Community Rights at PIELC 2018 - Oregon Community Rights Network

We’re excited to have two different community rights panels at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference this year!

Nature has Rights: The Right to Exist, Evolve, and Flourish

Sunday, March 4th, 9:00 am to 10:15 am

Many Nations Longhouse

Sponsored by Community Rights Lane County and Oregon Community Rights Network

Does a wolf have a right to survive because it runs, breathes, and values its family (the pack)? Does a forest have a right to exist, thrive, and flourish solely because it is a living entity? Does nature have rights? According to our political and legal systems, it does not.

Laws and governments were not designed to recognize or respect the natural world. Rather they define it as property to be extracted and consumed for profit. That is at the heart of the damage being done to our planet, and until it changes, any idea of protecting Mother Earth is an illusion.

Fortunately, Rights of Nature are starting to be acknowledged and enacted as law. From Ecuador to the United States, to Nepal, and New Zealand; Tribal nations, communities, activists, indigenous peoples, and governments throughout the world are advancing Rights of Nature initiatives.

This panel will talk about the Rights of Nature and what’s being done to get our political and economic systems to recognize them.

Panelists:

Mari Margil, Associate Director, Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
Craig Kauffman, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Oregon
John Herberg, Rights of Nature-Community Rights Lane County

Mari will focus on Rights of Nature (RoN) from a global/international level. She will explain why RoN is needed, and what efforts have been taking place globally to make it a reality. This will include laws and legal challenges.

Craig will also discuss Rights of Nature (RoN) from an international/global perspective. He will describe the patterns that can be observed from looking at what has been successful and what has not. This can be used as a guide to enable Rights of Nature locally and globally.

John will discuss Rights of Nature (RoN) from a local perspective. He will describe what is being done in Lane Co, throughout the state of Oregon, and elsewhere. And how this relates to the global efforts.

The art of chemical warfare: Oregon community democracy vs. industrial timber and state government in the battle to end aerial spraying

Friday, March 2 – 3:50 p.m.-5:05 p.m.
Law room 142.
Sponsored by Community Rights Lane County

The aerial spraying of toxic pesticides is part of Oregon’s logging legacy. This panel will discuss the challenges communities have faced in their efforts to protect people and ecosystems from aerial spraying, as well as the state’s role in providing legal protection.

From Carol Van Strum’s efforts against the federal government in the 80s and the widespread corruption in the EPA, to the community rights movement of the last five years, the panel will discuss the ups and downs of the battle to abolish aerial spraying. Panelists will highlight the lengths that corporations and government have taken to stop local democracy.

Panelists:

Rio Davidson – Lincoln County Community Rights
TBA member of Community Rights Lane County
Evaggelos Vallianatos EPA whistle blower and author of Poison Spring
Carol Van Strum author of Bitter Fog and chief person behind the Poison Papers