This story about the courageous citizens and local government officials of Grant Township was written and published by The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). Should a liquor distributor be allowed to sue a “dry county” over lost profits? Should a tobacco company be allowed to sue a municipality over profits lost due to a [...]
This story about the fight for democracy in Ohio was recently published by The Community Environmental Legal Defense fund (CELDF) on their website. “Let us vote! Let us vote!” members of the Columbus Community Bill of Rights organization chant outside county offices and their state courthouse. “Let us vote!” “It’s crystal clear that not only [...]
This story about Jean Porter and her Rights of Nature work in Hawaii was publish by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), December 7th, 2018. -- What can one person do as we face environmental devastation? Meet CELDF champion Joan Porter, of Kauai. A private landowner, she established a conservation easement for eight acres of [...]
This story about Carol Van Strum and her work with others fighting pesticide spraying in Lincoln County, Oregon was publish by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) on December 6th, 2018. -- It’s been 35 years since Carol Van Strum first published “A Bitter Fog,” the Christopher Award winning book telling the story of [...]
This story about Monica Christofili was published on the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund's website on, November 29, 2018. Pregnancy nightmares: they’re “a thing” guidebooks and obstetricians don’t often discuss. Yet for Monica Christofili of Newmarket, where CELDF began assisting community members to advance Community Rights in the summer of 2017, her sleeping and waking [...]
…the people pressed on anyway, regardless of what the Court said…” A blog posting published by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, from October 11, 2018. Young activists and organizers today study the civil rights movement. It’s our model for organizing. It’s our reference point for how to do it right. It defines the unofficial rules for [...]
A brief reflection about the Rights of Nature idea and movement by Ben Price of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. 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 [...]
Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Ecuador’s Landmark Constitution A Blog Posting by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, from September 22, 2018. 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 [...]
A Blog Posting by Lindsey Schromen-Wawrin of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, from August 13th, 2018. Government exists to protect our rights, health, safety, and welfare We have government to protect our rights, health, safety, and welfare. That’s fundamental to our theory of government. When a legislature enacts a law that isn’t rationally connected to [...]
A Blog Posting by Ben Price of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, from June 29th, 2018. If you’re an American citizen without a home or bank account, a prisoner incarcerated in the American Gulag, or an immigrant with no “documentation,” you have few rights in the United States. Property defines who will and won’t be considered a [...]
