Welcome to Truth and Reckoning, a podcast and newsletter from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). We are organizers, lawyers, and revolutionaries who educate and agitate to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s relationship with the Earth.

For more than 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate power, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-governance grounded in ecological balance. Subscribe to learn about rights of nature, environmental movement strategy, and stay updated on our work.

In this episode of the Truth and Reckoning podcast, we speak with four people resisting the destruction of a rare maritime forest in Virginia Beach, VA

This is a followup to episode 2 of this podcast, in which Dr. John Aguiar introduced us to “Pleasure House Point,” a natural area in Virginia Beach which is currently being bulldozed by the city government as a so-called “restoration” project. Thousands of trees have been cut down, including mature oaks and pines, heavily impacting bird and Diamondback terrapin habitat.

At Pleasure House Point, the city of Virginia Beach is currently clearcutting a mature native forest and destroying critical nesting habitat for the Diamondback Terrapin. It’s part of what they call a “restoration” project, and is happening as part of a wetlands-credit scheme whereby wetlands habitat elsewhere which is being destroyed for a flood-mitigation project is supposedly being “offset” by the creation of new wetlands at Pleasure House Point.

In both cases, nature is losing.

This story is one of a growing number of examples — from forest thinning to spraying invasive species with herbicides — where “restoration” has been co-opted and used as a greenwashing technique. This isn’t an indictment of restoration as a whole, but it is a warning that there are active attempts to use the language emerging from this field to justify more destruction of our planet.

In this followup episode, we speak with Dr. Aguiar and three other residents of the area who are opposing the destruction: Kim Mayo, Windy Crutchfield, and Walt Stone. These three have, with some assistance from CELDF, filed a pro se lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers for destroying Pleasure House Point.

Listen to the first interview on this topic, released in May 2025, here:

Topics discussed in this show include:

* The link between local politicians and housing developers who benefit from the clearcutting and made major campaign contributions

* The city’s stonewalling and lack of transparency

* The lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers

* Community protests and activism

* Feelings of betrayal by local environmental organizations

* Impacts of wildlife, including the diamondback terrapin

* The need for more journalists to write this story and more community members to join the resistance

* Why is it that nature always has to be destroyed? Why not bulldoze the golf course or the luxury homes instead and turn that land into salt marsh?

Photos from the site

Partial timeline since May 2025

* Feb. 2025 - Multiple gatherings/ protests

* March 8, 2025 - Documentary filmmaker records residents urging the city not to destroy our public land

* March 18-19, 2025 - More than 5,000 trees are cut down, including sizeable live oaks the city was legally required to conserve.

* April 27, 2025 - Virginia Beach City Government sets up security cameras on-scene which play recorded messages when they detect people nearby instructing people that they are trespassing and police would be called.

* May 2025 - Documentary filmmaker returns, recall petition launched against Councilman who pushed the destruction in his district

* August 2025 - Illegal pollution discharge documented by opponents

* October 12, 2025 - Media captures oil barrel, toxic waste ,and a portable toilet floating around next to the restored “wetlands” (deforested area).

* December 2, 2025 - Councilman Joash Schulman refuses to talk about Pleasure House Point when questioned at a public meeting about his developer donor having water views following the deforestation.

Links and Resources

* Link to a short documentary about Pleasure House Point by Angelique Herring Studios

* Barrels, construction material litter Pleasure House Point Project; residents call for accountability | 13newsnow.com

* Virginia Beach citizens sue Army Corps over wetlands project that cleared forest at Pleasure House Point

The YouTube version of this podcast can be viewed here:

Keywords

Virginia Beach, environmental activism, diamondback terrapin, forest destruction, community response, local government, transparency, environmental journalism, terrestrial ecosystems

About the Truth and Reckoning Podcast

In this show, we learn from front-line organizers and communities fighting against environmental destruction. We explore different perspectives and innovative strategies for movement building, the potency and potential of rights of nature, and effective action in defense of our communities. And, we share inspiring stories of people working towards right relationship with the land and each other. The show is hosted by CELDF Community Resistance and Resilience Program Co-Director Max Wilbert.

