January-February 2024 Newsletter

2024 kicks off with a bang! As the power and public awareness of the Green Amendment Movement grows, a green wave is sweeping the country.

California is the most recent state to propose language for the first time. Vermont, West Virginia, and Oregon had taken a bit of a hiatus but proposals are coming forth once again. In the case of California, there is strong grassroots and community engagement already building.

Strong Engagement Continues to Grow

January 18: ~200 individuals and organizations signed up for a Washington Green Amendment training. In case you missed the training and want to get up to speed on the Washington movement, you can watch it on the Green Amendment app here, after first signing up.

January 20: GAFTG Founder Maya van Rossum joined an auspicious panel at the Penn Carey Law Journal of Constitutional Law Symposium.  It was a day focused on exploring how constitutional protections can and are being effectively used to recognize and protect environmental rights. The day culminated with a panel titled The Green Amendment Movement, Pennsylvania Roots and Nationwide Reach where van Rossum joined Senator Franklin Kury, who authored the first constitutional amendment of this kind in the nation, international constitutional law authority James R. May, and Pennsylvania constitutional expert John Dernbach.

January 24: GAFTG, The Northeast Organic Farming Association of CT, The CT Climate Crisis Mobilization, and the CT Environmental Rights Amendment Alliance teamed up to host “Telling your Story”, the 2nd installment in their training series, featuring local and national experts sharing the most effective and compelling ways to share your story and advocate for your environmental rights! If you want to get caught up on the ongoing CT training series, you can view both sessions, here. (Just sign up and click on “Joined Programs” to view”).

 

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SPOTLIGHT

NM Green Amendment 2024 Filed!

By mid-January, Representative Joanne Ferrary and Senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez had both already pre-filed the New Mexico Green Amendment so it was ready to roll as soon as the legislative session began.  For strategic reasons, they filed two slightly different versions, each reflecting different kinds of feedback received from community members and fellow legislators. You can see the language options here.

In addition, these states have already pre-filed or re-filed for 2024:

• The Washington Green Amendment was re-filed by legislative champion Representative Debra Lekanoff. Washington is the first state in the nation to hold a Green Amendment hearing in 2024, where support was more than double than its previous hearing in 2022.
• The Texas Stewardship Amendment aka the Texas Green Amendment is continuing to advance with strong engagement from legislative champion Representative Vikki Goodwin.
• The New Jersey Green Amendment has been re-filed by Senator Linda Greenstein.
• The Hawaii Green Amendment was re-proposed by Senator Mike Gabbard for the 2024 legislative session, and has already been scheduled for a hearing on February 7 at 1:00 pm HST! Learn more about how you can comment or view the hearing here.

…and there are more on the way!

While our Michigan Green Amendment coalition has been organizing and spreading the word on the ground and through presentations for several years, we have finally found our legislative champion, and are expecting an amendment to be proposed this year! Stay tuned for the big announcement. And in the meantime, check out the resources, upcoming events, and sign the petition HERE.

The Oregon Green Amendment is on the move again! Oregonians, inspired by recent legal successes in the three Green Amendment states of Pennsylvania, Montana and New York, are working to re-up and advance an Oregon Green Amendment in the coming year.

The Connecticut Environmental Rights Amendment – aka the Connecticut Green Amendment – is powering forward with growing support, leadership and engagement and the  leadership team is hopeful to see a proposal soon!

 

Actions, Tools & Opportunities for Green Amendments are Growing & Flourishing

The Good Ole’ Letter to the Editor:
Once again Letters to the Editor are emerging as a valuable tool for spreading the word. They offer an opportunity for individuals to demonstrate their leadership in the Green Amendment movement advancing in their state as well as helping to provide varying perspectives on why Green Amendments are so important.

We are working to create a letter to the editor online portal for all of our most active states, but if we have not gotten to your state yet, the GAFTG online Letter To The Editor Portal will work anywhere in the nation.  Here’s a great example of an effective letter to the editor written by New Mexico Green Amendment activist Glenn Griffin.

New Resource Launched for Green Amendment Legal & Advocacy Successes:
As we travel around the country, one question always arises: “How are Green Amendments actually making a difference?”To help those that want to see the breadth and depth of both legal and advocacy successes in the three states that have Green Amendments — Pennsylvania, Montana, New York — GAFTG has created a dedicated web page that highlights and breaks down some of these key successes and ongoing efforts, HERE.

Green Amendment Action Portal:
Be the first to learn about action opportunities, hearings, news, and more regarding the national Green Amendment movement, as well as the movement advancing in your state, by joining the free Green Amendment Action App.

Sign up here! Or search your app store for Green Amendments FTG to download the app. And reach out to us at GAFTG@forthegenerations.org if you have any trouble or questions.

 

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Upcoming Events

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