By Will Falk and Sean Butler Photo: 2009 algae bloom in western Lake Erie. Photo by Tom Archer. 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 the Lake … Continue reading Questioning Unquestioned Beliefs: What the Lake Erie Bill of Rights Teaches Us→
By Will Falk and Sean Butler / Voices for Biodiversity On December 18, 2018, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Wild Fish Conservancy threatened the Trump administration with a lawsuit under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for allowing salmon fisheries to take too many salmon, which the critically endangered Southern Resident orcas depend on for food. … Continue reading Fighting for the Rights of Southern Resident Orcas→
Featured image: Dan From Indiana on flickr. Some Rights Reserved. The Rights of Nature Movement continues to advance through lawmaking and court decisions. by The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) via Intercontinental Cry MERCERSBURG, PA, USA: Today, the Colombia Supreme Court of Justice issued a decision declaring that the Amazon region in Colombia … Continue reading Colombia Supreme Court Rules that Amazon Region is “Subject of Rights”→
Private landowner on Kaua’i legally recognizes nature’s rights by Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund HAWAII: For the first time, ecosystems and natural communities on eight acres of land on the island of Kaua’i possess legal rights to exist, thrive, regenerate, and evolve. This is the first Rights of Nature conservation easement on the Hawaiian … Continue reading First Rights of Nature Easement Established in Hawaii→
Editor’s note: The first Rights of Nature lawsuit in the US was filed on September 25, 2017, in Denver, Colorado. The full text of the complaint can be found here. by Will Falk / Deep Green Resistance Great Basin In the war for social and environmental justice, even the best lawyers rarely serve as … Continue reading The Rights of Nature and the Power(lessness) of Law→
Local Global Mass Extinction According to an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in July, the planet is in the midst of the sixth mass extinction event. Strikingly, the scientists who wrote the article call this a “biological annihilation.” The destruction of the planet happens bit-by-bit. A new big-box store, a … Continue reading News Roundup – August 2017→
A massive proposed LNG (liquefied natural gas) pipeline and export terminal has been proposed in Coos County, on the southern Oregon coast. These projects, which are expected to cost $7.6 billion (twice as much as the Dakota Access Pipeline), are known as the “Pacific Connector Gas Pipeline” and the “Jordan Cove LNG Export Terminal.” The … Continue reading Coos County: take decisive action, vote yes on 6-162→
Today, Spokane activists, including several who were arrested for blocking fossil fuel trains in Spokane four months ago, filed suit against the federal government in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington. ... Continue reading →
By Sacred Water Sacred Land Sacred Water Sacred Land is sponsoring a tar sands awareness walk through Wisconsin along Enbridge’s proposed Twin Line #66 starting with a kick-off event in Delevan or Walworth on June 8th. 33 Days on Twin #66, a Sacred Water Sacred Land sponsored walk, begins at the entry point of the … Continue reading 33 Days on Twin #66: Walking the Enbridge Pipeline→
New Law Shields People from Arrest for Protesting Project By Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund Grant Township, Indiana County, PA: Grant Township Supervisors passed a first-in-the-nation law that legalizes direct action to stop frack wastewater injection wells within the Township. Pennsylvania General Energy Company (PGE) has sued the Township to overturn a local democratically-enacted law … Continue reading Pennsylvania Township Legalizes Civil Disobedience→
