- OMNI
- CLIMATE
CHANGE AND CHILDREN, EDUCATION, LAW ANTHOLOGY #2, June 6, 2024
- Compiled
by Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology,
- http://omnicenter.org/donate/
What’s
at Stake: What Shall We Tell The Children?
Contents
UN World
Environment Day: UNESCO. 2024.
Heather Short. “A vision for
transforming education in the face of climate and ecological breakdown.” 2024.
MarjorieCohn. “Youth
Plaintiffs in Court Against Montana.”
2023.
“From guns to climate, America
keeps proving it doesn’t care about kids.” 2022.
Olivia Rosane.
“Young Victims Of Climate Disasters Sue EU States Over Energy
Treaty.” 2022.
“’aDULTEDUCATION’” has been confused….” 2019
Richard
Hunziker. “Greenhouse Gas Concentrations in
Atmosphere Are Accelerating.” 2019.
Faramarz
Farbod. “Making Capitalism History.”
2019.
Arun Gupta.
“The Children’s Crusade.” 2019
Green Team at Shiloh Museum on frogs. 2019.
Dick Bennett.
“What Shall We Tell the Children?”
2019
Julia Rosen. In a federal courtroom
in Eugene, Oregon, 21 young people are scheduled to face off against the U.S.
government. 2018 (2015).
SOURCES
Arctic News
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Canadian Dimension
Change-Links
CounterPunch
EcoWatch
In These Times
MRonline.org
Science
Truthout
UNESCO
TEXTS
World Environment Day: UNESCO launches new initiatives
for “greening education” in classrooms
UNESCO in education 6-5-24 
UNESCO EDUCATION NEWSLETTER -
June 2024
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World Environment Day: UNESCO launches new initiatives for
“greening education” in classrooms
On World
Environment Day (5 June), UNESCO unveils new tools for greening schools and
curricula, highlighting the need to empower young people to play a concrete
role in tackling the climate crisis. "Greening schools and curricula is
one of the best levers to tackle climate disruption in the long-term,” said
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay. “It’s time to mainstream environmental
education across school subjects, at all levels of education with an
action-oriented approach that helps young people understand their power to make
a difference.”
Read more
Q&A:
Why greening education is the long-term solution for our planet
Record-breaking
temperatures, devastating floods and fast-melting ice shelves have become
regular news headlines all over the globe. Climate change is happening today,
and millions are affected by its deadly consequences. Yet education today is
not helping the next generation adopt a greener and more sustainable lifestyle.
There is an urgent need to shift the way we teach and learn to empower students
to take tangible climate action. That is the core message UNESCO is conveying
on World Environment Day as
it unveils new guidelines for greening schools and curricula.
Read more
What you
need to know about building strong foundations
With many
more children now in primary school, learning about health and well-being is an
opportunity to advance our children’s education and futures. Children and young
adolescents thrive in the classroom when they are in good health, and learn
about their well-being early on. That is why UNESCO established the Building
strong foundations initiative which demonstrates its unwavering
commitment and support for the education and health of all learners.
Read more
Gaza:
More than 1,500 children reached by UNESCO’s mental health and psychosocial
support
Amidst
the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, UNESCO has been
supporting displaced children and families, helping them cope with the trauma
they are enduring. Since February 2024, a total of 1,580 displaced children
have received assistance through UNESCO’s mental health and psychosocial
support initiatives in shelters across Khan Younis and Rafah in the Southern
Gaza Strip, in partnership with the Teacher Creativity Center. Additionally,
810 caregivers have participated in psychosocial support workshops, enhancing
their capacity to provide support to both themselves and the children in their
care.
Read more
Unlocking
Africa’s potential by investing in STEM education
Science
and technology are transforming the world at an unprecedented pace. From
addressing global challenges like pandemics and climate change to driving
innovation and sustainable development, the role of science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has never been more crucial. The
African continent holds a huge potential to transform its education sector and
labour market through science, technology and innovation. “We need to
unlock the potential of STEM education across Africa. And African girls
represent the greatest untapped population to become the next generation of
innovators,” said Stefania Giannini, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for
Education, at the Africa Dialogue Series 2024.
Read more
During
the launch of the Building strong foundations
inititative in Zambia, a set of four briefs were released with
UNICEF as part of the initiative to help ensure children stay in school, keep
safe and grow up to lead healthy and thriving lives. In the photo,
UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Education, Stefania Gianinni, joined a
group of students during a school visit to Chainda Primary School in Lusaka,
which included lessons on health and education, such as the human body and
development, and substance use.
