Claire Thompson

Kids sue climate change

Editorial intern, Grist, Dec 08, 11.

As the U.S. delegation drags its feet at the climate talks in Durban, South Africa, this week, a pack of kids back home is trying to force the old folks into action, the American way: They’re suing the bastards.

In May, a group of young people, led by 17-year-old Alec Loorz (founder of Kids vs. Global Warming), filed 10 lawsuits, one against the federal government and the others against individual states, to compel the government to take action on climate change.

“The generations before us ... just kind of thought of the world as limitless,” said Glori Dei Filippone, 13, a plaintiff in the case who hails from Des Moines, Iowa. “My generation and the one after it are going to have to work hard to fix this mess.”

By the time Filippone is old enough to run for office, it could already be too late to reverse the destruction wrought by climate change—all the more reason to put pressure on the government today.

The lawsuits are based on a legal theory developed by University of Oregon law professor Mary Wood called “atmospheric trust litigation.” The theory “rests on the premise that all governments hold natural resources in trust for their citizens and bear the fiduciary obligation to protect such resources for future generations,” according to Wood’s web page.

Full Story: The young and the restless: Kids sue government over climate change
Source: Grist, December 8, 2011

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