Supreme Courts – Federal & State

Indiana Gazette: Hellbenders have their day in court

This article by Chauncey Ross was published in the Indiana Gazette on October 5th, 2019. PITTSBURGH — Six years after a plan for a drilling waste-disposal injection well was first revealed in northern Indiana County and after area residents banded together against it, lawyers waged another battle Friday in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court. The dispute centers [...]

Mother Jones: Some Indigenous Communities Have a New Way to Fight Climate Change: Give Personhood Rights to Nature

A Yurok Tribe resolution allows cases to be brought on behalf of the Klamath River as a person in tribal court This article by Anna V. Smith was published in Mother Jones magazine on September 29, 2019. This story was originally published by High Country News and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. This summer, [...]

It’s Time: Rights of Nature in the UK.

This blog post by Susan Shaw, Solicitor & Founder Living Law, was posted on the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund's website on September 6th, 2019. Editor’s Note: CELDF is pleased to present a guest blog from our partner Susan Shaw, a solicitor and founder of Living Law, in Scotland. We have been engaging with groups [...]

My Turn: The rights of nature

This letter to the editor  by Sol Solomon appeared in the Concord Monitor on September 5th, 2019. The natural world is under siege. Rather than heed the dire warning signs staring them in the face, those who ravage the Earth’s resources are stepping up their efforts. They are in a frenzy to wrest every drop [...]

The Tour to Save the World: Colombia wins the Yellow Jersey for the Rights of Nature

Colombian cyclist Egan Arley Bernal Gómez and this year’s winner of the Tour de France has captured  the world’s attention as the first Latin American to don its leading yellow jersey. What readers may not know is that Colombia also wears the yellow jersey in the race for protection of Mother Earth – blazing the [...]

Chad Nicholson: The Limits to Home Rule

This editorial by Chad Nicholson was published in Penn Live on August 21, 2019. Recently, the Pennsylvania State Legislature undermined the discretion of Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. In July language was slipped into the state budget to give the office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro powers to circumvent Krasner’s discretion in prosecuting gun laws. Backlash [...]

Press Release: Democracy Challenged in Williams County, Petitioners Appeal to Ohio Supreme Court Again

Court battle over rights for Michindoh Aquifer ballot initiative heads to Ohio Supreme Court.  The press release by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund was published on August 21st, 2019. BRYAN, OH: Officials from Williams County are stonewalling a proposed Community Rights county ballot initiative that would prevent corporate privatization of the Michindoh Aquifer, the sole [...]

Brazil Superior Court calls for paradigm shift to recognize the intrinsic value and rights of nature

This blog post by Mari Margil, Associate Director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, was posted on August 14th, 2019. We now know that July 2019 was the hottest month in recorded human history, with 2016 – 2018 the hottest years in recorded history.  We know that more than 1 million species are at risk as human activities push “the planet towards [...]

Next City: Can Cities Grant Nature the Right to Exist, and Thrive?

From preventing toxic algae blooms to banning aerial pesticide spraying, the fight for local control over environmental decisions elevates the rights of nature as a key step in the larger community rights movement. This article by Valerie Vande Panne appeared in Next City on August 12, 2019. I've been following articles and news updates on [...]

#202 | The Match Has Been Struck: Environmental Law & Questioning Unquestioned Beliefs w/ Will Falk

Patrick Farnsworth interviews Will Falk about his newly released book "How Dams Fall" and other essential Community Rights topics on his Last Born in the Wilderness podcast. It was published on July 29th, 2019. Below is the description of the interview. In this episode I speak with lawyer and radical environmental activist Will Falk. In [...]

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