Board of Elections refuses to certify signatures, deems county charter unconstitutional The media release was published by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund on July 11th, 2019. BRYAN, OH: On Monday, the Williams County Board of Elections (BOE) attempted to block a proposed county charter initiative brought forward by residents seeking to protect the Michindoh Aquifer [...]
Ships and corporations have legal standing. Should ecosystems? This article by Jackie Lynn Mogenson appeared in the July/August 2019 issue of Mother Jones magazine. In the summer of 2014, officials in Toledo, Ohio, announced that the city’s tap water was no longer safe to drink. A toxic algae bloom caused by fertilizer runoff had poisoned Lake Erie, [...]
Two ideas that could save us and the planet: community democracy in the name of sustainability, and the rights of nature This article by Thomas Linzey was published in Common Dreams on July 2nd, 2019. In May, an international group of scientists warned that over a million of the Earth’s species are being driven to [...]
A pending state ban on Rights of Nature. Anonymous legislators. A lawsuit to enforce the lake’s rights. A new county petition… This press release was published by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund on July 1st, 2019. COLUMBUS, OH: The Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR) made history when 61 percent of Toledo, Ohio, voters approved [...]
Both the House and Senate have approved language to ban Rights of Nature enforcement. A press release published by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund on June 27th, 2019. COLUMBUS, OH: This Sunday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is scheduled to sign off on a new state budget for 2020-2021. Hidden within the 3,000+ page document are [...]
This press release was published by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund on June 27th, 2019. Today, citizens of Toledo, Ohio will be filing a Pro Se Complaint to validate the Lake Erie Bill of Rights at the Lucas County Courthouse, 10 a.m. As citizens of the City of Toledo, Michael Ferner, Bryan Twitchell, and [...]
This letter to the editor by Judy Wanchisn appeared in the Indiana Gazette on June 24th, 2019. She is the Queenmother to the East Run Hellbenders Society Inc. and member of Grant Township, Pennsylvania. In a recent letter to the editor Mike Butler, a CEA director, attacked Grant Township and CELDF using some hot button [...]
This article by Tom Henry appeared in The Toledo Blade on June 22nd, 2019. The so-called “rights of nature” movement that led to the high-profile Lake Erie Bill of Rights in Toledo has now moved west over to Williams County in the form of an effort aimed at limiting water withdrawals from the Michindoh Aquifer. The Williams County Alliance, [...]
This article by Will Falk and Sean Butler was published at Deep Green Resistance News Service on June 18th, 2019. It should be clear to anyone following the events surrounding attempts by the citizens of Toledo, OH, with help from nonprofit law firm the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), to protect Lake Erie with [...]
This article by Jim Provance appeared in The Toledo Blade on June 11th, 2019. COLUMBUS — The Ohio Senate on Tuesday put its first stamp on the state’s next two-year budget by calling for the investment of $172 million into the health of Lake Erie and other Ohio waterways while also maneuvering to make toothless [...]