You can find the show on:

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

* Pocketcasts

* YouTube (video and audio)

* And anywhere else you get your podcasts (click here to find this podcast via your preferred app)

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

CELDF is a nationwide community of organizers, lawyers, and partners who educate, agitate, and organize to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s reciprocal relationship with the Earth. For over 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate exploitation, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-govern through systems grounded in ecological balance and collective power.

Your gift helps us to support communities on the frontlines of corporate and ecological destruction — people standing up to defend their water, forests, and future.

Together, we’re advancing Rights of Nature and Community Rights in the name of Community Resistance + Resilience, challenging a system that treats nature as property and people as obstacles. Please donate today!

Welcome to Truth and Reckoning, a podcast and newsletter from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). We are organizers, lawyers, and revolutionaries who educate and agitate to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s relationship with the Earth.

For more than 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate power, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-governance grounded in ecological balance. Subscribe to learn about rights of nature, environmental movement strategy, and stay updated on our work.

In this episode of the Truth and Reckoning podcast, we speak with Kate Scott and Tony Heath about resisting border wall construction.

Last month, CELDF’s executive director Kai Huschke traveled to southern Arizona to participate in a rally against the construction of a 30-foot wall impervious to not just humans, but animals as well — including critically endangered jaguars, as well as ocelots, pronghorn antelope, and black bear who live in the area.

In this interview recorded on-site, Kai speaks with Kate Scott and Tony Heath. Kate and Tony are the co-founders of the Madrean Archipelago Wildlife Center (MAWC) and part of a broad community-based and bi-national coalition opposed to the construction of the border wall.

The interview focuses on the ecological impacts of the wall, drivers of mass migration, the jaguar and other wildlife, and the urgency of resistance to this project.

Links and Resources

* Madrean Archipelago Wildlife Center

* Border Wall Resistance Coalition

* Madrean Archipelago Films

The YouTube version of this podcast can be found here:

Keywords

border, activism, ecology, environmental impact, community, wall, San Pedro River, jaguar, indigenous rights, climate crisis

About the Truth and Reckoning Podcast

In this show, we learn from front-line organizers and communities fighting against environmental destruction. We explore different perspectives and innovative strategies for movement building, the potency and potential of rights of nature, and effective action in defense of our communities. And, we share inspiring stories of people working towards right relationship with the land and each other. The show is hosted by CELDF Community Resistance and Resilience Program Co-Director Max Wilbert.

You can find the show on:

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

* Pocketcasts

* YouTube (video and audio)

* And anywhere else you get your podcasts (click here to find this podcast via your preferred app)

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

CELDF is a nationwide community of organizers, lawyers, and partners who educate, agitate, and organize to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s reciprocal relationship with the Earth. For over 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate exploitation, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-govern through systems grounded in ecological balance and collective power.

Support this work

Your gift helps us to support communities on the frontlines of corporate and ecological destruction — people standing up to defend their water, forests, and future.

Together, we’re advancing Rights of Nature and Community Rights in the name of Community Resistance + Resilience, challenging a system that treats nature as property and people as obstacles. Please donate today!

If you’re new here, this is Truth and Reckoning, a podcast and newsletter from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). We are organizers, lawyers, and revolutionaries who educate and agitate to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s relationship with the Earth.

For more than 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate power, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-governance grounded in ecological balance. Subscribe to learn about rights of nature, environmental movement strategy, and stay updated on our work.

In this episode, we speak with Elder Bill Jones of the Pacheedaht First Nation and Will O’Connell on the frontlines of old-growth forest defense

First we’ll hear from Will O’Connell, a 34-year-old science and math teacher who has been on the front lines of these protests and joins us from his car at the protest camp, then from Elder Bill Jones from the Pacheedaht First Nation, two leaders in the forest defense movement currently taking place in Vancouver Island in western Canada.

Elder Bill is 85 years old. For decades, he has welcomed people into the forests to stand with him in defense of the last old-growth trees on his territory. At Fairy Creek, his invitation sparked one of the largest acts of civil resistance in Canadian history. Now, Western Forest Products has filed a civil suit against him, seeking an injunction that would make it illegal for Bill to be on his own land. If this injunction is granted, police will be authorized to arrest and detain those protecting the old growth.

Bill’s grandfather once told him: “Sonny, go out into the forest. That is where you will find the Great Mother. In the forest. It is a place of worship.” Today, that sacred place is under threat as logging companies push to cut what remains.

