For politicians who fail to act on climate change, Kelsey Juliana has a few words.
"I want to remind them that we are their employer," said Juliana, 18, a native of Eugene, Oregon, and freshman at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. "The government works for us. If you're not doing your job, then I'm going to call you out on it."
Those aren't idle words, either. Juliana is a plaintiff in a potentially precedent-setting court case against Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) and the state. She and co-plaintiff Olivia Chernaik, 14, claim that their government isn't doing enough to protect its current and future citizens from the devastating effects of climate change.
Pre-trial motions were filed in circuit court Jan. 9 and argument on the motions has been scheduled for March.
"This could be a landmark decision on the question: Does government, as trustee over our essential natural resources, have to protect it from carbon pollution and the impacts of climate disruption?" said Julia Olson, executive director of the nonprofit Our Children's Trust, and originator of a suite of youth-led lawsuits since 2011.
It's their planet, and if we fail to act now we are leaving them with possibly cataclysmic problems to deal with in the future.
Seems legit to me.
Wouldn't it be something if a lawsuit was the reason we actually did something to stop climate change.
ReplyDeleteBut in reality, I feel awful for young people today. Most of them don't care about climate change but those who 'get it' and have read about it and understand what we're facing, could suffer depression. If you have kids, be gentle when you talk about climate change. Yes, it's going to get bad but they have to have hope. Talk about sustainability and how each person can do things to make a difference. They don't need to know how little hope there truly is.
4:18, it seems that we as a population have to do things in a litigious manner. Everything seems to have to go through the courts. Witness marriage equality.
DeleteThe only thing that seems to satisfy some people is being TOLD they are legally wrong. And even then they don't really accept it.
I send emails to our congressman, good old "Dr. Dan" Benishek telling him that "we, the people" are his employer but he only pays attention to the guys who have been paying for his campaigns, Charles and David Koch.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the lawsuit, Kelsey. The publicity alone is a good thing and if it encourages thousands of others to complain to their representatives, you've succeeded.
Beaglemom
OK, I realize this isn't a science blog, but this article from National Geographic explains how much remaining fossil fuel must be left untouched (remain under the ground where it belongs) if we have any chance of keeping below the dreaded 2 degree C threashold that scientists say we must stay. There is little chance of this happening. And Carbon Capture and Sequestration is a fool's dream. If you read this article, you'll see the difficulty our next generation is facing. It means they will have to be the most energy efficient generation since Victorian times!
ReplyDeletehttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2015/01/150107-fossil-fuel-unburnable-2-degree-climate-target-study/
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/22/us-senate-man-climate-change-global-warming-hoax
ReplyDeleteIt is nearly 27 years now since a Nasa scientist testified before the US Senate that the agency was 99% certain that rising global temperatures were caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
And the Senate still has not got it – based on the results of three symbolic climate change votes on Wednesday night.
The Senate voted virtually unanimously that climate change is occurring and not, as some Republicans have said, a hoax – but it defeated two measures attributing its causes to human activity.
Only one Senator, Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, voted against a resolution declaring climate change was real and not – as his fellow Republican, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma once famous declared – a hoax. That measure passed 98 to one.
But the Senate voted down two measures that attributed climate change to human activity – and that is far more important.
Unless Senators are prepared to acknowledge the causes of climate change, it is likely they will remain unable and unwilling to do anything about it.
Democrats had planned the symbolic, “sense of the Senate” votes as a way of exposing the Republicans’ increasingly embarrassing climate change denial. Further climate votes will come up on Thursday.
Yeah well do you still drive a car, buy manufactured goods, turn on a lightbulb, use a fridge, fly in planes, eat farmed foods, buy chopped down christmas trees just to put up in your living room for a couple weeks?
DeleteOr are you a human that is part of a tribe that is completely disconnected from the rest of the world and uses spears and bows and arrows made from the jungle?
Well then you are part of the problem too, arent you?
Good grief, 11:07. Are you an idiot? All of us who are bright enough to recognize that we impact global warming and ocean acidification also realize that we each contribute to the overall problem. We want our politicians to realize it, too, and help us effect change at a societal scale.
