School program teaching leadership, tolerance and peace - best for grades 4-7. Students reduce bullying by their own peer pressure behaviors. Long term builds quality leadership in the community.
Does Government have a DUTY to protect common resources for the people? This question, applied to the livability of our environment, has been challenged in various courts for nearly a decade under the Public Trust Doctrine.
What is the latest news? On June 8, 2016, a federal judge denied a Trump administration’s appeal in a climate change lawsuit, paving the way for the unprecedented suit to go to trial. This is the latest chapter of a legal case I’ve been following since 2014 when it was listed as the Texas iMatter TRUST lawsuit. A post still remaining from when I first encountered this case is best updated by
“On June 8, 2017, Judge Ann Aiken denied the Trump administration’s motions seeking an interlocutory appeal of her November 10, 2016 opinion and order denying the U.S. government and fossil fuel industry’s motions to dismiss a constitutional climate change lawsuit filed by 21 youth. The decision means that the youth, age 9 to 21 and from all over the U.S., now have standing because their rights are at stake, and now their case is headed to trial. But on June 9, 2017, the Trump administration filed a rare “writ of mandamus” to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking, again, to avoid a climate trial.
“The youth had filed their constitutional climate lawsuit against the federal government in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon in 2015. Also acting as a plaintiff is world-renowned climate scientist Dr. James E. Hansen, serving as guardian for future generations and his granddaughter. Their complaint asserts that, through the governments affirmative actions in causing 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.“
Make no mistake, these youth and their collective group are going against the full legal weight of the US Government. This Writ of Mandamus seeks to wrest the proceedings out of the hands of the initial magistrate and subsequent federal judge, bumping it early up to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The filing is in hopes of avoiding discovery due from the industry associations that had argued their way onto the case, only to plead to be allowed to withdraw. This is just one battle briefly won and the court documents of record for their litigation efforts can be found at this link to their Major Court Orders and Pleadings
What is the PUBLIC TRUST DOCTRINE, and
What resistance is likely from CURRENT FEDERAL OFFICIALS
The current lawsuit began in August of 2015 and argues that the federal government, in its actions, has endangered future generations’ rights to what is known as the public trust. The public trust is an old legal doctrine that holds that it is the government’s responsibility to preserve certain natural resources for public use.
The principle that certain natural and cultural resources are preserved for public use, and that the government owns and must protect and maintain these resources for the public’s use.” Cornell Law resources
“Regardless of how we trace its ancestry the Public Trust Doctrine – the principle of common law directing who owns and manages natural resources – is deeply rooted in our culture and history. Some historians have argued that hunting of game, fishing and wildlife management responsibility components of the doctrine have their origins in English common law dating back to the Saxon invasion of England in about 450 AD and maintained after the Norman Conquest in 1066.”
In the 2012 case PPL Montana, LLC v. Montana, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that the public trust doctrine “is of ancient origin” dating back to Roman civil law; that the public trust doctrine is found in state laws throughout our nation; and that federalist principles of our nation affirm the state’s rights and duties over public trust resources within their borders. The public trust is also a central principle in legal systems of many other countries throughout the world.“
The Public Trust Doctrine simplifies to the concept of doing what we do on behalf of our children. It is the drum-beat message for not saddling future generations with intolerable national debt, and in everyday terms it is why parents are expected to scrape as necessary so as to feed, clothe and educate their children.
In examining just how much the tone of reception to this case has shifted from when it started in 2015 against the awareness of climate change of the Obama Administration, I can think of few articles as pointed as this one by “Inside Climate News” from which I accessed the above graphic. The details in the article are recommended reading. See this earlier post for a history of climate denial.
From 2015:
THE PUBLIC TRUST DOCTRINE: Mary Christina’s interview by Bill Moyers is one of the BEST I’ve seen in years so far as explaining this legal concept – available to resist the headlong rush to serve corporations instead of life.
Youth have a right to receive a livable planet – and it is an inherent LEGAL duty of the government to protect those rights, even to hold the other branches of government liable when they fail to act.
This story has gained traction – thanks to a pair of reports linked into a post by Robertscribbler
“If you were born in 2015, the estimate for your lifetime lost wealth from climate change, according to DEMOS, is between 581,000 and 764,000 dollars. With 100 companies responsible for 50 percent of that loss, it’s pretty obvious that liability will become a more and more serious impact as climate harms ramp up throughout the coming decades.”
Meanwhile, the wheels of justice have a few kinks to work out.
“On June 9, the Trump Administration filed a petition for an extraordinarily rare review of the November 10, 2016 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken denying the federal government’s motion to dismiss the young people’s landmark lawsuit. The Trump Administration also sought a “stay of proceedings in the district court,” pending resolution of its rare petition by the Ninth Circuit.
… The Ninth Circuit issued an order that it was “temporarily” staying proceedings in the district court while it decides the Trump Administration’s extraordinarily rare request.” http://mailchi.mp/5c656724132f/an-update-from-our-childrens-trust?e=e44864b21a
This is proceeding slowly, but the youth are still winning:
“The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled Wednesday that a novel and sweeping case, which the Obama administration first tried to extinguish in 2016, can proceed toward a trial. Trump’s Justice Department is expected to ask the Supreme Court to shut it down. The group of mostly teenagers in Oregon alleged in a 2015 complaint that government policies have exacerbated global warming in violation of their rights — and those of future generations — under the U.S. Constitution.”
