Across the world, kids are speaking up for their own climate rights in ways they never have before.
In 2020, 16 young plaintiffs – ages 2 to 18 – wanted answers about their region’s environmental policies. They sued the state of Montana.
In Held v. Montana, the kids said the state had failed in its responsibility to protect young people from climate change. They argued that the state officials had harmed their lives by allowing more mining projects and natural gas production. The kids gave multiple statements about the effects of climate change on their physical and mental health.
“Claire (17) has been impacted by fear and loss from glaciers melting, and anxiety over whether it is a safe world in which to have children,” according to court records.
“For indigenous youth, like Ruby (12 ), Lilian (9), and Sariel (17), extreme weather harms their ability to participate in cultural practices and access traditional food sources, which is particularly harmful to indigenous youth with their place-based cultures and traditions.”
Three years later, the kids won. The historic ruling stated that children have a “fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.”
Young people fighting for climate action are beginning to pop up more locally and globally, and the United Nations wants to help. The UN has updated the Committee on the Rights of the Child to now state that environmental degradation, including the climate crisis is a form violence against children.
The committee also said that under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, young people are entitled “to environmental protection, and confirms that children have a right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.” The new rights were informed by contributions from 16,331 children from 121 countries amid a 2016 UN effort to survey kids across the world.
In Arizona, kids are becoming more involved in preserving their planet.
On Sept. 15, young people in Tucson handed out water bottles as they protested. By 3 p.m., under the scorching desert sun, sweat was dripping down their furrowed brows. Their hands clenched tightly around posters and signs with messages to promote the Global Climate Strike. They marched downtown chanting and circling city hall to demand Arizona government leaders take greater action against climate change.
“Hey hey, ho ho CO2 has got to go”
“Escucha, Eschucha! Estamos en lucha!”
“No more coal, no more oil, keep that carbon in the soil!”
The event was organized by local youth-led activist groups: the Arizona Youth Climate Coalition and UArizona Divest. The youth climate coalition was among key local advocates to successfully urge Tucson to declare a climate emergency in 2020.
Earlier this year, the city outlined further environmental sustainability efforts in a plan called “Tucson Resilient Together: Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. Because of their environmental activism, these young advocates were chosen as community partners to help draft that plan.
Arizona Luminaria spoke with three students from the coalition about their fight for climate justice. Here’s what they had to say.
Annabel: ‘What are you waiting for?’
Annabel Close is co-lead of the Tucson chapter of Arizona Youth Climate Coalition. She is 17. A senior at Basis Oro Valley school, her path to environmental activism started when she was 10.
In 2019, she attended a local Global Climate Strike, discovered the climate coalition and joined. She was the youngest member at 13.
Annabel does her best to co-lead the chapter.
“It can be a little intimidating, but I think that I just know that I’m really in this. I have a mission, I have a goal,” she said.
“I’m driven by the fact that I want to make things better,” she said.
Annabel is familiar with many cases of young people fighting for climate justice, like the ones in Montana who faced hurdles, judicial and otherwise. In the Montana lawsuit, the kids leveraged their own state’s constitution, which outlines a responsibility to protect its environment and future.
Tucson kids sought help from law students at the University of Arizona to see if they could mirror youth’s legal efforts in Montana and take their state leaders to court. Law students told the coalition that the Arizona state constitution does not have the same grounds that Montana’s constitution did that provided a path for change, Annabel said.
“All you can do is hope. All you can do is try and make the future a better place,” she said. “We’ve already seen some return on our investment, honestly. We’re one of the first cities to have a comprehensive climate action plan.”
Staying positive amid a global crisis is action in its own way.
“You just gotta keep going,” she smiled and shrugged. “What are you waiting for?”
Tanish: ‘The political power our voices hold’
Earlier this month, 16-year-old Tanish Doshi was in Chicago at a model UN conference. After attending day-long panels, the junior at Tucson’s Basis Oro Valley school was still eager to talk about climate justice in his community.
Back home, he runs a banned book club and is part of the Governor’s Youth Commission, among many other community groups. He is the coalition’s statewide outreach director.
Tanish has always loved the outdoors. He moved from Illinois to Tucson when he was 11. He watched Arizona’s intense wildfires and wondered why.
“Bighorn Fire was a really big one,” he said. “That’s when I became more climate conscious. From my room, I could see the entire mountain on fire.”
Tanish’s high school offers AP Environmental science for seniors and also has an environmental club. He encourages others to engage with environmental and political organizations outside of school.
He believes that real change comes through political action.
“One thing that I think needs to be preached to more often is the idea of political power versus personal sacrifice,” he said, like when people worry about using plastic straws or electric cars.
“I think there’s sometimes this sense of, even martyrdom, among climate activists.” Tanish said, “If people have the economic means to stop using those things and it’s gonna make them feel better because they feel like they’re living more ethically, then I absolutely think they should.”
But there are ways to make a bigger impact.
“Ultimately, the real power we have is in personal actions, yes,” he said. “But it’s more in our political actions because when institutions, major corporations, major governments step up to the plate and make a difference, that’s what actually changes things. Not my plastic straw or your plastic straw.”
Tanish reflects on new ways young people are taking action.
“The most power we have, and that’s really demonstrated in the Montana case … is in the political power our voices hold as opposed to the power of our individual actions,” he said.
Tanish said that the best way to connect with protecting the earth is to spend time outside.
“Get into nature, go swimming, go hiking, go backpacking, go camping, get outside, and get into nature because then you will understand what we’re fighting for,” he said.
Ojas: ‘Radical hope’
Ojas Sanghi is a sophomore at the University of Arizona and co-lead for the coalition’s Tucson chapter. He is 19 and majoring in computer science with an interest in artificial intelligence technology.
“No matter what issue we’re talking about, climate change is going to exacerbate it and make it much worse in ways that we can’t even imagine right now,” he said.
Ojas remembers being interested in computer science since eighth grade. He felt a duty to address climate change through his career.
He found a sweet spot in energy – creating more efficient batteries or the use of artificial intelligence or machine learning in solar panel models and solar energy generation.
“This is a really exciting place where I can apply my computer science machine learning skills to fight climate change,” Ojas said.
Staying optimistic, though, is tough when you consider the reality, he said.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned earlier this year that countries must phase out coal and other fossil fuels to avert climate catastrophe.
“We are hurtling towards disaster, eyes wide open,” he said. Limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius is still possible but will require a 45% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030, he said.
“There’s a timer ticking. And it really weighs on you,” Ojas said. “The worst part is, it’s not your fault. You’re a kid.”
He paused and held his hands together.
“At the same time you kind of have to find it in yourself to fight on. To not give up despite all this,” he said. “And most of all in the current moment, like in 2023, when it’s not 2030 yet, you need to embody radical hope.”
Credits
Editor: Becky Pallack Copy editors: Irene McKisson, Carolina Cuellar Photos: Teressa Enriquez Translation: Beatriz Limón
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