When the legislative and executive processes fail us, let’s go the judiciary route. That is the strategy behind the legal campaign spearheaded by the Oregon-based nonprofit Our Children’s Trust. Its goal is to have the courts acknowledge that the atmosphere is part of the commons and, as such, should be protected by governments as mandated by the principle of common law known as Public Trust Doctrine. Of the dozens of petitions and legal actions that have been undertaken in the U.S. by child petitioners (one in each state, plus a Federal lawsuit that the Supreme Court refused to hear last December,) the one case that has gained the most traction thus far is in Oregon. Oral arguments were heard this week and the judge is expected to render a decision later this year. If nothing else, the climate change conversation about public trust needs to be had. We’d love to see the debate get out of the courtrooms and into mainstream public spaces, including the media.
Could litigation prompt governments to do the right thing about climate change?
More of Today's Solutions
Scientists build first fully human bone marrow model to revolutionize blood d...
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a transformative leap for regenerative medicine, scientists have developed the first entirely human-engineered bone marrow system. This ...
Read More7 cold and flu season mistakes doctors want you to quit making
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM You’ve heard the warnings: cold and flu season is no joke. But despite our best intentions (and fully ...
Read MoreThree ways we can repurpose closed department stores
40 percent of US department stores have closed their doors in the past five years, but the question remains: what do we do with ...
Read MoreHubble takes beautiful image of galaxies “dancing”
The Hubble Space Telescope ventured into space over three decades ago in 1990, and has observed around 50,000 celestial bodies to date. During this ...
Read More
