On June 1st, 2019, the Future Coalition held over one hundred press conferences around the country to raise awareness of the potential landmark case, Juliana v. United States, in which Our Children's Trust is suing the United States federal government on constitutional grounds to provide a stable climate on behalf of youth plaintiffs. Katie Eder, the Executive Director of Future Coalition, joins the show to weigh in on the youth movement, Future Coalition, and gives us the latest on the case.
Full Transcript
Ross Kenyon: Hello and welcome to Carbon Removal Newsroom. I’m Ross Kenyon. I am lead strategist with the Nori Carbon Removal Marketplace. Today I have with me Katie Eder. She is executive director of the Future Coalition. Katie, what is the Future Coalition?
Katie Eder: The Future Coalition is the largest network of youth-led organizations and youth leaders across the country. So we work to make sure that young people have the tools, the resources, and the support they need to create the change they want to see in their communities and across the country.
Ross Kenyon: I know that there’s some interaction, or maybe it’s just a campaign, a Future Coalition with Juliana versus the United States. Could you talk about the interaction there a bit? And then what is the Juliana case?
Katie Eder: Yeah, definitely. So Juliana itself, Juliana versus the United States, is potentially the landmark climate case of our generation. Since 2015, 21 young people have been suing the federal government for violating their constitutional rights. So basically what the plaintiffs are claiming is that our constitution gives us a protection from environmental catastrophe. And because the government has known about climate change for over five decades and hasn’t done anything to address it and has continued to contribute to it, that they are violating our constitutional rights. So Future Coalition, so Julianne itself, the organization behind the case is this organization called Our Children’s Trust, which they’ve been around for a number of years and work on climate cases and around North America and on the state level and obviously on the federal level.
And we connected with them after the March 15th climate strikes a couple of months ago and just got to talking and realized that one of the things that they are in need of is help with Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So on June 4th, there was a hearing in Portland, Oregon that heard oral arguments for two decisions. One was if the case would go back to the district court, the hearing was heard in the Court of Appeals in Oregon, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. So deciding whether or not the case itself would go back to the district court to start trial.
And then secondly, and importantly, would decide if while the case is in the Court of Appeals, that no new fossil fuel infrastructure could be created in the U. S. So the plaintiffs filed a motion for an injunction that basically said because the government has been delaying the case as much as they can, that they shouldn’t be allowed to So basically, they would have to pause all permitting of any new fossil fuel infrastructure. So this case is a big deal. This hearing is a big deal. And we heard about it, as I said, right after the strikes and decided that we really wanted to get young people involved with the hearing, knowing kind of that this, that, you know, June 4th fell in the grander timeline of the youth climate movement that started.
And so we worked with them for a couple weeks to engage young people and made the ask of young people across the country. To hold local press conferences in their communities at a place that was significant to their own climate fight on June 1st, the Saturday prior to the hearing as a way to really show their solidarity with the 21 plaintiffs and also really share the stories of young people in their communities and how they are or will be affected by the climate crisis. And also really send a message to their local communities and to the country as a whole that young people are going to fight and that we’re not going to sit around as our futures are destroyed in front of us.
And we’re going to take action to make sure that a change is made and we see climate change being addressed to save our futures. So yeah, we had over 100 press conferences that were registered across the country where young people really joined together to say we are taking action and we are in solidarity with the 21 plaintiffs. And then on June 4th, the day of the hearing, people all across the country tuned in to watch the hearing and see as it unfolded in Portland as the plaintiffs made their oral arguments.
Ross Kenyon: Well, that’s a great summation. I’m surprised by how little I hear about this case, given that it could change quite a lot and change a lot quite fast. So it seems like press conferences and rising the awareness of Juliana seems important. I wonder if that’s just because it’s taken so long because of all the legal delays that have happened on part of the defendants. But it seems like it’s moving quite quickly now and things are progressing.
Katie Eder: Yes, certainly. I think that the, you know, for the last few years, a lot of people have known about the case within the climate movement and those working in the climate space. But I think it hasn’t been able to reach the general public, which is one of the reasons why we decided to work with our Children’s Trust to put on this campaign. Is on the local level and on the national level really getting people to hear about this and to understand how important it is. Because as you said, you know, it is it’s starting to pick up and moving more quickly.
