Advocacy at the Local Level Seminar & ERA

How residents and local officials can use the PA Constitution Environmental Rights Amendment to legally stop bad projects before they harm our watershed.

Join us Saturday, July 16 at 11 a.m. at the Brodhead Creek Heritage Center for a special presentation by Delaware Riverkeeper Maya K. van Rossum.

This talk will seek to discuss and inspire a new tool for environmental preservation—one that will provide a new way of thinking about, and pursuing, environmental protection from a policy as well as a legal perspective. Refreshments will be provided. Admission is free. Space is limited. Register in the “Book Event” box below.

DETAILS: For decades, communities have relied on Federal and State laws to ensure protection of a clean environment. And for decades, while achieving some important successes in environmental protection, overall the health of our environment for present and future generations has continued to degrade from a growing number of sources. The truth is, our laws are designed to accommodate pollution as much as, perhaps even more than, to prevent it. As a result people feel powerless when it comes to preserving the quality of their water, air, public parks, and natural spaces. But there is a solution for achieving better, and much needed, protection of our environment: bypass the laws and turn to the ultimate authority—our state and federal constitutions.

We all have the right to pure water, clean air, and a healthy environment. This talk will focus on how to truly secure that right for our own sake and that of future generations.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: Maya K. van Rossum has served as the Delaware Riverkeeper and leader for the Delaware Riverkeeper Network since 1994. The role of the Delaware Riverkeeper is to give the Delaware River, and the communities that depend upon it and appreciate it, a voice at every decisionmaking table that could provide help or do harm. The Delaware Riverkeeper Network that van Rossum leads is the only citizen action organization that works the entire length and breadth of the Delaware River and its watershed, speaking and working for both its protection and its restoration.

She is also founder of the Green Amendment movement, a nationwide movement seeking recognition and protection of environmental rights in every state constitution. Since founding the movement, Green Amendments have been proposed in 11 states, with nearly half a dozen additional states in the organizing stages. She is author of the forthcoming book, The Green Amendment: The People’s Fight for a Clean, Safe, and Healthy Environment.