UPDATE: More than a dozen California children suing EPA over climate change - EdSource
More than a dozen California children suing EPA over climate change | EdSource
More than a dozen California children suing EPA over climate change
Eighteen California children have recently added to a series of lawsuits against the Environmental Protection Agency for climate change-related reasons, KQED reported.
The 18 children are alleging the agency violated their constitutional rights by failing to protect them from the effects of climate change. The 17-year-old lead plaintiff from Long Beach says her parents can’t afford air conditioning and as the number of hot days increases she isn’t able to stay cool at home and has to wait until it cools down in the evening to do schoolwork, according to KQED.
The other plaintiffs range from 8 to 17 years old, KQED reported. Each child mentions how climate change has affected their lives, mentioning wildfires, flooding and home evacuations.
“Time is slipping away, and the impact of the climate crisis is already hitting us directly,” a 15-year-old plaintiff said in a statement. “We are running from wildfires, being displaced by floods, panicking in hot classrooms during another heat wave.”
Related Knowledge Center: Air emissions
More than 30 years after the last major update of the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Supreme Court has upended the ability of Congress to give the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies broad scope to combat air pollution, including the emission of greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, further Biden administration efforts to limit emissions face opposition in the courts.