Local residents now have standing in court to sue corporate polluters on behalf of the lake. The local effort has been vigorously opposed by a group linked to some of the largest corporations and lobbying groups on the planet.
This article by Simon Davis-Cohen appeared in The Progressive, February 27th, 2019.
Last night, residents of Toledo, Ohio voted in favor of a major breakthrough for the “Rights of Nature” movement. Recognizing legally-enforceable rights for the natural world, the Lake Erie Bill of Rights passed with 61.4 percent of the vote.
Since making it to the February Special Election ballot, the groundbreaking city charter amendment has made national and international news, appearing in The New York Times, CNN, Mother Jones, Bloomberg, as well as The Guardian, Canada’s CBC and the French paper Le Monde. “An Ohio city will vote on whether Lake Erie has the same rights as a person,” read the CNN headline.
Though the Rights of Nature movement has enjoyed sporadic media attention for its gains made in New Zealand, Ecuador, Bolivia, India, and elsewhere, never before has Rights of Nature organizing by non-indigenous residents of the United States gained this level of attention.
Following yesterday’s vote, Markie Miller of Toledoans for Safe Water said in a statement: “We’ve been using the same laws for decades to try and protect Lake Erie. They’re clearly not working. Beginning today, with this historic vote, the people of Toledo and our allies are ushering in a new era of environmental rights by securing the rights of the Great Lake Erie.”
Read the rest of Simon Davis-Cohen’s article HERE…