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I was thrilled to attended conferences and LECTURES AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY ON CLIMATE LAW ACTIONS hosted by the Sabin Center for Climate Change. Based at Columbia Law school, the network develops and promulgates legal techniques to address climate change and trains the next generation of lawyers who will be leaders in the field. One of the events I attended was hosted by Lisa Heingerberg, a prominent climate justice lawyer. I learned about the ongoing court case JULIANA Vs UNITED STATES, an extraordinary court case launched by 21 young kids against the United States arguing the USA are putting their future at risk by their inaction on environmental laws and the effects of climate change. The basis being that access to a safe environment and a stable climate is a Human Right, thus the USA by failing in its duty to protect the environment for future generations should be prosecuted and condemned. IT IS THE BOLDEST MOVE I HAVE SEEN IN ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS AND IT COULD SET A PRECEDENT SUCH AS THE CIVIL RIGHT CASES BROWN Vs BOARD OF EDUCATION which ended education segregation in the USA. Although global emission have to decreased by the year 2030, climate change information have been removed from USA government website, environmentalists and scientists face intimidation and threats according to Heingerberg. Therefore it is vital to allow the Court process to take its course, very much like in Brown Vs Board of Education ended racial education segregation in the USA the process began at Court by legally destroying the basis of 'separate but equal' which argue racial discrimination was not wrong on that basis. So it is vitally important to argue those cases in Court to establish precedents which can then have a positive ripple effect in other countries and continents. Despite the decision by the USA Ninth circuit Court, in January 2020, by a 2-1 vote, to declined to act on children’s claim that the U.S. government had violated their constitutional rights, including a right to 'a climate system capable of sustaining human life' a vital shift of paradigm has happened. The Court case opinion implies that that climate change may implicate constitutional or human rights, but that the Court lacks the authority to fashion a remedy. It plants the seed for future tangible changes and meaningful challenges of status quo all over the world. The Juliana Children have appeal the Court decision. Young activist Greta Thunberg and her peers have been generational inspiration in spear-heading the school strikes for climate movement all over the world. They have also launched a similar Court case against the most polluting carbon emission nations (France, Argentina, Brazil, Turkey, Germany) via the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child. We can only encourage such meaningful legal actions which truly highlights what is at stakes for our collective future and that of the next generations. READ MORE ABOUT JULIANA vs UNITED STATES http://blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechange/2019/01/07/the-trial-of-the-century-a-preview-of-how-climate-science-could-play-out-in-the-courtroom-courtesy-of-juliana-v-united-states/ http://blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechange/2020/03/13/juliana-in-the-world-comparing-the-ninth-circuits-decision-to-foreign-rights-based-climate-litigation/ |