And we also know that with public support, you know, the ability for the government to use those strong delay tactics may not be as effective if the public is saying we want to see this go to trial. So hopefully we’ll start to see it pick up and start to see decisions being made.
Ross Kenyon: Interesting. Yes, we at Nori have been following the case. And if you are interested in more of the details, we had Andrea Rogers of Our Children’s Trust on our other podcast, Reversing Climate Change. Highly recommend checking that out. I still don’t quite know what to make of the case or the idea that there is a constitutional right to a stable climate. And that’s partly just because I’m not as educated in the law or legal theory as I might like to be. But I find it fascinating. And I definitely... Independently of any constitutional arguments, whether you agree or disagree with the public trust doctrine and how it’s being applied, I think there is quite a lot of capacity to move things very quickly if this does go through.
So we are watching it. And then one of the things I noticed that Future Coalition has been doing is that in your documents that if Juliana is one and it is discovered that there is a constitutional right to a stable climate, There must be a role for carbon removal to pull carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere in order to provide that stable climate. So how big is the potential role for carbon removal in a post-Juliana world?
Katie Eder: To not be putting so much carbon in the atmosphere that’s going to accelerate our planet warming. And so I think that what they’ve come up with, from my understanding, a very comprehensive look at what are the potential ways for... And so I think that, you know, depending on what the courts decide, you know, they basically would be saying, you know, surpassing the legislative and executive branches to say, you know, we need to see the creation and implementation on a government level of this recovery plan. And we need to see it, you know, starting now to really make sure that we’re not causing these detrimental irreversible effects to our planet.
Ross Kenyon: Okay, understood. Yeah, I noticed in there that ecological carbon removal methods, mostly revolving around soil, were highlighted. And maybe at some point we’ll have to dive into more about... I know you have quite a lot of scientists who have signed on to Juliana as technical experts who are witnesses. And maybe we should have one of them on sometime to talk about the choice. And I wonder if direct air capture is maybe just too nascent and it’s not ready for something to propose where a soil has... I don’t know, more going for it maybe at the current moment.
It’s cheaper, definitely cheaper. So we’ll have to dive into that at some point. Maybe not today. I’ll give you a pass on the hard questions on carbon removal, Katie. We can nerd out on that some other time. So what’s next for Juliana and Future Coalition? I know our Children’s Trust has some sort of amicus brief that companies and perhaps individuals too can sign on to if they want to show their public support. How might someone assist what you are trying to do?
Katie Eder: Yeah, definitely. For Julianna itself, a lot is going to be decided depending on the outcome of what happens post this hearing and really the decisions that come out of this hearing. And depending on what we see from that, we could be looking at potentially a whole game-changing decision for the United States’ role in contributing to climate change based off of what they decide on the injunction and the trial as well. People to show up and to tune in because of the, again, really potential landmark potential of this case. This case can do for the climate movement what Brown vs.
Board did for So for the case itself, you know, we’ll see what Our Children’s Trust has in store for how people can continue to engage. Youthvgov.org is the best place to stay up to date on that. And they do have an amicus brief that young people can continue to sign on to say that, you know, they that as young people stand in solidarity with And then as organizations as well, I believe organizations can also show their solidarity of the case. And that information can all be found on their website.
And then for Future Coalition, we’re continuing to work on really building... And understanding that we have as a country a lot of infrastructure that has been being built over the last many decades. And that, you know, we’re going to start seeing in our country really, I think, great mobilization. Around climate and specifically around climate being a leading voting issue for 2020. And so I think, you know, stay tuned from us as well. Future Coalition.org is our website. Future Coalition are all our social media handles because we are supporting young people everywhere doing really innovative work around climate and making sure that people across the country are talking about climate change and our understanding that we’re on a timer here and we really got to take action.
Ross Kenyon: Great. And I’ll put links to a number of the things that you mentioned in the show notes. If you’re interested in that, listeners, please check out the show notes and you can go to any of those links. Katie, thank you so much for being here with us.
Katie Eder: Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Ross Kenyon: If you like the show, please rate and review the show in iTunes or Apple Podcasts. It helps a lot. Tell your friends and thank you so much for listening.