Read more
“A vision for transforming education in the face of climate
and ecological breakdown.”
Editor. mronline.org
(3-10-24).
Preparing students for their futures requires
nothing short of transformative systemic change in all aspects of society.
Originally published: Canadian Dimension on March 6, 2024 by Heather Short (more by Canadian Dimension) | (Posted Mar
09, 2024)
Climate
Change, Education, Environment, MovementsAmericas,
CanadaNewswire
In the fall of 2021 I resigned
from my tenured teaching position at a Québec college, in conscientious
objection to business-as-usual education with a ‘green twist.’ I had taught
Earth and climate science for nearly 15 years in the system, and had finally
fully realized the implications of what the science has been telling me (and
them) all along: that these young people in my classroom didn’t stand a chance
at a livable future unless the adults in their lives stepped up. I have since
been trying to educate ‘the adults in the room’ about our climate and
ecological crises, but unsurprisingly, not many want to know the details. So
when I heard that my former college was hiring a new director general, I
decided to apply for the position. The following is a slightly modified version
of my cover letter.
. . .
MarjorieCohn. “Youth Plaintiffs
in Court Against Montana.” Truthout. June 14, 2023.
The potentially
far-reaching case is based on the state constitution, which enshrines the right
to a clean and healthful environment, writes Marjorie Cohn.
In a case that could have
far-reaching implications for the struggle against the climate crisis, the
trial in a lawsuit brought by a group of youth plaintiffs began in Montana on
Monday.
The first such case about climate change to go to
trial, Held v. Montana involves the specific impacts
the climate crisis has on young people.
This trial is a bellwether for other cases
throughout the United States. Mat dos Santos, general counsel for Our Children’s Trust, which represents
the youth plaintiffs, said that the lawsuit “is not
just about Montana. It’s really about the climate here in the United States and
around the world.”
[This is just one of a spate of lawsuits underway
challenging governments over their fossil fuel policies that drive climate
change, as The Guardian reports: “‘Game changing’: spate of US lawsuits calls big oil to
account for climate crisis.”]
If this suit is successful, it would be a
“watershed moment” that could lead to a “cascade of legal victories around the
country,” dos Santos added, and would likely have global implications. MORE
https://consortiumnews.com/category/commentary/
The Youth Plaintiffs charge in their complaint
that the defendants have abdicated control over “Public Trust Resources in
favor of the short-term interests of private parties, authorizing those private
parties to treat our atmosphere as a dump for their carbon emissions and profit
off of developing Montana’s fossil fuel resources to the detriment of Youth
Plaintiffs and future generations of Montanans.”
That explains why the Republican officials in
Montana are fighting so hard to throw this lawsuit out of court.
On June 6, the Montana Supreme Court rejected the
defendants’ 11th hour petition for the
extraordinary remedy of a writ of supervisory control, asking the state’s high
court to dismiss the case. “Trial, with preparation literally years in the
making, is set to commence less than a week from now; we are not inclined to
disturb the District Court’s schedule at this juncture,” Montana’s Supreme
Court wrote.
The two-week bench trial before Judge Seely
(sitting without a jury) began on Monday and runs through June 23 in her
Helena, Montana, courtroom.
See here for
information about how to watch this historic trial.
Marjorie
Cohn is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law,
former president of the National Lawyers Guild, and a member of the national
advisory boards of Assange
Defense and Veterans For Peace, and the bureau of the International
Association of Democratic Lawyers. Her books include Drones
and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral and Geopolitical Issues. She is
co-host of “Law and
Disorder” radio.
This article is from Truthout and
reprinted with permission.
CLIMATE CHANGE
“From guns
to climate, America keeps proving it doesn’t care about kids.”
Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists
BAS (6-2-22).
It
is no coincidence that the climate movement is primarily led by youth, says
Bulletin editor Dawn Stover. "Do something, children are pleading.
And still the authorities hesitate outside the door." Read more.
“Young Victims Of Climate Disasters Sue EU States Over
Energy Treaty”By Olivia Rosane, EcoWatch.Popular Resistance.org (6-24-22). In the latest attempt to use the courts to
address the climate crisis, five young people are suing 12 EU countries
over membership in a treaty that they argue puts the needs of fossil fuel
companies above climate action. The young people brought their case
before the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday, as Euractiv reported. The
lawsuit targets the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), which gives energy companies
the right to sue governments for compensation when their policies threaten profits.
