Climate News: Young Americans threaten to sue President Trump over environmentally harmful orders

22 young Americans, represented by Our Children’s Trust (OCT), filed a climate lawsuit on 29 May against the Trump administration’s environmentally harmful executive orders.

The activists, ranging in age from seven to 25, are arguing that the administration’s moves to dismantle climate protections and issue pro-fossil fuel orders are in direct violation of their “constitutional rights to life and liberty“.

The group have named the following three executive orders in their decision to sue the president: Declaring a National Energy Emergency, Unleashing American Energy, and Reinvigorating America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Industry.

All three of these executive orders focus on economic and national security for Americans, to the detriment of their environment. President Trump is advocating for greater reliance on fossil fuels in order to provide cheaper energy, more jobs, and to keep energy production within his own country.

Nearly 60% of US youths reported being extremely worried about the fate of the planet, with 85% being at least moderately worried

These executive orders have come at a time when young people are already experiencing unprecedented levels of climate anxiety.

An investigation by medical journal The Lancet found that nearly 60% of US youths reported being extremely worried about the fate of the planet, with 85% being at least moderately worried. More than half of the participants indicated that they are hesitant to have children on account of climate change and the lack of government action to rectify it.

Eva Lighthiser, a 19-year-old named plaintiff, said: “Trump’s fossil fuel orders are a death sentence for my generation. I’m not suing because I want to. I’m suing because I have to.”

Lighthiser spoke of the harms that reigniting the coal industry would have directly on her community. She cites the lack of control over her own health and wellbeing that she feels when coal dust is blown over her town as a real concern.

Julia Olson, attorney and founder of OCT, stated: “This suit is about the health of children, it’s about the right to life, it’s about the right to form families.”

The case is still currently ongoing and OCT says that the “plaintiffs, their lawyers, and their experts are working to move the case quickly forward”.

OCT is regularly updating its Major Moments Timeline with the case proceedings.