Earlier this week, on a Wednesday afternoon in January, the 46th President of the United States and the 49th Vice President of the United States were sworn into office. The Wednesday before, former President Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives. The Wednesday before that, a crowd of insurrectionists breached security at the U.S. Capitol building.
Only three weeks in, 2021 has already proven to be a historic year. We are committed to ensuring that the rest of this year is just as historic for our youth plaintiffs and their global communities.
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Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
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At Our Children’s Trust, we welcome the new Biden-Harris Administration to the Executive Branch of the United States. We are eager to see how they will tackle the many daunting issues faced by Americans and people around the world, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the accelerating climate crisis. We want them to be the first American administration to unwaveringly choose actions which center children’s fundamental rights and protect the opportunities of all future generations to come. We know, and you know, to our deepest core, that the climate crisis threatens everything, and only a bold, science-based, child-focused approach to this emergency will be up to the task before us.
Our Children’s Trust has represented and supported young people in state and federal courtrooms for over a decade and, as we toil to protect the rights of our planet’s children, we have encountered many different kinds of leaders. Sometimes the governments we are challenging in court are striving to be progressive. Often they aren’t. Sometimes the governments of our youth plaintiffs’ states and nations are seeking climate solutions of their own. Often they are not. However, regardless of the political philosophies of those in power, we must keep the pressure on and the advocacy strong. Because the rights of our youth to a stable climate should not be vulnerable to the shifting of political winds and the inertia of incrementalism. Because the scientific standards to stabilize our climate cannot be negotiated. Because justice should be unassailable.
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Video still from ABC7NY
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As National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman - the youngest poet in U.S. history to read at a presidential inauguration - so beautifully stated during Wednesday’s event:
When day comes, we ask ourselves:
Where can we find light
In this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry, a sea we must wade.
This week, we celebrate the inauguration of a new presidential administration in the United States. And we call upon these leaders to serve as a light in the shade, to make choices that protect our children, listen to our scientists, and preserve our planet.
Onward,
The Team at Our Children’s Trust
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