On the day before we recorded this interview, Monday December 8th, Will had been wrongfully arrested by the RCMP, the Canadian federal police, while on-site in the Walbran, and loggers had been able to pass the blockades and begin logging ancient forests again - towering 2,000 year old western red cedars, ancient firs and hemlocks.

A dozen people or more have been arrested over the past week or so, with more every day. They need support on the front lines, so if you’re near Vancouver Island, please go. And if you’re not, we need you elsewhere.

This conversation explores the ongoing efforts to protect the Walbran Valley’s ancient forests, highlighting the role of community activists, including Elder Bill Jones, and the challenges posed by law enforcement. The discussion delves into the tactics used by forest defenders, the historical context of forest defense movements, and the personal experiences of activists on the front lines. It emphasizes the importance of solidarity and the need for continued action against ecological devastation.

Message from Walbran forest defenders

COME TO CAMP We are currently in Kaxi;ks (the Upper Walbran) Valley, fighting for an end to old growth logging. NEW CAMP: 48.75088, -124.50931

Links and Resources

* Donation link to support the resistance

* Fairy Creek Blockade on Instagram

* ‘Indian Against Indian’: The Walbran Forest Protection Blockade and Truth & Reconciliation as Colonialism Continues ...

* How the Walbran Blockade Echoes Another Famous Stand in the Forest

The YouTube version of this podcast can be found here:

Topics Covered

Walbran Valley, old growth forests, forest defense, RCMP, direct action, community mobilization, environmental activism, Elder Bill Jones, logging, climate change, anthropology, empire, civilization, food supply, population pressure, extraction, and the preservation of wild places and forests as a source of life for future people.

Takeaways

* The Walbran Valley is home to ancient forests that are under threat from logging.

* Elder Bill Jones plays a crucial role in the movement to protect these forests.

* The RCMP has been using heavy-handed tactics against forest defenders.

* Direct action tactics, such as cantilevers, are being employed to block logging roads.

* Historical forest defense movements have shaped current activism strategies.

* Solidarity among activists is vital for sustaining the movement.

* The legal landscape is complex, with injunctions leading to police action.

* Community mobilization is essential for effective forest defense.

* The fight for the Walbran Valley reflects broader ecological issues.

* Activists are determined to continue their efforts despite challenges.

About the Truth and Reckoning Podcast

In this show, we learn from front-line organizers and communities fighting against environmental destruction. We explore different perspectives and innovative strategies for movement building, the potency and potential of rights of nature, and effective action in defense of our communities. And, we share inspiring stories of people working towards right relationship with the land and each other. The show is hosted by CELDF Community Resistance and Resilience Program Co-Director Max Wilbert.

You can find the show on:

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

* Pocketcasts

* YouTube (video and audio)

* And anywhere else you get your podcasts (click here to find this podcast via your preferred app)

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

CELDF is a nationwide community of organizers, lawyers, and partners who educate, agitate, and organize to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s reciprocal relationship with the Earth. For over 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate exploitation, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-govern through systems grounded in ecological balance and collective power.

Support this work

Your gift helps us to support communities on the frontlines of corporate and ecological destruction — people standing up to defend their water, forests, and future.

Together, we’re advancing Rights of Nature and Community Rights in the name of Community Resistance + Resilience, challenging a system that treats nature as property and people as obstacles. Please donate today!

Welcome to Truth and Reckoning, a podcast and newsletter from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). We are organizers, lawyers, and revolutionaries who educate and agitate to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s relationship with the Earth.

For more than 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate power, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-governance grounded in ecological balance. Subscribe to learn about rights of nature and movement strategy, and to stay updated on our work.

In this episode, we speak with Kai Huschke

Kai is the Executive and Development Director at CELDF, and has been part of the movement since 2009. After spending 13 years organizing for CELDF in the Northwest and Hawaii, Kai took over as Executive Director.

His experience as a seasoned community organizer and movement specialist is helping to guide CELDF into its next 30 years. Kai has served as a national lecturer for CELDF’s Democracy School and as a board member of the Oregon Community Rights Network and Washington Community Rights Network.

He teaches, presents, and writes extensively on movement building, community rights, rights of nature, and the intersection of culture and law.

