In the case Juliana vs. the United States, 21 young people brought a suit against the US government for promoting the fossil fuel industry despite being well aware of the dangers of climate change. Since the case was filed in 2015, the US government has tried repeatedly to block it from having its day in court.
One of the experts with whom the youths have consulted is Gus Speth, an Associate Fellow at Tellus and member of the Great Transition Network (among many other things in his illustrious career). He discusses the case and the history of inaction on climate change from presidents over the past 40 years in an enlightening interview with Yes! Magazine.
Despite the obstacles ahead, Speth makes clear tha the fight is far from over:
Thousands and thousands of the smartest people in our country have pushed hard for 40 years, and to see so little actually accomplished is disturbing. We’re up against the huge power of the fossil fuel industry; the extraordinary ideological opposition to the federal government doing anything important; money going into disinformation campaigns that people readily bought into. And it’s still going on.
It is a sure sign in my view that we need to change the system of political economy in which we are struggling. It’s sobering, as I say. But not discouraging, because we’re still fighting.
