Communities across the nation are suffering as the result of environmental degradation — they are being denied clean water, clean air, healthy soils in which to grow healthy foods, the forests and wetlands they need to be protected from floods, drought and storms, as well as the healthy plant and animal communities that support and enrich their lives. And increasingly communities are being harmed by a growing human and pollution induced climate crisis, including floods, droughts, disease, impacts to food, changing weather dynamics and more.
Until now, communities and activists have relied on Federal and State legislation to fight for a cleaner environment. And they have been fighting a losing battle. Because the sad truth is, our laws are designed to accommodate pollution rather than prevent it. As a result people feel powerless when it comes to preserving the quality of their water, air, public parks, and special natural spaces. Environmental Justice communities find themselves particularly hard hit; while there is increasingly good rhetoric when it comes to considering environmental justice issues regarding environmental decision making, the fact is that communities of color, low income communities, and communities with high immigrant populations continue to be disproportionately targeted for placement and expansion of polluting industrial operations.
But there is a solution: bypass the laws and turn to the ultimate authority—our state and federal constitutions. (Learn the full story and about the Green Amendment movement in: The Green Amendment, The People’s Fight For a Clean, Safe & Healthy Environment.)
In 2013, the Delaware Riverkeeper Network led by our founder Delaware Riverkeeper Maya van Rossum, won a watershed legal victory that not only protected Pennsylvania communities from ruthless frackers, but affirmed the constitutional right of people in the state to a clean and healthy environment. Following this victory, van Rossum, launched the Green Amendment movement, dedicated to empowering every American community to mobilize for constitutional change in order to protect our environment for present and future generations.
The goal of Green Amendments For The Generations is to advance a national, state by state, Green Amendment movement and to ensure that governments across the nation at the local and state level honor the rights of all people to pure water, clean air, a stable climate and healthy environments in the laws they enact, the decisions they make, and the actions they take by securing the passage of enforceable environmental rights amendments in the Bill of Rights section of every constitution – state and federal – and ensuring their strong and meaningful enforcement.