In this podcast, we discuss the work that CELDF has done over the past year, what’s next for our movement, and the support we need in order to make progress on our ambitious goals. CELDF is aiming to raise $5 million over the next five years to expand our Educational Programs, bring Rights of Nature to new communities, and implement our Community Resistance and Resilience vision with our national network of frontline, on-the-ground partners.

The YouTube version of this podcast can be found here:

Links and Resources

* CELDF’s website

* Our most recent newsletter, “Living as Nature”

* How to donate to CELDF

About the Truth and Reckoning Podcast

In this show, we learn from front-line organizers and communities fighting against environmental destruction. We explore different perspectives and innovative strategies for movement building, the potency and potential of rights of nature, and effective action in defense of our communities. And, we share inspiring stories of people working towards right relationship with the land and each other. The show is hosted by CELDF Community Resistance and Resilience Program Co-Director Max Wilbert.

You can find the show on:

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

* Pocketcasts

* YouTube (video and audio)

* And anywhere else you get your podcasts (click here to find this podcast via your preferred app)

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

CELDF is a nationwide community of organizers, lawyers, and partners who educate, agitate, and organize to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s reciprocal relationship with the Earth. For over 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate exploitation, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-govern through systems grounded in ecological balance and collective power.

Support this work

Your gift helps us to support communities on the frontlines of corporate and ecological destruction — people standing up to defend their water, forests, and future.

Together, we’re advancing Rights of Nature and Community Rights in the name of Community Resistance + Resilience, challenging a system that treats nature as property and people as obstacles. Please donate today!

Welcome to Truth and Reckoning, a podcast and newsletter from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). We are organizers, lawyers, and revolutionaries who educate and agitate to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s relationship with the Earth.

For more than 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate power, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-governance grounded in ecological balance. Subscribe to learn about rights of nature and movement strategy, and to stay updated on our work.

In this episode, we speak with Dina Gilio-Whitaker

Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribes) is a lecturer of American Indian Studies at California State University San Marcos, and an independent consultant and educator in environmental justice policy planning. She teaches courses on environmentalism and American Indians, traditional ecological knowledge, religion and philosophy, Native women’s activism, American Indians and sports, and decolonization.

As a public intellectual, Dina brings her scholarship into focus as an award-winning journalist as well, contributing to numerous online outlets including Indian Country Today, the Los Angeles Times, High Country News and many more.

Dina is co-author with Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz of “All the Real Indians Died Off” And 20 Other Myths About Native Americans, author of As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice from Colonization to Standing Rock and author of her newest book, Who Gets to Be Indian?: Ethnic Fraud, Disenrollment, and Other Difficult Conversations About Native American Identity. She’s also part of CELDF’s partner-advisor committee.

In this conversation, we discuss Dina’s two most recent books and their implications for community organizing, solidarity work, and indigenous resistance today. This is a great conversation and I hope you’ll enjoy hearing from Dina on these topics.

The video version of this podcast can be viewed here:

Links and Resources

* Dina’s website

* Dina’s previous book, “As Long as Grass Grows: The Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice, from Colonization to Standing Rock”

* Dina’s latest book, “Who Gets to Be Indian? Ethnic Fraud, Disenrollment, and Other Difficult Conversations About Native American Identity”

* “You’re No Indian” documentary film

* White Shamans and Plastic Medicine Men (YouTube video)

About the Truth and Reckoning Podcast

In this show, we learn from front-line organizers and communities fighting against environmental destruction. We explore different perspectives and innovative strategies for movement building, the potency and potential of rights of nature, and effective action in defense of our communities. And, we share inspiring stories of people working towards right relationship with the land and each other. The show is hosted by CELDF Community Resistance and Resilience Program Co-Director Max Wilbert.

You can find the show on:

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

* Pocketcasts

* YouTube (video and audio)

* And anywhere else you get your podcasts (click here to find this podcast via your preferred app)

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

CELDF is a nationwide community of organizers, lawyers, and partners who educate, agitate, and organize to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s reciprocal relationship with the Earth. For over 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate exploitation, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-govern through systems grounded in ecological balance and collective power.

Support this work

Your gift helps us to support communities on the frontlines of corporate and ecological destruction — people standing up to defend their water, forests, and future.