Delete1:20 - Serious question for you, what is the end game of getting politicians to effect change, so to speak? What exactly can they change as the world becomes more modern, and faster paced, and relies even more and more on industry and power- especially third world nations, and China and India? I'm asking specifically, what elements of the progress of technology and progress are they going to be able to halt - and what are you wiling to live with?
DeleteNo more cars for anyone? We all have to use mass transit, or none at all? The power grids are shut down for 12 hours a day? No more flying in planes?
It is estimated this world has over 7 billion people on it now. That is the biggest problem humanity faces. How do you feed, clothe, get water to, provide sanitation for, mine and manufacture products for, move around, 7 billion people- all the while attempting to reduce industry? We are all on the roller coaster buddy- and it is over the mass critical stage hump in my opinion... may as well enjoy the ride.
@ 3:12
DeleteDamn. You sound just like the stupid repubes who ask the same damned questions. How many times must you be reminded that the number of business opportunities that exist in the alternative energy fields is so huge it's ridiculous!
Sure, there are challenges, but looking at this from YOUR angle and that taken by the repubes in Congress means NOTHING will be done, which mandates failure automatically.
Personally, a lot of us would rather TRY and fail than just fail from lack of effort.
The scenarios you are asking about WILL happen if nothing is done or even attempted now. But none of us are actually wanting to shut down industry. WE would prefer to expand it into fields that will allow them to do what they have been without the pollution they are currently creating.
Bravo to these young women! I tweeted this out to everyone I know and included Boehner. His home is just a few miles from mine and I reminded him that what the voters gave him can be taken away! He is not well regarded in this neighborhood, yet these idiots keep voting for him..
ReplyDeleteI hope these young women continue to lead by example!
I will be watching to see what prominent Catholics, including Boehner, say when the Pope issues his climate change encyclical (sp?) this Spring. Will climate change denier Catholics leave the Church?
DeleteIt seems to me that if the leader of your religion tells you to believe the science behind climate change and to change your lifestyle to help fix it, you should listen. Now we will see how much American Catholics listen to the Pope. Maybe he will be ignored so they can keep their SUVs and mcmansions.
That is why the US congress, both houses, must vote, so we can send all the naysayers/nay voters to debtors' prison and get the country running properly,
ReplyDeleteOff topic.
ReplyDeleteThinking of taking your family to some fetid third world cesspool where communicable diseases run rampant? Remember to get everyone checked for imunity and revaccinated before going.
Especially if that fetid cesspool is Disneyland where the anti- vaxxer homeskoolers run wild!
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/01/fox-expert-explodes-at-anti-vaxxers-over-measles-outbreak-why-should-my-child-be-at-risk/
The power of youth! Hope these young people take their case all the way. Imagine all the filings: against John Boehner, the nonsense/non-science crowd in the US House, and the US Supreme Court. Look out old duffers in defense of the 1%. These youngsters know how to use social media and will not lack for funding. When they ask, please donate. I plan to; it will be the best money I ever spent.
ReplyDeleteStupid.
ReplyDeleteOh really? Would you be so good as to tell us why you believe that? Why you have such wisdom that you can make such a statement?
DeleteTell us what is stupid about it. Nothing else seems to have gotten through to these fools yet, why not try it?
Besides, it IS their world now and they MUST have something done about it or they will watch this planet die.
Besides, maybe the courts can get something done where there rest of us have had no luck. Or do you think THAT'S stupid, too?
Or even worse, are you just a damned fool who doesn't believe there is a problem we are causing?
You are apparently stupid too Leland, you ranty bastard.
DeleteGet back to me when the judge tells the girls they are cute for their concerns and their overzealous civic concerns as he tosses the case.
So now you are prescient? "WHEN the judge tells them...?"
DeleteOh. And I have a birth certificate listing both my actual parents. Kindly try to keep your ignorance less insulting.
And you haven't answered any of the questions I presented you with.
Attacking someone when they challenge you with points you won't - or CAN'T - answer is the last effort of the incompetent - and the ...oh, what was that word you originally used? AH. STUPID.