MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT
Since adults continue to accelerate global warming, 21 young people are suing the federal government in an effort to protect their futures on the earth. Isaac Vergun is one of them. (Photo: Our Children's Trust)
Politicians may dither and delay in reducing global warming, but 21 young people in the United States are taking action to try and save the planet from an environmental implosion. They know their future depends on it.
On August 12 - International Youth Day - Our Children's Trust and the Earth Guardians filed a lawsuit in the US District Court in Oregon on behalf of these youth. The suit, according to a news release issued jointly by Our Children's Trust and Earth Guardians, charges "that, in causing climate change, the federal government has violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, property, and has failed to protect essential public trust resources."
According to the two organizations that focus on youth advocacy for a sustainable planetary future,
The [legal] complaint alleges the Federal Government is violating the youth’s constitutional rights by promoting the development and use of fossil fuels. These young Plaintiffs are challenging the federal government’s national fossil fuel programs, as well as the proposed Jordan Cove LNG [Liquefied Natural Gas] export terminal in Coos Bay, OR. Plaintiffs seek to hold President Obama and various federal agencies responsible for continued fossil fuel exploitation. The Federal Government has known for decades that fossil fuels are destroying the climate system. No less important than in the Civil Rights cases, Plaintiffs seek a court order requiring the President to immediately implement a national plan to decrease atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (“CO2”) to a safe level: 350 ppm by the year 2100....
“We uncovered shocking admissions by the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency: they have known for decades of the extreme dangers of fossil fuels,” noted Philip Gregory of Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, of Burlingame, CA, counsel to the Plaintiffs. “The Complaint explains how Defendants have known since at least 1965 that CO2 emissions from fossil fuels would create perilous climate change, with enormous and harmful impacts for future generations – including our children.
President Obama has generally done little to rein in the fossil fuel industry, most recently allowing drilling in the Arctic. And critics have argued that Obama’s White House-touted Clean Power Plan to reduce coal plant carbon emissions is too little, too late. In an August 2 article in Slate, Eric Holthaus - a meteorologist and journalist - writes that "the new rule puts America on a middling emissions-reduction pathway, at best." In short, incremental steps may likely leave young people around the world a legacy of atmospheric destruction.
Please go here to continue this article: http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/children-sue-the-federal-government-to-save-earth-for-their-future
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