This article appeared in El Heraldo on May 3, 2017 In Colombia, it is the first time that rights are granted to a river, to resources as such, beyond people and communities. As a historical landmark, Ximena González described the ruling of the Constitutional Court that declared for the first time that a river “is [...]
This article by Ashish Kothari, Mari Margil, and Shrishtee Bajpai originally appeared in, The Guardian on April 21, 2017 Several geographically-distant but related events signalled a dramatic mind shift in humanity’s troubled relationship with nature last month. First, the New Zealand parliament passed the Te Awa Tupua Act, giving the Whanganui River and ecosystem a legal standing in its [...]
This news story appeared on France 24 TV on April 1, 2017. An Indian court has recognised Himalayan glaciers, lakes and forests as "legal persons" in an effort to curb environmental destruction, weeks after it granted similar status to the country's two most sacred rivers. In a decision that aims to widen environmental protections in [...]
CELDF working in India to Recognize Rights of the Ganga River Basin. A Press Release from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, from March 22, 2017. Mercersburg, Pennsylvania: On March 20, the High Court of Uttarakhand at Naintal, in the State of Uttarakhand in northern India, issued a ruling declaring that the River Ganga and [...]
This article was written by Thomas Linzey, the Executive Director of Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, and was published in the news-weekly, In These Times. Nations around the world have been meeting for more than two decades to solve the looming problem of climate change. During their most recent gathering—held last November in the Moroccan [...]
Motion Follows Second Industry Lawsuit Claiming a Corporate “Right” to Inject Frack Wastewater in Highland Township, PA. A Press Release from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, from January 13, 2017. Highland Township, Elk County, Pennsylvania: Today, Citizens Advocating a Clean Healthy Environment (CACHE) and the Crystal Spring Ecosystem filed to intervene in the federal [...]
A Blog Posting by Ben Price of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, from November 6, 2016. This year CELDF’s community rights organizing has exposed the pustule-pocked rump of corporate America like never before. The marriage of corporate and state power that Mussolini called “fascism,” we refer to simply as “the corporate state.” And it [...]
For some people, like the Zuni in New Mexico, wild places are considered living beings. In western society, it’s companies that assume that privileged position In recent years, the US supreme court has solidified the concept of corporate personhood. Following rulings in such cases as Hobby Lobby and Citizens United, US law has established that [...]
Thomas Linzey and Mari Margil shared the stage at the annual Bioneers Conference in California in October 2016. As species collapse around the world while governments still authorize fossil fuel extraction and other destructive, unsustainable activities, communities across the U.S. are rising in resistance to "occupy the law". They're enacting "community bills of rights" that [...]
First Tribal Nation to Advance the Rights of Nature. A Press Release from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, from September 18, 2016. Mercersburg, Pennsylvania: On Saturday, the General Council of the Ho-Chunk Nation voted overwhelmingly to amend their tribal constitution to enshrine the Rights of Nature. The Ho-Chunk Nation is the first tribal nation [...]