Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
When the crafters of the Declaration of Independence affirmed “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as inalienable rights, they could not have known that private industry practices like fracking would one day pose grave dangers to the holders of those rights. Our guest today on Sea Change Radio, Maya van Rossum, asserts not only that protection from these dangers should be understood as inalienable, but that environmental protections should be explicitly named in our constitution. Van Rossum is the executive director of Delaware Riverkeepers and the author of a new book, The Green Amendment. We talk about her organization’s success in curbing fracking in Pennsylvania, how her work serves as a potential template for fighting fracking elsewhere, and the movement underway to pass a constitutional amendment for a healthy environment.