A proposal, among the first of its kind for large U.S. cities, could redefine conservation efforts.
This article by Trevor Bach appeared on the U.S. News and World Report website, February 22, 2019.
BY EARLY AUGUST OF 2014 hundreds of square miles of Lake Erie’s surface were covered in a thick green ooze, a massive algae bloom caused by agricultural runoff. A half million Toledo-area residents learned their tap water was dangerously contaminated, untouchable even after boiling. Ohio’s fourth largest city was virtually shut down: Desperate citizens lined up hours for bottled water; hospitals turned people away.
Nearly five years later, the city is on the brink of adopting landmark environmental legislation: On Feb. 26 voters will decide whether to ratify the Lake Erie Bill of Rights, a city charter amendment that grants legal standing to the lake ecosystem itself. Proponents argue the initiative could help redefine American conservation efforts.
“Nature, right now, is considered property,” says Tish O’Dell, Ohio community organizer for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, a national nonprofit group backing the measure. “Our laws don’t match up to what we need and value. Nature doesn’t need us – we need nature.”
For years the rights of nature movement has been gaining global momentum. In 2006 CELDF helped the tiny borough of Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, whose landscape had been ravaged by coal mining, incorporate rights of nature to ban toxic sewage dumping. In 2010, Pittsburgh, in legislation that banned natural gas drilling, became the first large American city to embrace the movement; Santa Monica, California later passed its own legislation, as have dozens of municipalities across the country. Ecuador and Bolivia have passed federal laws, while New Zealand has granted rights to the Te Urewera forest, Whanganui River and Mount Taranaki, all sacred to the country’s native Māori people. MORE…
(Toledoans will be voting on this historic measure this Tues, Feb 26th. Please check out the Toledoans for Safe Water’s Facebook page for daily updates and to see how you can support these courageous citizen’s efforts.)