Demands for self-determination in times of crises are growing. This article by Simon Davis Cohen and published on the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund's website on February 3rd, 2020. Protests rocked Puerto Rico in 2019. A core demand of the protests: local self-determination. After the island was hit by a financial crisis, the United States [...]
This guest blog by Markie Miller and Crystal Jankowski was posted on the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund's website on December 10th, 2019. A few weeks ago, the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR) was profiled in an article in The Guardian. The article, titled “Should this tree have the same rights as you?” was written by Robert Macfarlane. Two [...]
This article was written and published by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund on October 23, 2019. Since its inception, a state-wide movement in Ohio has faced a state and corporate attack that amounts to concerted opposition from all branches of state government, corporate lobbies, private law firms, and both political parties. The entire repressive [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Revolution and Counterrevolution: The People vs. the Federalists A blog post by Ben Price of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund published on July 3rd, 2019. Fourth of July celebrations commemorate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, not the U.S. Constitution of 1789. We should be thankful for that. The wealthy Federalists who overturned [...]
The Denver “Right to Survive” initiative lays out new enforceable human rights for people experiencing homelessness and gives them new standing in court to sue when their rights are violated. It would have overturned a city law that bans resting and sheltering in public spaces. Wealthy interests out raised local supporters 23:1 to defeat the measure. [...]
This blog post by Mari Margil appeared on the Earth Day Network on April 13th, 2019. When Dr. Seuss’s Lorax sees the Truffula trees being destroyed, he declares: “I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues.” No tongues, indeed. But today, trees are gaining a voice, and [...]
This story about a big corporation's disregard for a well-established religious community's rights was written and published recently by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). Early on the misty morning of October 1, Williams/Transco workmen clad in neon vests removed the cross. It had been standing sentinel at the apex of a heart-shaped labyrinth, [...]
This story about the late Dr. Ray Beiersdorfer, a community rights organizer and geology professor at Youngstown State University in Ohio, was written and recently published by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). “Who is this guy?” CELDF organizer Tish O’Dell asked herself, when she first met Dr. Ray Beiersdorfer. “I never saw anyone like [...]
