Allen Kanner: “Corporate Control? Not in These Communities”
Reprinted from TIKKUN: A Bimonthly Interfaith Critique of Politics, Culture, and Society.
Can local laws have a real effect on the power of giant corporations?
by Allen D. Kanner
Mt. Shasta, a small northern California town of 3,500 residents nestled in the foothills of magnificent Mount Shasta, is taking on corporate power through an unusual process—democracy.
The citizens of [...]
Fracking Wars: Pittsburgh Bans Natural Gas Drilling
[Editor's note: If you want to find the still guttering flame of democracy in America, look in the heartland, in small towns such as Barnstead, New Hampshire and Blaine Township, Pennsylvania, and now in Pittsburgh, where town councils are voting to deny corporations the rights of personhood. This is the frontline in a war between the [...]
Pennsylvania Township Declares Freedom from Fracking
Published by Yes! Magazine October 27, 2010
Licking, Pennsylvania defies state law by banning corporations from dumping fracking wastewater.
by Mari Margil, Ben Price
In Pennsylvania—a central target for natural gas drilling and the controversial drilling practice known as horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”—local communities don’t have the legal authority to keep unwanted drilling from happening.
As fracking’s impacts on [...]
The Little Town That Sent a Corporation Packing
Published by Yes! Magazine May 27, 2010
Why controlling your water supply is so important
by Tara Lohan
In 2008, weeks after communities all over the United States celebrated the Fourth of July, the tiny town of Felton, Calif., marked its own holiday: Water Independence Day. With barbecue, music, and dancing, residents marked the end of Felton’s six-year battle [...]
What it took to win one small victory
ESSAY - May 11, 2010
By Ken Winkes
We won. The tiny town of Conway, Wash., will not have a cell tower looming over its one street. Thanks to hours of work and thousands of dollars, we won. But it shouldn’t have been that hard.
The 150-foot tower was to have been located behind the post office, where it would [...]
Giving Nature Constitutional Rights
Published by Yes! Magazine on March 2, 2010
Simply regulating pollution will never really stop it. Mari Margil of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund discusses why we need a fundamental change in the way we use law to protect nature.
The environmental movement, with its army of professional advocates, lawyers, grassroots campaigners, and dedicated funders, has [...]
Small Town Takes on Mining Giant
The governing council of Blaine Township, Pennsylvania, decided that they will not allow coal mining giant, Consol Energy, to come in and destroy the township’s farms and streams by doing underground longwall mining, a technique now banned in Germany, where it was invented.
The tool they’re using to fight Consol Energy is something called “democracy.” They [...]
Notes on Some Wild & Scenic Film Festival Free Workshops
Yesterday we attended two of the many free workshops offered at the Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival.
While waiting outside the council chamber in the Nevada City Hall for the first workshop to begin, we checked out the various displays by environmental organizations. We also chatted with the good people of Wildlife Rehabilitation & Release, where we picked up [...]
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