We talk about the Great Lakes like they’re permanent. Like they exist outside of consequence. Something vast enough to absorb whatever we take from it.
But that illusion only works if you ignore how they’re treated. Decisions are made every day that assume these waters are here to serve, to supply, to support industry, and to remain silent through it all.
The issue isn’t just environmental. It’s philosophical. If something is alive but only recognized as useful, it stops being protected and starts being managed.
And management, historically, hasn’t meant preservation.
This piece puts that into perspective
#RightsofNature #ProtectOurWater #CELDF
There’s a pattern that keeps repeating, and it’s not subtle. Corporations push projects that damage ecosystems, communities raise concerns, and instead of government addressing the harm, the response gets diverted through the administrative regulatory system. Not to stop the harm, but to protect those causing it from those who would put an end to it.
At some point, we have to understand that this is not a case of a few bad decisions, a rogue corporation, or an exception to the norm. The structure itself allows it. When the law recognizes corporations as rights-bearing entities but treats nature as property, and municipalities like occupied territory, the outcome is already decided before the community even hears about it.
So the question isn’t just “why does this keep happening?” It’s “what kind of system makes this outcome inevitable?”
Who should control what belongs to everyone? This CELDF-authored critique explores the limits of the public trust doctrine and what it means to rethink governance in a way that puts power back into the hands of people and communities.
These are the kinds of questions CELDF continues to explore through its work advancing community rights and systemic change.
#CommunityRights #PublicTrustDoctrine #SystemChange #EnvironmentalJustice #PeoplePower
Community organizing doesn’t happen in isolation, it’s built through connection, conversation, and shared action.
CELDF’s Tish O’Dell will be part of upcoming ROAR Hudson Valley events, contributing to ongoing conversations around community power, organizing, and systemic change including the rights of nature.
These gatherings create space for people to come together, share ideas, and move the work forward.
Explore the full schedule today
#CommunityPower #GrassrootsOrganizing #SystemChange #RightsOfNature
A deeper look at the stories behind America’s founding. Join CELDF live on May 7th for a conversation on systemic racism, sexism, culturecide, and genocide, centering perspectives often left out of dominant narratives.
📅 May 7
⏰ 4PM ET
Be part of the discussion.
#TruthAndReckoning #America250 #SystemicInjustice #HiddenHistories
Power doesn’t just enforce itself, it protects itself. This short essay from CELDF’s book Can You Handle the Truth? examines how policing systems can reinforce their own authority, raising deeper questions about accountability, control, and who the system ultimately serves.
At CELDF, these are the very questions central to the broader conversations about power, governance, and community rights.
#SystemChange #NewBook #CommunityRights
False Claim: The framers of the U.S. Constitution were united in their belief in democracy and the will of the people.
Closer to the Truth: Not all of them agreed. At the Constitutional Convention, John Dickinson described a “limited monarchy” as one of the best forms of government—while acknowledging that the political climate made it unrealistic.
What does that tell us?
Even at the founding, ideas about power, governance, and democracy were deeply contested. Understanding that complexity matters—because the systems we live under didn’t emerge from one clear vision.
The story of America’s founding isn’t as simple as we’ve been told.
As the country approaches its 250th anniversary, this conversation brings forward perspectives often left out—centering Native rights, history, culture, and spirituality.
Join CELDF LIVE for a discussion with Dina Gilio-Whitaker and Keala Kelly.
📅 May 7 ⏰ 4PM ET:
Be part of the conversation.
What if the right to clean water, safe air, and a healthy environment wasn’t optional, but fundamental? The idea of a “right not to be poisoned” challenges systems that allow harm to be normalized, regulated, and justified.
This piece is part of a broader series informed by interviews with CELDF leaders Tish O’Dell and Ben Price, exploring how environmental law shapes what’s possible and what’s permitted.
Because too often, environmental law doesn’t prevent harm, it manages it.
Read more: /the-right-not-to-be-poisoned/
#EnvironmentalJustice #RightsofNature
What does it take to repair the Earth—not just sustain it? The Global Earth Repair Convergence brings together voices, strategies, and practices focused on regeneration, restoration, and long-term ecological healing.
CELDF Executive Director Kai Hushke will speak on forest defense on May 9th during Period C of the morning session at 10:30am PT.
This is about more than awareness. It’s about action.
Explore the full program of the 4 day event by clicking the link in the bio.
#EarthRepair #Regeneration #CELDF
What if nature wasn’t something we owned, but something we recognized as possessing inherent rights?
Thanks to CELDF this transformation is happening around the world. From tiny Tamaqua Borough, Pennsylvania to Ecuador’s constitutional recognition of “Pachamama” to rivers in Colombia and Peru gaining legal recognition of rights through the courts to European nations adopting or considering adopting rights of nature laws , countries are rethinking their relationship with the other than human world.
And this movement isn’t new. Rights of nature laws have been growing globally for decades, driven largely by community action and Indigenous leadership. Here in the United States, that work is taking shape in places like Lake Erie, the Great Lakes, and the Little Mahoning Watershed, where communities are pushing to recognize and defend the rights of ecosystems.
CELDF has been at the forefront of helping communities move this work forward from the ground up. This isn’t just a legal change. It’s a shift in power, and in how we define protection.
Read more by clicking the link in our bio.
#RightsofNature #CELDF
False Claim: Donald Trump’s rhetoric about extended or lifetime power breaks from the vision of the “founding fathers.”
Closer to the Truth: At the Constitutional Convention, Alexander Hamilton proposed a model of government that included lifetime terms for executive leadership. He argued that a strong, permanent executive was necessary to maintain stability and resist what he saw as the unpredictability of democracy.
This isn’t about defending one figure or another. It’s about understanding that the roots of centralized power run deeper than we’re often taught.
If we don’t question the foundation, we can’t fully understand the present.
Follow along with Truth and Reckoning as we revisit the stories shaping this moment.
Watch our America 250 video by clicking the link in the bio.
#TruthAndReckoning #America250 #PoliticalHistory #Democracy #CELDF
