Something rather interesting happened recently, and it could change things considerably as far as environmental protection is concerned. You see the good citizens of Ohio City voted to give their local lake the same rights as a human being.
The lake in question is Lake Erie, and 61% of those who took part in the vote for Lake Erie’s Bill of Rights decided the water space deserved special treatment. This simply means that anyone who violates the rights of the lake, risks being sued by Ohio City residents.
For those that don’t know, Lake Erie is very important to over 12 million Americans and Canadians, primarily because this is where their drinking water comes from. So the case for removing pollution was all important in the vote.
interesting legal development: yesterday, voters in Toledo, Ohio, voted to give #LakeErie legal rights – seeking to strengthen remedies so as to combat effectively the lake's pollution, building on precedents from other countries https://t.co/O8Bj9yGErc #NatureLaw pic.twitter.com/vROF1021gB
— Sébastien Duyck (@duycks) February 27, 2019
“Beginning today, with this historic vote, the people of Toledo and our allies are ushering in a new era of environmental rights by securing the rights of the Great Lake Erie,” according to a statement from Markie Miller of Toledoans for Safe Water.
This is, indeed, a historic vote because it’s the first of its kind in the USA. No doubt in the months or years to come, others will follow suit in a bid to protect the environment from those who refuse to care.