Together, we’re advancing Rights of Nature and Community Rights in the name of Community Resistance + Resilience, challenging a system that treats nature as property and people as obstacles. Please donate today!

Welcome to Truth and Reckoning, a podcast and newsletter from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). We are organizers, lawyers, and revolutionaries who educate and agitate to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s relationship with the Earth.

For more than 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate power, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-governance grounded in ecological balance. Subscribe to learn about rights of nature, environmental movement strategy, and stay updated on our work.

In this episode, we speak with Aashis Joshi

Aashis lives in Kathmandu, Nepal, and is a fierce critic of imperialism and greenwashing. He was pursuing a PhD in climate adaptation at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands until recently, when he dropped out after increasingly recognizing that the technological solutionism and Eurocentric siloed thinking that characterized academia was leading to more problems than it was solving. He is now pursuing public education on these topics.

Our conversation explores these topics, weaving through the challenges and misconceptions in climate adaptation and ecological research, the scale of the ecological crisis, the imperialism and colonial violence inherent in technological approaches to solving these problems, and the political agency that’s available when we abandon these false solutions.

That violence is key to the functioning of the global industrial economy, and it’s not an accident. As Aashis recently wrote:

“The ruling class of the West & Global North knows that food & resource scarcities & unlivable conditions leading to mass migrations & geopolitical turmoil are inevitable & imminent. They know full well that there is no way to address climate & ecological breakdown & live with their consequences in a fair way that doesn’t involve redressing global power imbalances, i.e. without ending their economic & geopolitical hegemony.

As they have no intention to carry out real climate & ecological action, they hold climate conferences & peddle techno-consumerist greenwashing “solutions” to buy time to divert resources towards systems that help strengthen their imperial hegemony. It’s all distraction.

In a world woefully unprepared for the biosphere breakdown that’s just getting started, they are investing in their military & armed forces to control lands & resources abroad & their public at home.

They are fortifying their borders & developing advanced technologies & methods of surveillance, terror & deadly violence including AI & drones, which they are currently testing on the people of Palestine.

Their media, academic & cultural institutions are actively complicit in their imperialist agenda, helping run their propaganda to normalize colonialist & fascist atrocities & enforce a performative democracy where people protesting genocide & ecocide are brutalized & criminalized but universities have research & financial ties with weapons manufacturers & fossil fuel & other ecocidal corporations.

They will go to great lengths & cross many red lines to quash the global public’s potential to strive for a better, kinder system than the extractivist capitalist empire they helm, which lies at the root of our accelerating social-ecological polycrisis.

They have abandoned global cooperation on the climate, biodiversity & human rights & committed themselves to the vicious & insane vision of maintaining their imperialist, white supremacist domination at all cost instead.”

Aashis is a brilliant thinker and we are glad bring you his voice.

The video version of this podcast can be viewed here:

Links and Resources

* The Global South’s Climate Aid Strategy is Flawed by Aashis Joshi (a relevant piece as COP30 is scheduled to begin on November 10th, 2025 in Brazil)

* Facing Climate And Ecological Breakdown Requires A New Vision For Education And Politics by Aashis Joshi

* A discussion on degrowth and decoloniality featuring Aashis Joshi and Erin Remblance

* Decolonizing the Degrowth Movement’s Imaginary of Technology by Max Wilbert (a response to Jason Hickel’s piece in Monthly Review titled “On Technology and Degrowth”)

Chapters

* 00:00 Introduction to Ashish Joshi and His Work

* 8:08 The Flaws in Climate Action Research

* 15:28 The Dutch Approach to Climate Adaptation

* 24:15 The Limits of Technological Solutions

* 32:21 The Disconnect Between Science and Social Change

* 41:00 The Role of Academia in Climate Solutions

* 44:00 Educating Broadly vs. Hyperspecialization

* 46:49 Conquest and Assimilation (Forced Proletarianization) of Land-Based Peoples as Imperial Expansion

* 49:00 Fascists Always Target Intellectuals and the Need for Courage

* 53:00 Interconnectedness of Climate and Geopolitical Injustices

* 55:45 Scale of the Ecological Crisis, Climate Denialism, and Psychopaths

* 1:04:15 Fear, Courage, and Collective Action

* 1:10:40 The Rise of AI and Other New Technologies

* 1:24:50 Reimagining Progress and Other Paths Forward

About the Truth and Reckoning Podcast

In this show, we learn from front-line organizers and communities fighting against environmental destruction. We explore different perspectives and innovative strategies for movement building, the potency and potential of rights of nature, and effective action in defense of our communities. And, we share inspiring stories of people working towards right relationship with the land and each other. The show is hosted by CELDF Community Resistance and Resilience Program Co-Director Max Wilbert.

