a column by Colleen O’Brien
A nonprofit group called Our Children’s Trust was notified in mid-May that its case, Juliana v. U.S., would be heard on June 25, 2021.
This case, brought to the courts under three administrations – in 2015, 2017 and now 2021 – claims that the U.S. Constitution protects the fundamental right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life, and the suit would like the U.S. government to start acting like it respects this and plays on our side. Our elected and appointed officials tend to favor the corporations – like oil, coal, concrete, automakers, container shipping, holiday cruising – that cause the deterioration.
The interesting thing about the suit is that its name is indeed honest; the plaintiffs in the case are children. They have asked adult lawyers to represent them and sue for a healthy climate in which to grow up and live their lives. The suit was first filed in 2015, when the 22 kids who signed onto it ranged in age from 8 to 19. By the time the case is heard, they may be doddering. Let’s hope not, for we current older people are affected by climate change as well, and these kids are merely asking the grown-ups to be “good ancestors,” as John McFarlane, author of books on nature, would like to be able to call us.
The children’s case is an interesting point of view – I think very worthy in fact – as our elected representatives have yet to erase certain words in our Constitution such as: “promote the general welfare,” “unalienable rights…life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” “that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
We know that these noble words haven’t always meant much over the years, but wouldn’t it be a fine piece of business if the courts decided that our children’s lives are indeed valuable, that they do deserve to live with breathable air and drinkable water, and that the words in our Constitution were written to be put into practice, not just for show.
In Columbia, South America, 25 children from 7 to 26 sued their government for failing to protect the Amazon, sometimes called the lungs of the planet, meaning that if all a rainforest’s trees are cut down, we will soon fall, too. The Columbian kids’ suit was the first climate change case to be heard in all of Latin America. And the children won. Many lawyers of the world believe this will lead to similar victories, and that this case essentially conferred human rights on a major ecosystem.
Maybe our Supreme Court will get with it. The justices bestowed human rights on corporations. I think a little tit for tat – corps and climate having Constitutional rights – would suit the world just fine.
There is hope.
It seems to be our diet these days.
