Climate Change is one of those frustrating issues, in which everything we do to fight it doesn’t seem to be enough. Then some wonderful kids stepped in. Four years ago Kelsey Juliana, a young woman here in Oregon, organized 21 kids from eight to nineteen years olds to sue the federal government over climate change. Today’s hearing before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, here in Portland, will determine whether this important case will go to trial.
On June 4, 2019, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in Juliana v. United States to determine whether the case will proceed to trial in district court in Oregon. Nearly 4 years ago, 21 children and adolescents between 8 and 19 years of age, including Kelsey Juliana from Oregon, filed suit against the federal government, charging that the government’s inaction on addressing climate change violated their constitutional right to life, liberty, and property. To date, no such lawsuit against the federal government has succeeded in the United States, despite a sharp increase in the number of similar suits filed by young people, municipalities, and state governments. Indeed, none of these lawsuits has gone to trial.
As the Juliana plaintiffs argue — and we agree — climate change is the greatest public health emergency of our time and is particularly harmful to fetuses, infants, children, and adolescents. The adverse effects of continued emissions of carbon dioxide and fossil-fuel–related pollutants threaten children’s right to a healthy existence in a safe, stable environment. It is for this reason that we, together with nearly 80 scientists and physicians and 15 health organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, submitted an amicus brief to help educate the Ninth Circuit about this extraordinary threat. More frequent and longer heat waves, increasing intensity of extreme weather events such as droughts and wildfires, worsening infectious-disease exposures, food and water insecurity, and air pollution from fossil-fuel burning all threaten to destabilize our public health and health care infrastructure… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <New England Journal of Medicine>
Here’s a video plug for the case.
The action is sponsored by Our Children’s Trust.
Kudos to them all. Oregon leads the way!
RESIST!!