You can find the show on:

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

* Pocketcasts

* YouTube (video and audio)

* And anywhere else you get your podcasts (click here to find this podcast via your preferred app)

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

CELDF is a nationwide community of organizers, lawyers, and partners who educate, agitate, and organize to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s reciprocal relationship with the Earth. For over 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate exploitation, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-govern through systems grounded in ecological balance and collective power.

Support this work

A generous CELDF supporter has challenged us to raise $20,000 by November 10th. Until then, every dollar you give will be matched 1:1, meaning it will go twice as far. Your gift helps us to support communities on the frontlines of corporate and ecological destruction — people standing up to defend their water, forests, and future.

Together, we’re advancing Rights of Nature and Community Rights in the name of Community Resistance + Resilience, challenging a system that treats nature as property and people as obstacles. Please donate today!

Welcome to Truth and Reckoning, a newsletter from the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). We are organizers, lawyers, and revolutionaries who educate and agitate to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s relationship with the Earth.

For more than 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate power, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-governance grounded in ecological balance. Subscribe to this newsletter to learn about rights of nature, environmental movement strategy, and stay updated on our work.

Support CELDF Today

A generous CELDF supporter has challenged us to raise $20,000 by November 10th. Until then, every dollar you give will be matched 1:1, meaning it will go twice as far. Your gift helps us to support communities on the frontlines of corporate and ecological destruction — people standing up to defend their water, forests, and future.

Together, we’re advancing Rights of Nature and Community Rights in the name of Community Resistance + Resilience, challenging a system that treats nature as property and people as obstacles. Please donate today!

In this episode, we speak with Carine Gibert, founder of Grounded in Motion, about the intersection of art, education, and ecological activism.

Carine is the founder and lead facilitator of Grounded in Motion. Deepening our awareness of our beautiful, yet fragile, interdependence with the natural world drives her vision. The learning journeys she designs offer a different kind of educational roadmap, one that investigates how the union of art, contemplative wisdom and climate science can lead to greater awareness of the interconnectedness of the earth’s living systems. Her courses, installations and curated exhibits feature ecological learning design frameworks, contemplative practices, writing exercises and composed soundscapes that focus on deep ecology while giving space for eco grief and joy.

Grounded in Motion is part of a growing movement of artists, academics, activists and change-makers that understand that our cerebral ways of knowing about climate change and biodiversity loss are not enough. In order to transform, we must not only know - but feel, honoring our roles and responsibilities toward the ecosystems that sustain us.

This conversation between Carine and CELDF Consulting Director Tish O’Dell focuses on the intersection of art, education, and ecological activism. They discuss the importance of relationships in ecological movements, the role of art in resistance movements, and the need for a holistic approach to education that integrates emotional and physical awareness. They emphasize the significance of community and collective action in addressing climate change and fostering hope among youth.

The video version of this podcast can be viewed here:

Links and Resources

* Grounded in Motion Website

* Weaving Rivers (a collaboration between Carine and CELDF partner-advisors Blake Lavia and Tzintzun-Aguilar-Izzo (Talking Wings). By celebrating the voices of the guardians of the water from around the world, Confluence weaves a transnational, transregional community of resistance, creating a tapestry of grassroots journalism and the many voices of water.advisors

* Carine’s Instagram

* Carine’s audio soundscapes on Spotify:

About the Truth and Reckoning Podcast

In this show, we learn from front-line organizers and communities fighting against environmental destruction. We explore different perspectives and innovative strategies for movement building, the potency and potential of rights of nature, and effective action in defense of our communities. And, we share inspiring stories of people working towards right relationship with the land and each other. The show is hosted by CELDF Community Resistance and Resilience Program Co-Director Max Wilbert.

