Parks Advisory Board Meeting
UPDATE (5/1/2019 11:00 AM) - Unfortunately Maya van Rossum will be unable to attend due to illness. In her stead, Michael Hogan will be giving a presentation on the Birds of Estell Park.
For decades, the people of New Jersey have relied on federal and state legislation to protect their natural resources. And for decades, the laws have let them down. New Jersey water, air, forests, and other special places from the highlands to the pinelands have been allowed to degrade in ways that are harming people’s lives. A Constitutional provision could help change that.
Join Delaware Riverkeeper and Founder of Green Amendments For the Generations, Maya van Rossum, for a discussion of environmental rights outlined in her book, The Green Amendment, Securing Our Right to a Healthy Environment, and learn about the historic opportunity facing New Jersey aimed at protecting those rights.
When:
Wednesday, May 1, 2019, 7pm
Where:
Canale Training Center
5033 English Creek Avenue
Egg Harbor Township, NJ
This event is FREE and OPEN to the public. This event is hosted by the Atlantic County Parks and Environment Advisory Board.
For more information: https://www.atlantic-county.org/news/details.asp?ID=4320
About the book:
In the decades long fight for a cleaner environment, we’ve been fighting a losing battle. The sad truth is, our laws are designed to accommodate pollution rather than prevent it. People feel powerless when it comes to preserving the quality of their water, air, public parks, and special natural spaces.
The solution, argues Delaware Riverkeeper Maya K. van Rossum in a pathbreaking book, is to bypass the laws and turn to the ultimate authority: our state and federal constitutions. In 2013, van Rossum and her team won a watershed legal victory that not only protected Pennsylvania communities from ruthless frackers, but affirmed the constitutional right of people in the state to a clean and healthy environment.
Following this victory, van Rossum inaugurated the Green Amendment movement, dedicated to empowering every American community to mobilize for constitutional change. In The Green Amendment, van Rossum lays out an inspiring new agenda for environmental advocacy, one that will finally empower people.
We all have the right to pure water, clean air, and a healthy environment. It’s time to claim that right—for our own sake and that of future generations.
The Green Amendment has been honored as a 2018 Living Now Evergreen Awards GOLD Winner in the Nature Conservation category, received an Honorable Mention in the 2017 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards, and includes a powerful foreword authored by Mark Ruffalo, which supports the visionary constitutional path advocated for in the book.
Purchase a copy of The Green Amendment here.
About the Author:
Maya K. van Rossum is the Delaware Riverkeeper and leader for the Delaware Riverkeeper Network. The Delaware Riverkeeper Network works throughout the four states of the Delaware River watershed (NY, NJ, PA & DE) and at the national level using advocacy, science and litigation. van Rossum, who is skilled as an environmental attorney, strategist, community organizer, facilitator, coalition builder and manager, has led DRN for over 23 years. She is author of The Green Amendment: Securing Our Right to a Healthy Environment and is the original petitioner and leader of the Green Amendment movement, seeking to inspire and secure constitutional protection for environmental rights across the nation. Maya is also a lifetime resident of Radnor Township, Pennsylvania, having grown up in Villanova and now residing with her family in Bryn Mawr. During her years in Radnor, she has enjoyed the creeks and natural space of Radnor and the Delaware County region. Some of these experiences feature prominently in her book.
