Today, the precious lives of Ukrainians are being upended, threatened, and lost due to unprovoked violence waged by an autocratic aggressor.
View this email in your browser ([link removed])
[link removed]
Dear friends,
Today, the precious lives of Ukrainians are being upended, threatened, and lost due to unprovoked violence waged by an autocratic aggressor.
We at Our Children’s Trust, and many in our Oregon community, have friends and colleagues in Ukraine and we are holding space in our hearts and minds for them during this unfolding tragedy and humanitarian crisis in Europe.
Eleven years ago, when we first launched our strategic legal campaign to protect the climate rights of young people, our Ukrainian partners at Environment, People, Law were right there alongside us, filing one of the first global youth cases against their government, seeking climate accountability. They had early success when the court ordered an accounting of the status of climate action in Ukraine. Today, they are on my mind and I want to honor the amazing women at EPL who were always at the forefront of understanding the connection between the quality of our environment and the safety of our air, water, land and climate, for the health of our children and all people.
There is so much suffering and trauma in the world today. But there is also so much fierce determination, hope, grit, and indefatigable commitment to forging the path to a better future. For those of us privileged enough to be fighting in our courts in constitutional democracies to secure climate stabilization, peace, and justice, rather than fighting with weapons for survival or to defend our nations, we must not lose sight of the spirit of struggle for justice that courses through us all. We cannot turn a blind eye to the atrocities being committed in Ukraine today, thinking of it as something happening “there” or to “them,” but rather must always remember that, in our fight for justice, there can be no child, person, community, or nation left behind. Whether it is the dangers of the climate crisis or the military aggressions of a rogue leader, we are all connected and justice for some is not justice for all. Together, we will not be defeated by the nonsensical violence and trauma of our
world; instead, we will continue forward together in the pursuit of a just planet where all can thrive, not just survive
I wish there was more we could do today for our friends, our brothers and sisters in another land. What I know I can do - what we can all do - is to keep rising up each and every day for the children of the world, to better the planet and the nations in which they live, to struggle for democracy and human rights, to upend the systems of injustice, and to never give up. Fossil fuels are often at the root of so much conflict, war and destruction. They always have been. It is the deep, dark shadow side of our energy systems. And that shadow side must swiftly fade into a closed chapter of human history.
This same day, two-hundred and nineteen years ago, on February 24, 1803, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a critical case, Marbury v. Madison. Marbury established that it was emphatically the job of judges to decide the constitutionality of acts of the political branches of government and say what the law is. We will continue giving judges the opportunity to interpret our Constitutions and stand up for constitutional democracies around the world, protecting the rights and survival of generations of children, as is their sacred role in democracy. That is the promise that I - and Our Children’s Trust - can make today. We will never give up our struggle to end the deadly impacts of fossil fuels on our planet and on our children, and we will never stop until we have achieved justice for our children today and of the future.
In spite of, and in light of, the horror and sadness of this moment, we will continue to stand up and strive for justice.
We are with you.
For peace and justice, always,
Julia
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
www.linkedin.com/company/7952785
============================================================
Copyright © 2022 Our Children's Trust. All rights reserved.
OCT is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. EIN # 27-3094382
P.O. Box 5181 Eugene, OR 97405
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe ([link removed])
** from this list ([link removed])
.
