This webinar will cover the Orange County rights of nature law, the history of the lawsuit, and the arguments being advanced by the Plaintiff-waterways.

The Ecuadorian Constitution has served as a thoughtful framework for this webinar to create a dialogue of knowledge. This event was an opportunity to broaden the knowledge we have about the constitutional protection of the rights of nature, particularly of fragile ecosystems and threatened species, as well as of the communities that depend on them, in the face of high-impact anthropic activities such as mining.

Our speakers conversed about the constitutional conception to address activities such as mining and its impact on the rights of nature, as well as the difficulties to guarantee these rights in technical legal procedures (such as Environmental Impact Studies) that potentially affect them. This event analyzed the issue with an inter-American approach, which includes the Advisory Opinion of the Inter-American Court on the environment and human rights.

On October 19th, 2021 CDER’s Thomas Linzey, and Wesley J. Smith of the Discovery Institute, engaged in a lively debate on the Rights of Nature. The debate was hosted by the Center for Climate, Society, and the Environment at Gonzaga University, and moderated by Professor Brian Henning.

The Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) co-sponsored this webinar on June 23rd, 2021 with CEDENMA, Proteccion Animal Ecuador, and Estacion Cientifica Los Cedros. Presenters include our own Hugo Echeverria of CDER, Natalia Greene of CEDENMA, Elisa Levy of Los Cedros, and Lorena Bellolio of PAE.

This webinar will feature three experts – CDER’s Thomas Linzey, Dr. Bruce Lanphear, and Kim Konte, founder of the ground-breaking organization Non-Toxic Neighborhoods. The Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER) is partnering with Non-Toxic Neighborhoods (NTN) to launch a campaign to protect the health and well-being of children. The campaign is focused on working with communities across the United States to advance a model ordinance, the “Children’s Environmental Bill of Rights.” This webinar will examine threats to the well-being of children, and how people and communities across the U.S. can adopt local laws which protect the environmental rights of children and prohibit the violation of those rights.

CDER’s Senior legal Counsel, Thomas Linzey joined Thom Hartmann to give an update on the latest on waterways on Florida. Thomas has worked with Florida environmental leaders to begin collecting signatures to qualify a state constitutional amendment that would recognize legal rights of waterways in the state. The amendment would recognize the legally enforceable rights of all waterways across Florida to “exist, flow, be free from pollution, and maintain a healthy ecosystem.”

It has been a fifteen-year progression from theory into practice, with the first Rights of Nature law adopted in 2006, to where the rights of nature movement are today. 

In N2K’s Evolution of the Rights of Nature Laws with Mari Margil of CDER, Mari discusses how the rights of nature have evolved, from the first law in Pennsylvania, to today including constitutions, court cases, and local and national laws in Ecuador, Colombia, and Florida and other places. 

Doris Ragettli, of the Rights of Mother Earth, and Pella Thiel of the End Ecocide Sweden and Lodyn joined the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights for our “Global Developments in the Rights of Nature: International Agreements” webinar on May 11th. These two have done important work on behalf of the rights of nature and shared some insightful lessons on how to advocate at the international level.

On May 4th, CDER presented a webinar on the Moon, plans for human exploration and exploitation along rising concerns with the potential impacts on the lunar environment. The Declaration of the Rights of the Moon was highlighted by four of its drafters, who also presented: CDER's Mari Margil and Dr. Michelle Maloney, Dr. Alice Gorman, and Thomas Gooch.

This webinar delved into the rights of nature in tribal law and governance. Frank Bibeau, Attorney for the White Earth Band of Ojibwe and with Honor the Earth, and Guy Reiter, Executive Director of Menikanaehkem, joined us as guest speakers to discuss the journey of tribal nations to protect the rights of nature, as well as the direction within the tribal communities to protect Earth as a sovereign being.