Mari Margil and Thomas Linzey of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, leading figures in the global movement to recognize the legal rights of ecosystems and nature, share exciting

Mari Margil and Thomas Linzey of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, leading figures in the global movement to recognize the legal rights of ecosystems and nature, share exciting recent developments in that effort. They highlight breakthroughs in tribal nations, communities, and countries around the world. They explain how advancing the rights of nature in legal codes and constitutions can lead to a radical transformation in humankind’s relationship with the natural world.

Thomas Linzey and Mari Margil delivered this talk at the 2020 Bioneers Conference, introduced by Kenny Ausubel. Watch more conference videos at https://bioneers.org/2020talks/

Mari Margil, Executive Director of the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights, leads its International Center for the Rights of Nature. Previously Associate Director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, she assisted the first places in the world to secure the Rights of Nature in law, including Ecuador. She works internationally as well as with Indigenous peoples and tribal nations to advance Rights of Nature legal and policy frameworks. Mari is a co-author of: The Bottom Line or Public Health and Exploring Wild Law: The Philosophy of Earth Jurisprudence.



Thomas Linzey, Senior Counsel for the Center for Democratic and Environmental Rights (CDER), co-founded the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund and the Daniel Pennock Democracy School (which has graduated over 5,000 lawyers, activists, and municipal officials nationally to fight to elevate the rights of their communities over corporate rights). He is the author of several books, including: Be The Change: How to Get What You Want in Your Community; On Community Civil Disobedience in the Name of Sustainability; and co-author of: We the People: Stories from the Community Rights Movement in the United States.



To learn more about Mari and Thom's work, visit https://centerforenvironmentalrights.org

The panel “Impacts of the Fossil Fuel Industry in North America” was held on Wednesday, June 25th, during the Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice: Path to COP30 and

The panel “Impacts of the Fossil Fuel Industry in North America” was held on Wednesday, June 25th, during the Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice: Path to COP30 and Beyond hosted by Women’s Earth and Climate Network (WECAN), June 23-28, 2025.
PANELISTS:
— Sharon Lavigne, Founder and President of RISE St. James, Turtle Island/USA
— Tara Houska (Couchiching First Nation Anishinaabe), Tribal Attorney and Founder of Giniw Collective, Line 3 pipeline Resistance Leader, Turtle Island/USA
— Nalleli Cobo, Climate Activist & Storyteller, 2022 Goldman Prize winner, Co-founder of People not Pozos and South Central Youth Leadership Coalition, Turtle Island/USA
— Laalitha Surapaneni, MD, MPH, Internist and Assistant Professor of Medicine, USA/India

Organized by the Women’s Earth and Climate Network (WECAN), the Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice: Path to COP30 and Beyond brought together over 125 grassroots and frontline women leaders in all their diversity, global advocates, thought leaders, and policymakers representing 50 countries from around the world. During 25 unique panels, speakers showcased a diverse array of visions, projects, policy frameworks, campaigns, and movement strategies with which we can accelerate a bold and transformative path to a healthy and just world.

The energy transition race is on. Fossils fuels have peaked. What do we need to get renewables to prevail as fast as possible, and can we make that victory good for everyone? The 2020s will be the

The energy transition race is on. Fossils fuels have peaked. What do we need to get renewables to prevail as fast as possible, and can we make that victory good for everyone? The 2020s will be the decisive decade in the climate justice fight. Where and how we create the new energy economy, who gets to lead it, who owns it and who works in it now matter more than ever. We must prepare for a large pulse of eco-industrial activity the likes of which the world has never known. As we race to the finish line of the transition away from fossil fuels, visionary “green” entrepreneur and founder of New Energy Nexus Danny Kennedy presents a plan to build out the full 3D potential of clean energy—not just distributed energy, but decentralized in ownership and democratized in control. Highly decentralized global grassroots entrepreneurship is central, as the pathfinding work of New Energy Nexus is demonstrating.

Danny Kennedy, with a long background in eco activism, has become one of the nation’s leading figures in clean-technology entrepreneurship and the capitalization of the transition to a “green” economy. Co-founder of the solar energy company, Sungevity, and the clean energy incubator Powerhouse, Kennedy supports the clean technology and energy fields in myriad ways. In addition to leading roles with Third Derivative (a joint venture with the Rocky Mountain Institute) and the California Clean Energy Fund, Kennedy is currently CEO of New Energy Nexus, a global nonprofit providing funds, accelerators, and networks to drive clean energy innovation and adoption.

Learn more at http://www.bioneers.org

https://cclusa.org/join

https://cclusa.org/join