McGill School of Environment Speakers Series

Thomas Linzey "Building a New Activism: Stripping Corporate Power; Recognizing the Rights of Nature" Thomas Linzey is a cum laude graduate of Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and is a three time recipient of the Schools' Public Interest Law Award. He is the co-founder of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) and is a co-founder, with Richard Grossman, of the Daniel Pennock Democracy School - now taught at fifteen locations across the United States - which assists groups and communities to reframe seemingly “single” environmental issues into ones focused on eliminating the ability of corporate “rights” to trump the rights of communities. CELDF was formed to provide free and affordable legal services to community based groups and local governments working to protect their quality of life and the natural environment through building sustainable communities. Increasingly, that means teaming up with people and their municipal representatives to mount campaigns that challenge the legal clout of corporations to overrule decisions made by citizens for their communities.