(a) Right to Water. All residents, natural communities and ecosystems in Yellow Springs possess a fundamental and inalienable right to maintain the sustainable access, use, consumption, and preservation of water drawn from natural water systems, springs and wells that provide water necessary to sustain life within the Village.
(b) Rights of Natural Communities. Ecosystems and natural communities possess the right to exist and flourish within the Village. The residents of Yellow Springs have the inalienable right to enforce and defend those rights to protect all ecosystems, including, but not limited to, wetlands, streams, rivers, aquifers, and other water systems, within Yellow Springs.
(c) Right to a Sustainable Energy Future. All residents, natural communities, and ecosystems in Yellow Springs possess a right to a sustainable energy future, which includes, but is not limited to, the development, production, and use of energy from renewable fuel sources and the establishment of local policies to advance this right.
(d) Right to Local Community Self-Government. All residents of Yellow Springs possess the fundamental and inalienable right to a form of governance where they live which recognizes that all power is inherent in the people, that all free governments are founded on the people's authority and consent, and that neither individuals nor corporate entities and their directors and managers shall enjoy special privileges or powers under the color of state law which purports to make community majorities subordinate to them.
(e) People as Sovereign. Yellow Springs shall be the governing authority responsible to, and governed by, the residents of the Village. The people at all times enjoy and retain an inalienable and indefeasible right to self-governance in the community where they reside.
(f) Rights as Self-Executing. All rights delineated and secured by this law shall be self-executing and these rights shall be enforceable against individuals, corporations and governmental entities.
(Ord. 2012-17. Passed 10-1-12.)