“Governments are still putting profits of the fossil fuel industry over human
rights. -more-
CLIMATE ADULT child
EDUCATION: greta
“aDULTEDUCATION” has been confused by the
addition of “adult bookstores“ and “adult films” to our vocabulary.
In my town, look up
“adult bookstore” in your computer and you receive Adam
& Eve Stores, Seductions Lingerie, and Salomé Boutique. Adult entertainment means sexual excitation, masturbatory
anticipation, secret dreams.
Meanwhile, our adult leaders have pursued
wars against alleged enemies so frequently as to be sequential since 1941, and our
leaders have produced CO2 wars against climate into increasingly extreme
weather since the 1950s. Because understanding
the causes of wars and warming would be worth its weight in gold, at least as
valuable or expensive as the Apollo moon landing, one would suppose the
libraries would be packed with eager learners and the colleges offering
hundreds of courses on wars and warming.
But not so. Attention, excitement, urgency are elsewhere,
the newspapers reveal daily, with far more distractions than sexual.
A few decades ago Allan Ginzburg and Kenneth Patchen howled: Sleepers Awake! with
their poetry and paintings to melt the arrogance congealing our exceptional
nation. A few months ago the child Greta
Thunberg renewed their cry. “We
need new politics. We need new
economics. We need a whole new way of
thinking.”
But, as we read daily, the wars and
warming continue, as Greta says, because the “system that you [so-called adults] created is
all about competition. . . ..to win, to get power.”
WAR
ON NATURE: CLIMATE CATASTROPHE?
“Greenhouse
Gas Concentrations in Atmosphere Are Accelerating”
by Richard Hunziker [excerpts from Counterpunch: https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/05/21/custers-last-stand-meets-global-warming/
A recent article in Arctic News
on the outlook for global warming foresees a frightening scenario lurking right
around the corner. Hopefully, the article’s premise of impending runaway global
warming (“RGW”) is off the mark, by a lot. BTW… the worst-case scenario happens
within one decade!
Here’s a snippet: “… such a rise in
greenhouse gas levels has historically corresponded with more than 10°C or 18°F
of warming, when looking at greenhouse gas levels and temperatures over the
past 800,000 years….” (Source: “Greenhouse Gas Levels Keep Accelerating,” Arctic News,
May 1, 2019)
It is important to mention that
mainstream science is not warning of imminent Runaway Global Warming (“RGW”),
as outlined in the Arctic News article. Still, the article does have
credibility because it is the product of academic scientists. [By 2024 the scientific consensus is “imminent
Runaway.” --Dick]
The Arctic News article would not
be out there if the US Senate had taken seriously Dr. James Hansen’s
warnings about global warming in 1988. The NY Times headline June
24, 1988 read: “Global Warming Has Begun, Expert Tells Senate.”
[In response]
no solar initiatives were suggested for the country. In fact, since Dr.
Hansen’s warning 31 years ago, Congress is MIA, not even one peep about efforts
to contain global warming. [Thus the] Children’s Climate Crusade, originating in Sweden, is stewing
about the global warming crisis, addressing a long list of failures by “the
establishment.”
The Arctic News article is
a haunting commentary on the status of global warming; [it] describes a
powerful combination of greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide
(CO2), methane (CH4), nitrogen oxide (NO2), and nitrous oxide (N2O)
[that] in combination with oceans and ice taking up less planetary heat,
threaten life on Earth within a decade.
“So, how fast and by how much could
temperatures rise? …rapid warming of the lower troposphere could occur very
soon. When including the joint impact of all warming elements … abrupt climate
change could result in a rise of as much as 18°C or 32.4°F by 2026. This could
cause most life on Earth (including humans) to go extinct within years,” Ibid.
That can’t possibly be true, or can it?
Nobody knows for sure. Some really smart scientists think it could happen.
According to the article, the setup for the worst-case scenario is falling into
place faster and sooner than thought possible. Read the entire article: https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2019/05/greenhouse-gas-levels-keep-accelerating.html.
The oceans as well as glacial and
ocean-bearing ice have been absorbing up to 95% of the planet’s heat,
minimizing atmospheric global warming. However, those two huge natural buffers
are losing their mojo. Ocean stratification and loss of ice minimize the
effectiveness of those two crucial buffers, forcing the atmosphere to take up
more and more planetary heat.