You can find the show on:

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

* Pocketcasts

* YouTube (video and audio)

* And anywhere else you get your podcasts (click here to find this podcast via your preferred app)

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

CELDF is a nationwide community of organizers, lawyers, and partners who educate, agitate, and organize to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s reciprocal relationship with the Earth. For over 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate exploitation, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-govern through systems grounded in ecological balance and collective power.

Welcome to Truth and Reckoning, a podcast from CELDF — the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. CELDF partners with people and communities to establish local self-governance, build alternative systems, and resist destruction of our planet in order to live harmoniously within the boundaries of ecology.

If you would like to follow, you can subscribe for free. Or, if you’d like to support to these efforts, you can either donate to CELDF or sign up for a paid subscription. Thank you!

In this episode, we speak with two organizers from Ohio, Bill Lyons and Sherry Fleming

They discuss their community activism efforts in two very different communities: the large city of Columbus, and the rural Williams County.

They share their personal journeys into activism, the challenges they face in protecting their communities from environmental harms such as fracking, factory farms, and corporate mega-projects, their experiences of state collusion in these destructive projects, and the importance of rights of nature and community rights in standing up for justice.

As Will Falk wrote in a piece here last week, referencing efforts in Columbus that Bill is involved in:

on May 15, Columbus, Ohio residents submitted a proposed city charter amendment initiative petition to their city government.

The initiative is titled “To Protect the Local Self-Governing Rights of the People of Columbus from Preemption.” If residents gather enough signatures, the petition will be placed on the November 2027 ballot and Columbus voters will be asked to reject state and federal preemption and reaffirm the right to make decisions locally. Specifically, the proposed bill would make it so “local laws…shall not be subject to preemption or nullification by international law, federal law, or state law…” In other words, it would give the City of Columbus the power to ban destructive corporate projects

The video version of this podcast can be viewed here:

Links and Resources

* Columbus Bill of Rights

* Williams County Alliance

* Citizens for Rights of the Ohio River Watershed (CROW Ohio)

* Death by Democracy, a book published by CELDF which tells the story of community rights activism in Ohio and how the state has criminalized these efforts

* What We Do To Nature, We Do To Ourselves is a film created by our friend Andrea Bowers that highlights community activism against destruction industrial mega-farms in NW Ohio, and features both Sherry Fleming and our own Tish O’Dell. Here’s the trailer:

* In other Ohio news, Citizens for Rights of the Ohio River Watershed (CROW Ohio) created this video recently about Rights for the Ohio River:

About the Truth and Reckoning Podcast

In this show, we learn from front-line organizers and communities fighting against environmental destruction. We explore different perspectives and innovative strategies for movement building, the potency and potential of rights of nature, and effective action in defense of our communities. And, we share inspiring stories of people working towards right relationship with the land and each other. The show is hosted by CELDF Community Resistance and Resilience Program Co-Director Max Wilbert.

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

* Pocketcasts

* YouTube (video and audio)

* And anywhere else you get your podcasts (click here to find this podcast via your preferred app)

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

CELDF is a nationwide community of organizers, lawyers, and partners who educate, agitate, and organize to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s reciprocal relationship with the Earth. For over 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate exploitation, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-govern through systems grounded in ecological balance and collective power.

Welcome to Truth and Reckoning, a podcast from CELDF — the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. CELDF partners with people and communities to establish local self-governance necessary for living harmoniously within the boundaries of ecology.

If you would like to follow, you can subscribe for free. Or, if you’d like to pledge monetary support to these efforts, please either donate to CELDF or sign up for a paid subscription. Thank you.

In this episode, we speak with Robert Shetterly.

Today’s show is an interview between CELDF’s executive director, Kai Huschke, and Robert Shetterly.

Robert Shetterly was born in 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio, graduated from Harvard College with a degree in English Literature. But while he was there he also took some courses in drawing which changed the direction of his creative life. He was active in Civil Rights and in the Anti-Vietnam War movement, and as you’ll hear in this interview, he became an artist.

Robert is now best known for his portrait series called “Americans Who Tell the Truth.” The project begun in response to U.S. government actions following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York City, specifically the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Shetterly undertook the project as a way to deal with his own grief and anger by painting Americans who inspired him. He initially intended to paint only 50 portraits, but by 2025 there are now some 280 portraits in the series. Portions of the series tour widely across the United States, being shown in schools, museums, libraries, galleries and other public spaces.

