Marita Prandoni has a passion for exploring different cultures and worldviews. She draws inspiration from her family, tutoring extraordinary youth, meeting unexpected heroes and from the stunning natural beauty of her home turf in and around Santa Fe, NM.
| ‘Be the Change’: A Must-Read for People Who Care About Their Communities |
| Monday, 15 February 2010 | Marita Prandoni | Blog Entry |
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Thomas Linzey, the executive director, cofounder and chief legal counsel of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), says it goes beyond corporate personhood. In fact, he explains, the Supreme Court has sealed corporate constitutional privileges into settled law going back nearly 200 years. He and his colleagues work with communities to draft and adopt local, binding laws that challenge how much influence can be bought by a minority set of corporate interests. These ordinances are designed to protect the rights of people, communities and nature. As Linzey points out, “There has never been an environmental movement in America because movements drive rights into the Constitution, and rivers and cougars and ecosystems have no rights.” In September 2008, with Linzey’s help, the rights of nature—that ecosystems should have the inalienable right to exist, regenerate vital cycles, evolve and flourish—were driven into Ecuador’s constitution. Since 2003, the CELDF has brought the Democracy School, a weekend seminar, to countless US communities. Participants explore judicial interpretations and examine how local laws can be written to protect communities and the environment with which they are profoundly interdependent, ideally in advance of unwanted decisions being made. Just as slaves were once treated as property to be bought, sold, traded and abused, so too are our natural commons—clean air, water, land and wildlife. With writer and documentary filmmaker Anneke Campbell, Thomas Linzey has written a gem of a handbook, entitled Be the Change: How to Get What You Want in Your Community. In six easy-to-read chapters, the authors invite readers into city halls, planning-commission meetings and courtrooms to witness how unlikely organizers have forged local governmental framework to protect the rights of their communities. These courageous citizens have succeeded in banning activities such as large-scale longwall coal mining, commercial water extraction and toxic sludge dumping. Great social disruptions throughout history—such as the suffragist and abolitionist movements—succeeded in changing legal structure after gathering imposing, angry crowds to wrangle the attention of policy makers. But they began locally—in living rooms, co-ops and social clubs. Just as the title implies, Be the Change is about dissenters who have the vision and tenacity to overcome formidable obstacles (like the threat of corporate lawsuits) to do what is right for future generations. Almost always, these change-makers were previously unpoliticized. They don’t have environmental law degrees. And they look strikingly like everyday Americans. Additional resources:
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Written by Phil Miller , February 19, 2010
The Supreme Court (or should I say Supreme Corp) is a disgrace. Republican appointees since the Reagan administration have worn their political allegiances on their sleeves. They are out of touch with the working people and live in privileged-class bubbles. I blame the Senate for not having the guts to veto these appointments. Which reminds me, the US Senate is an outdated institution that gives an inordinate amount of representation to citizens in less populous states. It needs to be overhauled or abandoned.
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The Supreme Court’s recent decision, that corporations can make unlimited contributions to political campaigns, has many Americans wondering about the integrity of our democracy. President Obama cautioned in his State of the Union address that this ruling—known as “Citizens United”—is “a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health-insurance companies and other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.” 
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