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Teens Vs. Climate Change

English / Ms. Dunn

Overview of Case

Teens vs. Climate Change

Last June, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would pull out of the Paris climate accord. This agreement, currently signed by 194 nations, aims to curb greenhouse gases produced by burning fossil fuels, like coal, oil, and natural gas. President Trump says that the terms of the agreement would harm the U.S. economy. Scientists, however, believe that these emissions must be limited to avoid devastating environmental effects.

Greenhouse gases trap heat in Earth's atmosphere, causing the global average temperature to rise. As the planet's climate changes, some parts of the world may experience an increase in severe storms, heat waves, droughts, and flooding. "Climate change is something threatening everyone's future," says Aji Piper, a 17-year-old from Seattle, Washington. "It's really scary. I feel like I have a responsibility to speak up."

Teens vs. Climate Change

Aji belongs to a group of 21 kids who worked with attorneys to file a lawsuit against the U.S. government back in 2015. They are suing because they believe that by allowing greenhouse gas pollution to read dangerous levels, the government hasn't done enough to prevent climate change. Since the U.S. is set to abandon the Paris accord, they think their battle is now more important than ever.

"We want the government to protect the fundamental rights that are supported in the U.S. Constitution," say Andrea Rodgers, one of the lawyers working on the case at Our Children's Trust, a law firm based in Oregon. "We are arguing that these youths have been deprived of their right to life, liberty, and property."

The trial should start by the beginning of 2018. If the kids win, the government could be forced to regulate greenhouse gas emissions to levels that scientists believe would prevent a global catastrophe.

What is Climate Change?

What is Climate Change?

Claim

What is the Juliana v U. S. lawsuit?

First filed in 2015 by a group of young Americans in Oregon, the lawsuit claims that the federal government's refusal to address climate change threatens the constitutional rights of young people and future generations who will come of age in a world of greater scarcity and danger. As Pacific Standard reported in 2016, the 21 plaintiffs allege that "the U.S. government's knowing inaction on climate has violated their right to 'life, liberty, and property' as enshrined in the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment."

Pacific Standard

https://psmag.com/environment/the-supreme-court-refuses-to-halt-a-climate-change-lawsuit-brought-by-children-and-teenagers

Evidence for Climate Change

Evidence for Climate Change

Shrinking Ice Sheets

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

Global Temperature Rise

Evidence

https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

Effects of Climate Change

Effects of Climate Change

Since 1880, we’ve experienced an increase of about 1.8 °F in the global temperature. This change has resulted in:

melting permafrost

rising sea levels

more extreme weather events

The hotter it gets, the worse it will be.

Melting Permafrost

melting permafrost

Fairbanks, Alaska seems like a cold place to live. But in recent years, temperatures there have been warmer than usual. Nathan Baring, a 17-year-old who lives in Fairbanks, says climate change has had major effects on his home. One of the biggest impacts come from melting permafrost.

Permafrost is a layer of permanently frozen soil. If it thaws, the ground becomes waterlogged. The land becomes unstable and can give way, forming a sinkhole. This can cause roads and buildings to collapse. It's a huge problem for Alaska, where more than 80 percent of the state is covered by permaforst. "Sinkholes are opening up in many unusual places," says Nathan.

Scholastic Science World

Vol. 74 No. 2 "Teens vs. Climate Change"

Rising Sea Levels

rising

sea levels

Miko Vergun has spent most of her life in Portland, Oregon. But the 16-year-old is originally from the Marshall Islands, a chain of about 1,000 small islands in the South Pacific. Scientists say that the low-lying islands are at risk of being submerged within the next few decades of climate change.

As global temperatures rise, glaciers and ice sheets melt. The meltwater pours into the ocean. Also, water expands as it warms. Both of these factors cause sea levels to rise, explains Natalie Mahowald, an atmospheric scientist at Cornell University. "Some of the islands might be saved if we reach the goals of the Paris agreement," she says. "If we don't, the Marshall Islands will cease to exist."

Some of Miko's friends from the Marshall Islands have been forced to leave. Erosion from rising seas is slowly eating away at the islands. They aren't the only places under threat. In the U.S., it's esitmated that sea-level rise could displace 12 million people living in coastal areas by 2100. Those areas include cities like Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York City, and Philadelphia.

more extreme weather events

more extreme weather

Rayne, Louisiana, where 14-year-old Jayden Foytlin lives, is about 64 kilometers (40 miles) from the Gulf of Mexico. Flooding is common farther south on the coast since much of the lad is at or below sea level. Jayden hadn't experienced floods in her hometown until the summer of 2016, when the region was hit by two weeks of storms. Waterways overflowed, causing massive flooding. About 40,000 households in southern Louisiana were swamped, including Jayden's. "My older sister woke up the whole house when she saw water coming in," she says.

Scientists say that this type of storm should hit where Jayden lives only once every 500 years. But this one, along with seven other storms that should hit the area only one every 100 years, drenched the region in 2016 alone. The resulting flooding caused billions of dollars in damages. Researchers say that climate change is to blame.

"A warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor, so there's more precipitation," says Mahowald, the atmospheric scientist from Cornell. "When it rains, it's going to rain harder."

Research!

Research!

NASA:

https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/

World Wildlife Fund:

https://www.wwf.org.uk/effectsofclimatechange

National Geographic:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-effects/

Trump vs. Climate Change

Trump has famously called climate change a “hoax” invented by China. Since taking office, Trump has translated his climate change denial into American policy — most notably, pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement and moving to dismantle the Clean Power Plan.

Climate Change Deniers

Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Carbon Dioxide Emissions

[T]he new administration’s position on the subject is becoming increasingly clear. Two days after the government’s motions were filed, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt swept aside established science on the connection between carbon dioxide emissions and global warming and declared that “carbon dioxide is not a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.”

National Geographic

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/kids-sue-us-government-climate-change/

Clean Air and Water

Clean Air and Water

This time, the president is using his self-proclaimed high IQ to deny a report released from his own White House. The report shows that climate change is only going to get worse unless the U.S. starts combatting the effects to global warming, predicting that the U.S.’s economy would start to lose hundreds of billions of dollars by 2100 if climate change isn’t addressed.

“You look at our air and our water, and it’s right now at a record clean,” Trump told the Post, reiterating a talking point he has used time and time again, though it isn’t actually true. According to the World Health Organization’s data, Canada’s air is cleaner than the U.S.’s, and so is Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Brunei, and Australia. The U.S.’s air is relatively clean, according to WHO’s data, as reported by the Washington Post, but it certainly is not the cleanest.

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/trump-says-he-doesnt-believe-in-climate-change-because-of-his-high-levels-of-intelligence#intcid=recommendations_default-similar2_76288540-d6a3-4095-bad8-2890f7a01f68_cral2-1

Record Cold Weather

Record Cold Weather

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/climate/trump-tweet-global-warming.html

Teen's Claim

America’s “inaction on climate [change] has violated their right to life, liberty, and property”

Is the Claim Supported?

America's Inaction?

Is there evidence that America’s inaction has affected climate change?

Effects

Do the Effects of Climate Change Affect People's Life or Property?

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