These portraits have been traveling around the country since 2003. Venues have included everything from university museums and grade school libraries to sandwich shops, the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City, and the Superior Court in San Francisco. To date, the exhibits have visited 38 states. In 2005, Dutton published a book of the portraits by the same name. In 2006, the book won the top award of the International Reading Association for Intermediate non-fiction. New Village Press in New York City is published a series of themed books on the portraits. Each volume contains 50 portraits. The series includes Portraits of Racial Justice (2021), Portraits of Earth Justice (2022), and Portraits of Peace Makers (2024).

The portraits have given Shetterly an opportunity to speak with children and adults all over this country about the necessity of dissent in a democracy, the obligations of citizenship, sustainability, US history, and how democracy cannot function if politicians don’t tell the truth, if the media don’t report it, and if the people don’t demand it.

Robert also wrote the introduction to the latest book that we published here at CELDF, a collection of essays called “Can You Handle the Truth.” You can purchase that book on our website.

The video version of this podcast can be viewed here:

Links and Resources

* American Who Tell the Truth

* Truth Tellers, a documentary film about Robert’s work

About the Truth and Reckoning Podcast

In this show, we learn from front-line organizers and communities fighting against environmental destruction. We explore different perspectives and innovative strategies for movement building, the potency and potential of rights of nature, and effective action in defense of our communities. And, we share inspiring stories of people working towards right relationship with the land and each other. The show is hosted by CELDF Community Resistance and Resilience Program Co-Director Max Wilbert.

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

* Pocketcasts

* YouTube (video and audio)

* And anywhere else you get your podcasts (click here to find this podcast via your preferred app)

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

CELDF is a nationwide community of organizers, lawyers, and partners who educate, agitate, and organize to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s reciprocal relationship with the Earth. For over 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate exploitation, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-govern through systems grounded in ecological balance and collective power.

Welcome to Truth and Reckoning, a podcast from CELDF — the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. CELDF partners with people and communities to establish local self-governance necessary for living harmoniously within the boundaries of ecology.

If you would like to follow, you can subscribe for free. Or, if you’d like to pledge monetary support to these efforts, please either donate to CELDF or sign up for a paid subscription. Thank you.

In this episode, we speak with Shannon Rowan, who critiques the role of modern technology in society and how it impacts us and the world in terms of health, social well-being, and extractivism.

In this thought-provoking episode, we sit down with journalist, author, and activist Shannon Rowan. Shannon, who describes herself as a "Wi-Fi refugee," delves into the profound impacts of technology on our lives and the environment. We explore her latest book, "The Red Shoes: Our Devil's Dance with Technology and How We Can Stop It," which uses the metaphor of Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairy tale to discuss the addictive nature of modern technology. Join us as we discuss the intersection of technology, nature, and human connection, and how we can reclaim our sovereignty in a tech-dominated world.

The video version of this podcast can be found here:

Brief aside: the folks at Community Rights Lane County, who we spotlighted in our last episode of this podcast, have reached a milestone in their campaign to get rights of nature recognized in regional law by gathering more than 14,000 signatures and qualifying for the May, 2026 ballot.

Links and Resources

* Shannon Rowan’s Website

* The Red Shoes: Our Devil's Dance with Technology and How We Can Stop It

* Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It

About the Truth and Reckoning Podcast

In this show, we learn from front-line organizers and communities fighting against environmental destruction. We explore different perspectives and innovative strategies for movement building, the potency and potential of rights of nature, and effective action in defense of our communities. And, we share inspiring stories of people working towards right relationship with the land and each other. The show is hosted by CELDF Community Resistance and Resilience Program Co-Director Max Wilbert. This interview was conducted by Tish O’Dell, CELDF’s consulting director.

* Apple Podcasts

* Spotify

* Pocketcasts

* YouTube (video and audio)

* And anywhere else you get your podcasts (click here to find this podcast via your preferred app)

About CELDF — Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund

CELDF is a nationwide community of organizers, lawyers, and partners who educate, agitate, and organize to confront systemic injustice and restore humanity’s reciprocal relationship with the Earth. For over 30 years, we’ve helped communities resist corporate exploitation, reject regulatory false promises, and assert their right to self-govern through systems grounded in ecological balance and collective power.