by Linda Sechrist

On November 11, Clean Water Now, Inc. is hosting a public viewing of the film We The People 2.0 at the Broadway Palm Theatre, in Fort Myers. Dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m. and the film shown from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Elected officials, water advocacy groups, community leaders, educators and businesses from across the state and nation will gather to promote awareness of the Global Rights of Nature Movement. Educating the public is essential for exercising community rights that will create laws bestowing inalienable rights upon Florida’s eco-communities. Giving nature rights elevates the law to the highest level of protection that can be afforded to any entity under Western law. 

The Lee County Initiative—the Caloosahatchee River Bill of Rights #CALBOR  

Now with seven county rights of nature initiatives in motion, Florida has become part of a nationwide movement. With the guidance of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, Florida will recapture the constitutional right of “We, the People,” to self-governance and the right to create laws that are best for the lives of Floridians and ecosystems. 

Under the initiative, the Caloosahatchee River possesses rights including, but not limited to, the right to naturally exist, flourish, regenerate and evolve; and the right to restoration, recovery and preservation. Clean Water Now, Inc., educates Lee County and Floridians regarding the benefits, complexities and challenges of The Rights of Nature and the Caloosahatchee Bill of Rights that can be adapted for each locale and ecosystem of concern.

Focusing on four main areas

The event’s film and guest panel will provide an overview of the movement in the U.S. and abroad, which is intended to recognize legally enforceable rights for ecosystems. The focus will be on four main areas: the failure of conventional environmental regulatory law to protect the natural environment; the growth and exercise of community rights in the U.S. to amend local laws in more than 300 communities to recognize rights to sustainability; the theoretical and legal basis for the recognition of legally enforceable rights of ecosystems where those laws have been adopted and how they are being enforced; and the application of the rights of nature now in seven Florida counties and municipalities, including an exploration of next steps in Lee County. 

Daily assaults on our ecosystems are public health and economic disasters in the making. Continued decline of our Florida water quality will result in the loss of billions of dollars in economic activity.

Special guest speakers and panelists

Clean Water Now special guest speakers and panelists include John Cassani, Calusa Waterkeeper Alliance expert on the Caloosahatchee River Estuary; Markie Miller, Ohio Toledoans for Safe Water Activist for the Lake Erie Bill of Rights #LEBOR; Tish O’Dell, Ohio Community Organizer for CELDF.org; Chuck O’Neal, Orange County, Florida, founder of The Wekiva & Econlockhatchee River Bill of Rights #WEBOR.

Nonprofit Clean Water Now, Inc., is educating and inspiring Floridians about how nature and water are essential, invaluable and in need of protective inalienable rights. Spearheaded by Fort Myers water activists Sherry Straub and Karl Deigert, the value of Clean Water Now is building public and political awareness for Rights of Nature and the Caloosahatchee Bill of Rights. Follow Clean Water Now on Twitter and on Facebook.

Admission is $23.50. Purchase tickets at Tinyurl.com/TheRightsOfNature. Location: 1380 Colonial Blvd., in Fort Myers. For more information, email Capt. Karl R. Deigert, Clean Water Now, Inc. at [email protected].