I'm cross posting this from Cleveland's Lake Erie Wind farm from LEEDCO.

 

Last year in 2019 the citizens of Toledo held a special election to protect our mother lake from environmental & ecosystem disaster. The election passed in favor of a new Bill of Rights pertaining to Lake Erie, giving it personal rights and protections, along with the right to sue and enforce a legal Lake Erie. There are protected lands in the form of National and State Parks, but no land or water has ever been protected by a BOR. That's what makes this movement very unique in its stature, as no Lake has ever been granted sovereignty over itself with no inhabitants.

 

Here's the doc:

https://beyondpesticides.org/assets/media/documents/LakeErieBillofRights.pdf

Additionally you can learn more about rights of nature here:

https://celdf.org/2019/02/breaking-news-toledo-voters-enact-lake-erie-bill-of-rights/

 

However, LEBOR was originally killed by Ohio Chamber of Commerce and then deemed un-costitutionally vague by a federal judge of the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio amidst it's challenge. Toledo Blade quotes [ “It is clear the future of Lake Erie and the health of the community is up to us. The people have two choices: Continue to watch the slow death of the lake that sustains all life in this city or take action to protect her and our future,” Crystal Jankowski of Toledoans for Safe Water said. ]

https://www.toledoblade.com/local/environment/2020/05/11/toledo-quietly-drops-appeal-of-lebor-ruling-lake-erie/stories/20200511082

 

I believe it was initially dead in the water because it was brought up by Toledo and only Toledo citizens as quoted in the LEBOR document [ "We the people of the City of Toledo" ]. I think that if the entire North Coast was in on the deal, LEBOR would have been so much more impactful. I'm sad to see the entire thing fall apart in shambles, as it looked like something great was happening like an uprising of environmental right. Although I'm not much of an activist, rather a pacifist on major issues like the environment, this was one bit of history I was really excited for. Hopefully we can revive this ordeal in a more collective manner.

 

Any thoughts, leads, or conjecture I would love to see. This is something that has never really been successful but lend Lake Erie a hand.

I think it would be worthwhile to have every county which is in Lake Erie's watershed put on its ballot a LEBOR. Each would have to pass identical language, which could be challenging since there are not only different states involved but different countries. But I'm sure there are legal experts who could figure it out.

So far, they're not trying to take the Great Lakes' water. If they do, I double-dog dare you....