One of the primary [signs] of upcoming
acceleration of global warming [is] a recent study about nitrous oxide, N2O,
which is 300xs more potent than CO2 and has a lifetime of 120 years, found in
huge quantities (67B tons) in Arctic permafrost: “The study by Wilkerson, et
al https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.8b02271 shows
that nitrous oxide emissions from thawing Alaskan permafrost are about twelve
times higher than previously assumed. A 2018 analysis (https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.8b02271) by Yang
et al points at the danger of large nitrous oxide releases from thawing
permafrost in Tibet. Even more nitrous oxide could be released from
Antarctica,” Ibid.
In addition to N2O as a powerful
greenhouse gas, it’s also an ozone depleting substance, which brings to mind
the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer of 1987. For
those who missed class back in the day, the ozone layer of Earth’s stratosphere
(10-30 miles above ground level) absorbs most of the Sun’s ultraviolet
radiation! Without it blindness, skin cancers and other will increase, and some
life forms will go extinct.
According to James Anderson (Harvard
professor of atmospheric chemistry), co-recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in
chemistry for his work on ozone depletion, speaking at the University of
Chicago about global warming in 2018: “People [think] we can recover from this
state just by reducing carbon emissions, Anderson said in an appearance at the
University of Chicago. Recovery is all but impossible, he argued, without a
World War II-style transformation of industry—an acceleration of the effort to
halt carbon pollution and remove it from the atmosphere, and a new effort to
reflect sunlight away from the earth’s poles… This has do be done, Anderson
added, within the next five years.” (Source: Jeff McMahon, We Have Five Years
To Save Ourselves From Climate Change, Harvard Scientist Says, Forbes, Jan. 15,
2018).
Based upon that gauntlet as laid down by
professor Anderson, only 4 years remains to get something done to “save
us.” Sadly, there is no “WW-II style transformation of industry” under
consideration, not even a preliminary fact-finding mission.
But, there is a very active ongoing Children’s Crusade prodding adults to do something. At
Katowice, Poland, COP-24 (Conference of the Parties) in December 2018, Greta Thunberg,
a 15-year-old from Sweden, addressed the UN secretary general António Guterres.
“For 25 years countless people have stood in front of the UN climate
conferences, asking our nation’s leaders to stop the emissions. But, clearly,
this has not worked since the emissions just continue to rise. So I will not
ask them anything. Instead, I will ask the media to start treating the crisis
as a crisis.
“Instead, I will ask people around the
world to realize our political leaders have failed us. We are facing an
existential threat and there is no time to continue down this road of madness…
So we have not come here to beg the world leaders to care for our future. They
have ignored us in the past and they will ignore us again.
We have come here to let them know that
change is coming whether they like it or not.”
“Making Capitalism History.”
Mronline.org (7-12-19).
To perish or to radically transform the
way we relate to one another and to nature, that is the question humanity has
never had to face until now. Source [This is Greta Thunberg’s question to us
all. –Dick]
By Faramarz Farbod (Posted Jul
11, 2019).
Originally
published: Change Links on July 4, 2019 (more by Change Links) .
Capitalism, ImperialismGlobalNewswire
To perish or to radically transform the way we relate to one
another and to nature, that is the question humanity has never had to face
until now.
The evidence backing the above assertion is strong and
accumulating. Nevertheless, there remains a stubborn problem of awareness as
many who understand the perils facing humanity fail to connect them to its
source: the capitalist organization of planetary life. Failure to address this
problem will only guarantee that the predictable future characterized by
immense suffering associated with a generalized social collapse and ecological
ruination on a planetary scale will come to pass.
In this brief essay, I will tackle this problem of awareness by
addressing a series of thematically-related questions that are often raised by
those who question whether the source of the problems we currently face can
reasonably be said to be the capitalist system.
KIDS SUE US GOVERNMENT FOR CLIMATE
Arun Gupta. “The
Children’s Climate Crusade.” In These Times
(August 2019).
This is the title in the August no. It’s different online, but the texts are
identical.“Life, Liberty and a Stable
Climate: These Kids Are Arguing for a New Constitutional Right.” After a June hearing, the youth suing the government
await news on whether their case will proceed to trial.
“We spent
another day in court facing our government, the apparent strongest government
in the world, showing fear of young people and showing fear of facts.”
