In Hawaii, thirteen youths and young adults filed a lawsuit against the state government due to the harm that climate change poses. They are now commemorating a settlement that places a strong emphasis on a 20-year plan to decarbonize Hawaii’s transportation infrastructure.
It’s the most recent instance of disgruntled American youth using the legal system to voice their concerns about climate change.
In separate remarks released on Thursday, Governor Josh Green and lawyers from public interest legal firms Our Children’s Trust and Earthjustice noted that the settlement in Navahine v. Hawaii Department of Transportation honors children’s constitutional rights to a climate that supports life.
The young people involved in the lawsuit claimed that Hawaii’s transportation system violated the state constitution because it damages the environment and impedes their right to a clean and healthy environment.
To be more precise, they charged that the Hawaii Department of transit routinely gave construction roadways precedence over alternative forms of transit.
The primary source of human-caused global warming is the burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, gas, and oil. As per Our Children’s Trust, Hawaii is the state that depends on petroleum the most in the United States for its energy requirements.
The parties claimed that by addressing constitutional difficulties resulting from climate change, the settlement was the first to be reached between a state government and young plaintiffs.
In the governor’s speech, Director of Transportation Ed Sniffen declared, “Climate change is indisputable.” “Burying our heads in the sand and making it the next generation’s problem is not pono,” or not right.
The 2022 lawsuit came from personal frustrations as well as a broader spirit of activism that has propelled youth climate campaigns globally.
A Native Hawaiian girl, 14, who was reared in Kaneohe, was one of the plaintiffs in the complaint. According to the lawsuit, her family has been cultivating taro for over ten generations.
But because of severe droughts and torrential rains brought on by climate change, crop yields have decreased, endangering her capacity to carry on the custom.
The case claimed that their lands would eventually be submerged due to rising sea levels.
One of the settlement’s requirements is the creation of a greenhouse gas reduction plan, which outlines a plan for decarbonizing Hawaii’s transportation system over the course of the next 20 years, within a year after the agreement.
Moreover, “immediate, ambitious investments in clean transportation infrastructure” are provided, with goals including finishing the networks for bicyclists and pedestrians in five years and allocating at least $40 million to enlarging the network of public electric vehicle chargers by 2030.
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The Department of Transportation will receive advice from a volunteer youth council.
The plaintiffs claimed that the settlement gave them some optimism.
The major oil and gas firms were sued by the city of Honolulu for allegedly running a deceitful campaign and misrepresenting to the public the risks associated with their fossil fuel products and their effects on the environment. To stop the lawsuits from proceeding, the oil giants have filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.
Young climate activists from Oregon filed a lengthy complaint in May, claiming that their constitutional rights were violated by the federal government’s involvement in climate change. However, the lawsuit was dismissed by a federal appeals court panel.
The Montana Supreme Court denied the state’s plea to stay the implementation of the historic climate ruling—which mandated that regulators take greenhouse gas emissions into account when granting permits for fossil fuel development—while its appeal was ongoing at the beginning of this year.
Plaintiffs who were minors filed that lawsuit. The Montana Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on July 10.