Sadly too true All the talk of loving our children has lacked the societal action to back it up!
“Broadly speaking, ours is a society of altruists governed by psychopaths. We have allowed a tiny number of phenomenally rich people, and the destructive politicians they fund, to trash our life-support systems. While some carry more blame than others, our failure to challenge the oligarchs who are sacking the Earth and to overthrow their illegitimate power, is a collective failure. Together, we have bequeathed you a world that – without drastic and decisive action – may soon become uninhabitable.”
►https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/15/planet-children-protest-climate-change-speech
One need look no further than the resistance to the youth fighting in court to make Climate Change mitigation part of the long standing Public Trust Doctrine – which this administration has repeatedly delayed hearing. Mow that Kavanaugh is on the US Supreme Court, the administration hopes the case can be dropped without ever being heard.
“A federal judge in Oregon has delayed a lawsuit brought by 21 children and young adults to force government action on climate change, pending a decision by the Supreme Court on whether to dismiss the case before trial. Opening arguments had been set for Monday. The government has repeatedly tried to halt the case. Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to a temporary stay while it considers the Justice Department’s argument that a trial would cause the government “irreparable harm.” The decision to delay the case at this early stage was highly unusual. The plaintiffs and their lawyers say the government is trying to deprive them of their right to a fair hearing.”
►https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26102018/children-climate-change-lawsuit-trial-delayed-supreme-court-kavanaugh
I neglected to mention that people can support these youth by way of a petition on MoveOn at:
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/kids-v-us-government
From 2015:
THE PUBLIC TRUST DOCTRINE: Mary Christina’s interview by Bill Moyers is one of the BEST I’ve seen in years so far as explaining this legal concept – available to resist the headlong rush to serve corporations instead of life.
Youth have a right to receive a livable planet – and it is an inherent LEGAL duty of the government to protect those rights, even to hold the other branches of government liable when they fail to act.
Do listen… it is information we need to know.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/01/02/citing-next-generations-lawsuits-demand-courts-recognize-mind-blowing-climate
This story has gained traction – thanks to a pair of reports linked into a post by Robertscribbler
“If you were born in 2015, the estimate for your lifetime lost wealth from climate change, according to DEMOS, is between 581,000 and 764,000 dollars. With 100 companies responsible for 50 percent of that loss, it’s pretty obvious that liability will become a more and more serious impact as climate harms ramp up throughout the coming decades.”
https://robertscribbler.com/2017/07/26/100-fossil-fuel-companies-responsible-for-71-percent-of-carbon-emissions-since-1988-and-theyre-being-sued-for-it/
Meanwhile, the wheels of justice have a few kinks to work out.
“On June 9, the Trump Administration filed a petition for an extraordinarily rare review of the November 10, 2016 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken denying the federal government’s motion to dismiss the young people’s landmark lawsuit. The Trump Administration also sought a “stay of proceedings in the district court,” pending resolution of its rare petition by the Ninth Circuit.
… The Ninth Circuit issued an order that it was “temporarily” staying proceedings in the district court while it decides the Trump Administration’s extraordinarily rare request.”
http://mailchi.mp/5c656724132f/an-update-from-our-childrens-trust?e=e44864b21a
This is proceeding slowly, but the youth are still winning:
“The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled Wednesday that a novel and sweeping case, which the Obama administration first tried to extinguish in 2016, can proceed toward a trial. Trump’s Justice Department is expected to ask the Supreme Court to shut it down. The group of mostly teenagers in Oregon alleged in a 2015 complaint that government policies have exacerbated global warming in violation of their rights — and those of future generations — under the U.S. Constitution.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-07/youths-defeat-trump-s-move-to-kill-climate-change-lawsuit
Sadly too true All the talk of loving our children has lacked the societal action to back it up!
“Broadly speaking, ours is a society of altruists governed by psychopaths. We have allowed a tiny number of phenomenally rich people, and the destructive politicians they fund, to trash our life-support systems. While some carry more blame than others, our failure to challenge the oligarchs who are sacking the Earth and to overthrow their illegitimate power, is a collective failure. Together, we have bequeathed you a world that – without drastic and decisive action – may soon become uninhabitable.”
►https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/feb/15/planet-children-protest-climate-change-speech
One need look no further than the resistance to the youth fighting in court to make Climate Change mitigation part of the long standing Public Trust Doctrine – which this administration has repeatedly delayed hearing. Mow that Kavanaugh is on the US Supreme Court, the administration hopes the case can be dropped without ever being heard.
“A federal judge in Oregon has delayed a lawsuit brought by 21 children and young adults to force government action on climate change, pending a decision by the Supreme Court on whether to dismiss the case before trial. Opening arguments had been set for Monday. The government has repeatedly tried to halt the case. Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to a temporary stay while it considers the Justice Department’s argument that a trial would cause the government “irreparable harm.” The decision to delay the case at this early stage was highly unusual. The plaintiffs and their lawyers say the government is trying to deprive them of their right to a fair hearing.”
►https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26102018/children-climate-change-lawsuit-trial-delayed-supreme-court-kavanaugh