Summary
Next
week, barring a last-minute intervention by the Supreme Court, climate change
could go to trial for just the second time in U.S. history. In a federal courtroom in Eugene, Oregon, 21 young
people are scheduled to face off against the U.S. government, which
they accuse of endangering their future by promoting policies that have
increased emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2)
and other planet warming gases. The plaintiffs aren't asking for monetary
damages. Instead, they want federal District Judge Ann Aiken to take the
unprecedented step of ordering federal agencies to dramatically reduce the
amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Government
attorneys are not expected to challenge the scientific consensus that human
activities, including the burning of fossil fuels, cause global warming. But
the outcome could hinge, in part, on how Aiken weighs other technical issues.
Each side has recruited a roster of high-profile scientists and economists,
including Nobel laureates, to bolster their argument. "It's clearly going
to be a battle of the experts," says Michael Gerrard, director of the
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, who is not involved
in the case.
Local media Ref. Becca Martin-Brown bmartin@nadg.com “Green Team Activity Day Inspires Kids To Save The Planet.” NADG (6-28-19).
5B.
Courtesy Photo Any group can use Green Team materials, says
spokesman Tom Krohn, including school teachers, Girl Scouts, civic clubs and
museums.
The
Shiloh Museum of Ozark History is going to the frogs Saturday -- or more
accurately, to an organization that has expanded its conservation footprint
from frogs and toads to "all living things."
Green
Team Activity Day will give youngsters in second through sixth grades -- and
their adult friends -- a chance to learn how to protect the world they live in.
It's hosted by Saving Nature Now, whose spokesman Tom Krohn answered these
questions for 'SUP.
FAQ
Green Team Activity Day
WHEN — 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday
WHERE — Shiloh Museum in Springdale
COST — Free
INFO — Register at 750-8165
Q.
When did Saving Nature Now come into existence?
A.
Our nonprofit was originally Arkansas Frogs and Toads, and we conducted
training around the state in support of the citizen science program FrogWatch
USA since 2013. And after several years, it occurred to us that it is not only
frogs and toads that are important, in trouble, and in need of help. So in 2018
we broadened our approach and changed our name more accurately reflect our
mission.
Q.
Were young people always the target audience?
A.
If people don't grow up with an appreciation and responsibility to protect
nature, then it is hard to add that to their plates in adulthood. Many children
today have very little interactions with nature. Our Green Team mission is to
empower our youth to take actions that directly help nature and encourage
sustainable living. We do that with activity booklets that they can complete to
earn the Green Team patch. And as children complete the activities they will
bring their parents along with them.
Q.
What will the program at the Shiloh Museum be like?
A.
There are nine activities in the Green Team booklet. At Shiloh, we will help
them create a nature journal, make a leaf rubbing, and study insects. There is
no cost for the booklet or materials at the event. When they mail or email
their completion certificate to us, we'll send the Green Team patch, also at no
cost.
Q.
What have you found that resonates most with kids?
A.
The front page in the nature journal they create says, "Don't forget to
look up, look down, and look all around!" It is a revelation to most
children to see how much is there to be discovered.
-- Becca Martin-Brown bmartin@nwadg.com
WHAT TO TELL THE CHILDREN? By Dick Bennett, 2019. A subject worth some time at one of OMNI’s
CLIMATE FORUMS soon: what should we tell children—the half or less of the
truth, or more of the truth? The Green Team and
Saving Nature Now urges
education of young people “in an appreciation and responsibility to protect
nature,” and they distribute a booklet on 9 activities, including keeping a
journal, making a leaf rubbing, and “study insects.” I applaud all that. But I
wonder if such education omits too much and fails to prepare the youth with
knowledge of the causes of cc and explanation for the long failure of our
leaders to try to halt global warming. I
heard Ms.
Greta Thunberg on Ted
Talks, and she knew about the politics of cc.
A friend of mine wrote about
Greta, that she was “hugely inspired by young
climate activists...especially Greta Thunberg from Sweden and the Sunrise
Movement. Greta has fired up millions of youth around the globe to talk about
climate change and their future. “
Maybe the Green Team and Saving Nature Now
underestimate our youth and thereby cripple them, when heavy responsibilities
will fall upon them soon. How can they
save the planet if they are not taught also the consequences of our economic
system, the history of fossil fuel industry deceptions and denial, and other
realities they must face?
Julia Rosen. In a federal
courtroom in Eugene, Oregon, 21 young people
are scheduled to face off against the U.S. government.
Science 26 (Oct 2018).
