In New Zealand and Ecuador, rivers with legal aspects of “personhood” open up new environmental battles This article by Mihnea Tanasescu appeared in Scientific American , June 19, 2017. In the early 2000s, the idea of giving legal rights to nature was on the fringes of environmental legal theory and public consciousness. Today, New Zealand’s Whanganui [...]
Court in New York rules in case of caged adult male chimps Tommy and Kiko that there is no precedent for apes being considered people. From The Guardian newspaper. Two chimpanzees that were caged at a trailer lot and at a primate sanctuary don’t have the legal rights of people in New York, an appeals [...]
This original editorial by John C. Lamb appeared in the, Daily Camera on June 8, 2017 Lafayette Mayor Christine Berg was not "an overseer of Lafayette's Climate Bill of Rights and Protections" as was printed in the Camera. In fact, she led the way for the Lafayette City Council to gut the bill and pass [...]
First-in-state to elevate community rights over corporate “rights” and recognize rights of nature A Press Release from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, from May 31, 2017. OREGON: The election results from Lincoln County, OR, are in: Lincoln residents adopted the first-in-the nation countywide Freedom from Aerial Sprayed Pesticides ordinance by 61 votes. Lincoln residents are [...]
This original editorial by Ken Ward appeared in The Hill on May 31, 2017 To the dismay of our allies, the White House could any day announce the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris climate agreement. But as a patriot and climate activist, I’m not dismayed. I actually want to pull out. MORE...
This original article by Jan Morice appeared in. Cleveland.Com on May 31, 2017 CLEVELAND, Ohio - Years before cleveland.com conceived its Western Reserve project to push for fair representation in northern Ohio, a grassroots group drafted its own declaration of self-governance to launch a fight for local control. "We declare," the Columbus Declaration states, "that the [...]
Grant Township, Pennsylvania, population 741, has became the front line of a radical new environmental movement – and they're not backing down. Rolling Stone magazine's first-ever major story about the Community Rights movement, with a focus on the courageous residents of Grant Township, Pennsylvania, who are continuing to make national history as they defend their right to [...]
This original article by Spencer Cole appeared in, The World on May 15, 2017 COOS COUNTY — More than $1 million dollars has been donated or spent to crush a controversial ballot measure that targets the proposed Jordan Cove liquid natural gas export terminal and Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline. The staggering amount has made the campaign [...]
Oregon's corporate daily newspaper, The Oregonian's May 7, 2017 coverage of the leading Community Rights campaign in the state this year - the Coos County Right to a Sustainable Energy Future Ordinance, coming up for a vote on May 16. The Oregonian has seen fit to focus on the corporate opposition to the ordinance, which [...]
The Court Finds the Atrato Possesses Rights to “Protection, Conservation, Maintenance and Restoration” Rights of Nature Movement Gaining Ground as Court Declares Need to Move Away from Legal Systems in which Humans are the “dominator of nature” A Press Release from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, from May 4, 2017. MERCERSBURG, PA, USA: In November, [...]