Antinuclear

Young people suing US government over climate change are staying the course

By Linda Pentz Gunter

“As California burns, Trump administration battles climate lawsuit.”

That’s the headline that recently ran across the website of Our Children’s Trust. It refers to a lawsuit brought in 2015 by 21 children, now aged between 10 and 21, first against the Obama administration and now the Trump administration. The children’s claim? That “through the government’s affirmative actions that cause climate change, it has violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, as well as failed to protect essential public trust resources.”

Trump may want to rake while California burns, but his administration is also using every legal avenue possible to stamp out the fire of these determined young people fighting for their future. 

In effect, the government is using its battery of lawyers to play the game of delay. But…