Judge Andrew
Hurwitz arched an eyebrow. “You’re asking us to do a lot of new stuff, aren’t
you?” He was grilling Julia Olson, executive director of Our
Children’s Trust, who was arguing before a panel of three judges on the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to allow a groundbreaking climate justice
lawsuit, Juliana
v. U.S., to proceed to trial in federal court.
Filed in 2015, Juliana
includes 21 plaintiffs, then aged 8 to 19, asking the judiciary to order
the federal government “to swiftly phase-down CO2 emissions … [and] develop a
national plan to restore Earth’s energy balance” because their lives are in
danger from government-caused climate change. To make the case, the plaintiffs,
more than a dozen of whom packed the benches behind Olson, need to prove the
government is violating their constitutional rights by facilitating climate
change.
The question of
government culpability is central to the Juliana lawsuit. The government can’t
be held liable for inaction to a danger—but it can be held responsible for
creating that danger. The lawsuit hopes to prove youth are being discriminated
against in favor of the present generations of adults who will experience few
of the consequences of catastrophic climate change.
While the right
to a “stable climate system” is not enumerated in the Constitution, the Ninth
Amendment states that other rights exist even if not listed. Olson argues a
stable climate system is one such right, and it is essential to the Fifth
Amendment right of not being “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law.”
Jeffrey Clark, assistant
attorney general of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, argued to
the judges June 4 that the lawsuit is “a dagger at the separation of powers.”
He claimed that, if elected officials fail to stop an imminent threat to life,
the solution is “the political remedy of removing them from office”—not having
the courts to step in.
Hurwitz’s gravelly
voice interjected, cutting through the thicket of legalese. The government
position, he summarized, is if the plaintiffs faced immediate harm and the
legislative and executive branches did nothing, “The plaintiffs would have no
option but to die.” He added, “That may well be constitutionally correct.”
But the judges
did express skepticism of the government’s case. Judge Josephine Staton asked
Clark why the right to a life-sustaining climate wouldn’t “fit comfortably
within the nature of other unenumerated rights—such as the right to an
abortion, the right to bodily integrity, the right to marriage—that the court
has found exists in the ‘life, liberty and property’ rights of the
constitution.”
Clark answered
with the same arguments made by the Obama administration, which also
sought to quash Juliana: The youth have no standing to sue, their grievances
are not redressable and the problem is outside the powers of the judicial
branch.
“The Trump
administration appears even more determined to quash the lawsuit than its
predecessor—which is not surprising given its hostility to climate policy. This
animosity is shared by Clark, who, in a 2010 panel discussion, called
the EPA’s greenhouse gas regulation “reminiscent of kind of a Leninistic
program from the 1920s to seize control of the commanding heights of the
economy.”
The ruling may
take months, but the plaintiffs and their legal team were in a celebratory
mood, pouring out of the federal courthouse to a sunny day, TV news cameras and
cheers from supporters. Led by the Unpresidented Brass Band, they paraded
through the streets to a plaza in downtown Portland.
A grandmother
and granddaughter team from climate-justice group 350.org performed a
skit outside, reading scientific warnings about climate change going back to
1961 followed by puppets of presidents, from John F. Kennedy to Donald Trump,
describing the policies they enacted to burn more oil, coal and natural gas.
The granddaughter would ask, “Did the government know?” and the audience of
hundreds would yell, “The government knew!”
Politically, the
focus on children has helped to change the face of the climate-justice movement
from older and white to youth-led and diverse.
Speaking at the
rally, plaintiff Vic Barrett, 20, said, “We spent another day in court
facing our government, the apparent strongest government in the world, showing
fear of young people and showing fear of facts.”
The youngest
plaintiff, 11-year-old Levi Draheim, also spoke. “It’s been four years
since I got involved with this case. That’s literally one-third of my life that
I have dedicated to this lawsuit.” Rising sea levels are threatening to
submerge the barrier island he lives on off the Atlantic coast of Florida, a
place where, he says, “I can watch dolphins, turtles and manatees, and I can go
barefoot all year round.”
As the rally
dispersed, a marimba band struck up. Olson and a handful of plaintiffs started
dancing. When asked if they were looking for the government to do something
new, Olson said, “We’re asking them to apply bedrock constitutional law to new
factual circumstances.” Excusing herself, she continued dancing.
OMNI CLIMATE CHANGE AND CHILDREN ANTHOLOGY #1
http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2016/04/climate-change-and-children.html
Compiled by
Dick Bennett for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology, April 2, 2016