CDP co-founders Kelsey Skaggs and Alice Cherry are featured in the upcoming film Necessity: Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance. Directed by Jan Haaken and Samantha Praus, this feature-length documentary tells the story of climate activists and attorneys as they work to resist pipelines carrying tar sands oil—the most polluting fuel on the planet—from Canada into the United...
Climate Defense Project co-founder and Executive Director Kelsey Skaggs has been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list of trailblazers and risk-takers. Recognized for her work at CDP, Kelsey joins a class of other luminaries in law and policy. Check out the honor here.
CDP's Alice Cherry interprets recent climate necessity outcomes in the context of the midterm elections and reaffirms the value of protest.
CDP staff attorneys Alice Cherry and Ted Hamilton spoke to law students at Harvard Law School’s Pro Bono week about the need for movement lawyers fighting for climate justice and their experience starting a non-profit out of law school. Alice and Ted emphasized the need to proactively use the legal system to advance activist goals...
Our clients’ recent victory in Minnesota has garnered significant media attention. A Democracy Now! segment features CDP’s Kelsey Skaggs with two of the valve turners and Dr. James Hansen. Click here for part two. Here is a piece in The Nation by Wen Stephenson examining the context of the trial, and an opinion piece by Bill McKibben on the...
Climate Defense Project October 9, 2018 Contact: Kelsey Skaggs, (510) 883-3118, info@climatedefenseproject.org The climate movement secured a major victory today after a judge dismissed all charges against the Valve Turner activists who shut down a tar sands pipeline in northern Minnesota nearly two years ago. The activists — who were represented by Lauren Regan of the Civil...
Three climate activists are going to trial on October 8 in Clearwater County, Minnesota for their courageous protest against the fossil fuel industry. They will have the opportunity to present one of the nation’s first climate necessity defenses — and Climate Defense Project needs your help to make this trial a success. We need to...
September 6, 2018 Berkeley, CA — In conjunction with this week’s Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice protests, Climate Defense Project has released the Principles of Climate Civil Resistance, a document summarizing the legal basis for nonviolent resistance to the fossil fuel system. The Principles list numerous legal violations committed by state and federal governments...
The Principles of Climate Civil Resistance is a document summarizing the legal basis for resistance to the fossil fuel system. A PDF version of the Principles is available here. CDP’s Update on the Principles can be found here. Principles of Climate Civil Resistance Civil resistance is a form of non-violent opposition to oppression, injustice, and environmental...
Climate Defense Project September 5, 2018 Contact: Alice Cherry, (847) 859-9572; info@climatedefenseproject.org Climate Defense Project has joined a coalition of nonprofits and legal groups called Protect the Protest. The coalition, which launched today, is dedicated to the legal defense of individuals and groups facing SLAPPs, or strategic lawsuits against public participation. SLAPPs are used by business...
