Extended childhood is a relatively modern invention of western culture. In ages past, teenaged children were considered to be full adults possessing a mature sense of responsibility and reasoning powers. In our culture, parents shelter their children from inconvenient truths thereby denying them the opportunity to engage in the future and act on their own behalf. With an only child, I must admit that I have been as guilty as the next one in this regard.
Out of the wide range of issues that my 29-year-old daughter and I discuss, one thing I never bring up is Climate Change. We raised her essentially outdoors in Oregon’s mountains, forests and rivers which she regularly seeks out for spiritual sustenance. How can I speak of Climate Change in the face of predictions that her beloved forests will be gone during her lifetime? In my helplessness, I am struck silent. Yet, I know that she is aware of these terrible things coming. We try to shelter our children, yet they listen at the door and fear.
Last night, my feelings of utter hopelessness were dispelled by two words: climate recovery. Nick Caleb, Local Climate Law Fellow with Our Children’s Trust, spoke to a small crowd at an event sponsored by our local chapter of the Sierra Club. Caleb outlined how organizers are working with local facilitators to educate and empower local youth who then lead their own campaigns right into their town councils, legislative chambers, and the courts.
Our Children’s Trust Mission Statement
The mission of OUR CHILDREN'S TRUST is to establish the legal right to a healthy atmosphere and stable climate for all present and future generations.
By supporting youth plaintiffs in strategic atmospheric trust litigation, OUR CHILDREN'S TRUST empowers youth to lead a game-changing effort to hold the ruling generation accountable and to compel governments in the United States and abroad to adopt and implement enforceable science-based Climate Recovery Plans.
The doctrine of public trusts is ancient, first articulated in Rome. Fifteen hundred years ago, the Emperor Justinian wrote, "The things which are naturally everybody's are: the air, flowing water, the sea, and the seashore”.
If adults walk into the halls of power demanding action, politicians find it quite easy to turn us away with false reassurances. It is much harder to turn away passionate youth who are educated, articulate and empowered by mentoring adults and who have the most to lose in an altered world. And it is working.
In Oregon, a nationally significant case was brought by two teenagers, Kelsey Juliana and Olivia Chernaik, fifteen and eleven respectively when they filed. The suit is against the state and Governor Kitzhaber (now Brown) asking for a “declaration of law that the State has a fiduciary obligation to manage the atmosphere, water resources, coastal areas, wildlife and fish as public trust assets and to protect them from substantial impairment resulting from the emissions of greenhouse gases in Oregon and the resulting adverse effects of climate change and ocean acidification”. They are asking for science-based climate recovery planning. The circuit court dismissed it under the judgment that the legislative and executive branches should be alone in making such decisions. This judgment was overruled by the Oregon Appeals Court and oral arguments will be heard on April 7, in Eugene. (The case had been postponed from February at the request of our new Governor, Kate Brown, who wanted to review the state’s brief.)
The Oregon-based non-profit operates in all fifty states and internationally. For more information, please see Our Children’s Trust website, including Bill Moyers’ interviews with Kelsey Juliana, about being a teen activist, and legal scholar Mary Christina Wood, about the trust doctrine.
These are truly crazy times in which we live. Scientists have warned humanity of impending environmental catastrophe, yet our governments squabble over blame and neglect to take steps not only to stop contributing to it but to make meaningful recovery efforts. These times call for “crazy ideas” such as public trust litigation brought by youth who are most at risk.