Citizens in Santa Monica, CA have launched a rights-based campaign in collaboration with Global Exchange and the city’s Environmental Task Force to assert their right to live in a sustainable city. On Tuesday, January 24th the Sustainability Bill of Rights was introduced to local officials and community residents at a city council meeting. A resolution was passed containing certain elements of the rights-based ordinance that laid the ground for the real work to begin: engaging the community’s support for actually passing the full ordinance into law.

The Sustainability ordinance aims to recognize and respect the rights of people and natural communities and ecosystems within Santa Monica to achieve sustainable water, food, energy, air, soil, waste treatment, economic and climate systems and to help advance self- sufficiency within the city regarding those needs. The ordinance also affirms that corporations are not persons. By putting their values into local law, the people of Santa Monica are asserting their right to decide how to draw upon their natural communities, protecting and conserving them, not just exploiting them for profit!

•  If you’re interested in learning more about the campaign in Santa Monica or attending future meetings, please contact Cris Gutierrez by e-mail crispeace@earthlink.net

• Stay updated on the campaign in Santa Monica by visiting their new blog.

• Read this blog post on why sustainability is a right, written by Global Exchange co-founder Kevin Danaher about Envision Spokane, a similar  community bill of rights campaign happening in Spokane, Washington.

• Click on the attachment below to view and download the flyer for the  January 24th city council meeting!

Upcoming Santa Monica Democracy School

Join us to learn about the history and structure of corporate power, how the current regulatory system prohibits us from saying ‘No’ to unwanted corporate activity and how we can change that by asserting community’s rights at Democracy School.

• When: April 20th-21st. Location TBA.
• For more information or to register, contact Cris Gutierrez (crispeace@earthlink.net)