<
https://grist.org/global-indigenous-affairs-desk/the-kids-who-sued-america-over-climate-change-arent-done-yet/>
"In 2015, nearly two dozen American youth sued the federal government, alleging
that the United States violated their constitutional rights by facilitating the
burning of fossil fuels and allowing greenhouse gas emissions to rise to
dangerous levels. Their case, known as
Juliana v. U.S., was dismissed in
federal courts, but inspired dozens of youth climate lawsuits including
successful climate cases in Montana and Hawaiʻi.
Now, 15 of those same
Juliana plaintiffs, including four Indigenous
plaintiffs, are taking their case internationally in the hopes that the global
community will pressure the U.S. government to act.
Last week, they filed a petition at the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights, a seven-member commission that for decades has evaluated human rights
violations across 35 countries in the Americas. Kelly Matheson, an attorney at
Our Children’s Trust who worked on the petition, said the case is about the
“U.S. government’s unrelenting perpetuation of a fossil fuel energy system
despite knowing for over 50 years that the emission of fossil fuels was
catastrophic for human rights.”
The plaintiffs include Jaime Butler, who was forced to move off the Navajo
Nation’s reservation in 2011 due to drought and water scarcity, and in 2014 had
to evacuate her home in Flagstaff, Arizona, to escape the Oak Creek Canyon
wildfire.
“She remembers times when there was enough water on the reservation for
agriculture and farm animals, but now the springs they once depended on
year-round are drying up, and it is no longer possible to engage in the
traditional farming activities that once sustained her community,” the petition
says. “She fears for her family members, all of whom live on the reservation,
who will also be displaced from their land, which will further erode her
culture and way of life and disrupt her family and community connections.”
The Navajo Nation declared a drought emergency in June and the problem is
expected to worsen."
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-youth-climate-lawsuit-global-stage/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
