting in this transformational movement to embrace and defend Mother Earth’s rights. Some come to it spiritually, following the lead of Pope Francis, or – as the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin is doing with their constitutional amendment – reclaiming their traditional worldview. Others come to it philosophically, having found resonance in the logical arguments of Christopher Stone’s essay, “Should Trees Have Standing: Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects.” Still others grasp the need to acknowledge Mother Earth’s rights from the scientific view in James Lovelock’s and Lynn Margulis’ Gaia theory.
And sadly, far too many people have found their way to Rights of Nature because they have been sickened – literally and figuratively – by the effects of enslaving Mother Earth and her land, water, air, plant life, and animals to create corporate profits. They recognize their individual and collective health and lives are dependent on Nature’s right to exist and thrive. And they are willing to fight for their own lives and Hers.
As we congratulate the Ecuadorian people on this landmark ten-year anniversary and their recognition of the Rights of Nature, there is great hope. This is more than Mother Earth’s rights maturing and growing. It’s the promise that – perhaps – humanity is finally “coming of age.” We are rejecting the creed of “human exceptionalism” and the devastation it has caused, and instead embracing the truth that Earth, nature, people – life itself – is a symbiotic whole.
CELDF and our International Center for the Rights of Nature are leading the way in the Rights of Nature Movement across the United States and around the world. From Tamaqua Borough, PA, to Lincoln County, OR; and from Ecuador to Australia, CELDF is there. Your donation helps us meet the growing requests for our help – please donate today!
Interested in learning more about Rights of Nature and how you can advance those rights in your community? Contact us at info@celdf.org
Featured image: Bandera del Ecuador by Yamil Salinas Martínez, Flickr Creative Commons.
First Tribal Nation to Advance Rights-Based Constitutional Framework to Protect Nature
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Stacey Schmader
Administrative Director
Info@celdf.org
717-498-0054
MERCERSBURG, PA: On Saturday, the General Council of the Ho-Chunk Nation voted overwhelmingly – 86.9% in favor – to amend their tribal constitution to enshrine the Rights of Nature. The Ho-Chunk Nation is the first tribal nation in the United States to take this critical step. A vote of the full membership will follow.
The amendment establishes that “Ecosystems, natural communities, and species within the Ho-Chunk Nation territory possess inherent, fundamental, and inalienable rights to naturally exist, flourish, regenerate, and evolve.” Further it prohibits frac sand mining, fossil fuel extraction, and genetic engineering as violations of the Rights of Nature.
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), with its International Center for the Rights of Nature, assisted members of the Ho-Chunk Nation in drafting the amendment.
Rekumani (Bill Greendeer), a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and the Deer clan, proposed the amendment. He explained, “Everything here is sacred. We are all related. We are related to the trees, the birds, the animals, nature herself. We all have a right to exist and thrive. Mother Earth is a sacred soul, and has rights not to be exploited for someone’s profits.”
A CELDF representative stated, “We are honored to assist the Ho-Chunk Nation to become the first tribal nation to advance the Rights of Nature into its constitution.”
They added, “With this vote, the Ho-Chunk Nation has taken a critical step to prohibit fossil fuel extraction as a violation of the Rights of Nature. This comes as the Ho-Chunk see their traditional living lands stripped of trees and plant life, driving away the deer and birds, in order to dig sand mines. Those sands will be shipped elsewhere for use in fracturing Mother Earth.”
Rights of Nature – CELDF
CELDF, and its International Center for the Rights of Nature, has assisted the first places in the world to secure the Rights of Nature in law – including in Ecuador’s Constitution and more than three dozen communities in the United States. Today, CELDF is working in Nepal, India, and other countries, as well as with tribal nations and indigenous peoples, to advance Rights of Nature laws. This includes work in Australia to secure legal rights of the Great Barrier Reef.
In a time of accelerating climate change, species extinction, and ecosystem collapse, it is increasingly understood that fulfilling a human right to a healthy environment is dependent on the health of the natural environment. Thus, the human right to a healthy environment can only be achieved if we place the highest protections on the natural environment – by recognizing in law the right of the environment itself to be healthy and thrive.
To learn more, please contact Info@celdf.org.
###
Featured image: Sandhill crane by chumlee10 Flickr Creative Commons.
First Tribal Nation to Advance Rights-Based Constitutional Framework to Protect Nature
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Stacey Schmader
Administrative Director
Info@celdf.org
717-498-0054
MERCERSBURG, PA: On Saturday, the General Council of the Ho-Chunk Nation voted overwhelmingly – 86.9% in favor – to amend their tribal constitution to enshrine the Rights of Nature. The Ho-Chunk Nation is the first tribal nation in the United States to take this critical step. A vote of the full membership will follow.
The amendment establishes that “Ecosystems, natural communities, and species within the Ho-Chunk Nation territory possess inherent, fundamental, and inalienable rights to naturally exist, flourish, regenerate, and evolve.” Further it prohibits frac sand mining, fossil fuel extraction, and genetic engineering as violations of the Rights of Nature.
The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), with its International Center for the Rights of Nature, assisted members of the Ho-Chunk Nation in drafting the amendment.
Rekumani (Bill Greendeer), a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and the Deer clan, proposed the amendment. He explained, “Everything here is sacred. We are all related. We are related to the trees, the birds, the animals, nature herself. We all have a right to exist and thrive. Mother Earth is a sacred soul, and has rights not to be exploited for someone’s profits.”
A CELDF representative stated, “We are honored to assist the Ho-Chunk Nation to become the first tribal nation to advance the Rights of Nature into its constitution.”
They added, “With this vote, the Ho-Chunk Nation has taken a critical step to prohibit fossil fuel extraction as a violation of the Rights of Nature. This comes as the Ho-Chunk see their traditional living lands stripped of trees and plant life, driving away the deer and birds, in order to dig sand mines. Those sands will be shipped elsewhere for use in fracturing Mother Earth.”
Rights of Nature – CELDF
CELDF, and its International Center for the Rights of Nature, has assisted the first places in the world to secure the Rights of Nature in law – including in Ecuador’s Constitution and more than three dozen communities in the United States. Today, CELDF is working in Nepal, India, and other countries, as well as with tribal nations and indigenous peoples, to advance Rights of Nature laws. This includes work in Australia to secure legal rights of the Great Barrier Reef.
In a time of accelerating climate change, species extinction, and ecosystem collapse, it is increasingly understood that fulfilling a human right to a healthy environment is dependent on the health of the natural environment. Thus, the human right to a healthy environment can only be achieved if we place the highest protections on the natural environment – by recognizing in law the right of the environment itself to be healthy and thrive.
To learn more, please contact Info@celdf.org.
###
Featured image: Sandhill crane by chumlee10 Flickr Creative Commons.
