We The People?

Monday's metro column digs into the uneasiness in Cheltenham township, where local and county officials have opposed a question from appearing on next week's ballot that would give the people more power to stop development.

Score a victory for a group called "We the People of Cheltenham," which fought officials in court - and won. The question will go to the voters.

So who ARE those guys behind We the People? What do we know about this non-profit law firm based in Chambersburg, PA., which worked pro bono to create a citizens bill of rights then get it on the ballot?

They're called the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.

We know they helped Ecuador write laws to protect the environment by granting rights to nature.

This is what the New York Times wrote last December:

Even so, it is a milestone for environmental organizations that seek to rewrite our treatment of nature. In fact, one such group, the Pennsylvania-based Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, helped draft the new protections in the Ecuadorean Constitution. The C.E.L.D.F. posits that most laws define nature as someone’s property, forcing environmentalists to prove extensive damage before regulations can be put in place. A rights-based approach, it argues, reverses that burden, putting the health of ecosystems first.

We also know that C.E.L.D.F. is helping back a broader bill of rights in Spokane, Wa., that would encompass conditions for healthcare, labor and development.

Here's a profile from The Inlander of leading attorney, Thomas Linzey. Can't vouch for the article, though I note it gets the name of the Pennsylvania town he's from wrong.

And here's the group's Web site.

Posted by Daniel Rubin @ 7:10 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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About Metro Mashup

Metro columnist Karen Heller has been an Inquirer staff writer since 1986. She has won national, state and local awards for feature writing, investigative reporting and criticism, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary. E-mail Karen here; read her columns here.

An award-winning columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Annette John-Hall’s twice weekly metro columns always illuminate. Her topics and storytelling challenge readers to reflect on their own perceptions, to turn off the auto response and forge a different kind of conversation. She has been nominated twice by the Inquirer for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary. E-mail Annette here; read her columns here.

Kevin Riordan’s daily newspaper byline debuted in 1972, when he was a child prodigy. He got his first real newspaper job four years later, and joined the Inquirer in 2010. A native of western Massachusetts, he lives in Haddon Heights, NJ. E-mail Kevin here; read his columns here.

Since joining The Inquirer as a staff writer in 1988, Daniel Rubin has reported from 27 countries, but most of them were small. He's a metro columnist and has been the European Correspondent for Knight Ridder Newspapers. For two years he sat at home and wrote Blinq, the paper's first daily blog. Dan began newspaper work in Norfolk and Louisville, Ky., after getting his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northwestern University. He has lived in all four commonwealths, most recently in Pennsylvania. He teaches urban journalism at the University of Pennsylvania. E-mail Daniel here; read his columns here.

Monica Yant Kinney joined the Inquirer as a suburban reporter in 1996, moved to the City Hall Bureau two years later and was named a metro columnist in 2001 at the age of 30. As a columnist, Kinney speaks to, and for, the curious and infuriated masses, writing often about gun violence, casinos, politics, pop culture and parenting. She logs so many miles reporting in the city, suburbs and South Jersey, she finally bought a Prius. E-mail Monica here; read her columns here.

Visit Blinq 1.0 here.

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