What happens when 21 kids sue the U.S. government for a dream of a world without climate change? On this episode of The Show About Science, Nate interviews Elizabeth Rusch about the kids who are working to make that dream a reality. Elizabeth is the author of the new book, “The Twenty-One, The True Story of the Youth Who Sue the U.S. Government Over Climate Change,” which tells the story of 21 young climate activists supported by environmental lawyer, Julia Olson, who sue the government for actively supporting the fossil fuel industry.  

Learn more about Elizabeth Rusch at https://www.elizabethrusch.com/

Follow the case at https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/

Listen to The Show About Science on Storybutton, the device that makes it easy for kids to listen to podcasts without using a screened device. Get yours at Storybutton.com.

Connect with The Show About Science:

Instagram: @showaboutscience

Facebook: @theshowaboutscience

YouTube:The Show About Science

Twitter: @natepodcasts

LinkedIn: The Show About Science

Threads: showaboutscience

Transcript:

Nate: Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Show About Science. This is your host, Nate. And on today’s episode, what happens when 21 kids sue the U.S. government for a dream of a world without climate change? That is the topic of a new book by Elizabeth Rush. Let’s jump right into it.

All right, so could you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself?

Elizabeth Rusch: Yeah, so my name is Elizabeth Rush and I’m a writer living in Portland, Oregon. I have been a magazine writer for a long time and I write for fiction and nonfiction for both adults and kids. And I’m the author of  “The Twenty-One, The True Story of the Youth Who Sue the U.S. Government Over Climate Change.”

Nate: And so this is really a roller coaster of a book, lots of different twists and turns in the case. So if you could give like a brief preview as to what takes place, what would you say?

Elizabeth Rusch: Yeah, sure. So it all started with a small town environmental lawyer. Her name is Julia Olson and she was taking on and winning all of these environmental cases.

So there would be a dangerous fossil fuel project and she would work with the Sierra Club or another non-profit to try to stop this dangerous project. And she kept winning, but then more projects were springing up again and again. So she said it was like playing Whack-a-Mole, you know, that game where like the little beavers hit and you bonk their heads.

Anyway, she was 35 years old and eight months pregnant and she went into a movie theater one really hot afternoon to watch the movie called An Inconvenient Truth, which is about climate change. And while she was watching all of these horrible climate disasters that her and children were going to face, she started crying.

And she knew that this approach of just trying to like beat one fossil fuel project after another wasn’t going to work, that she needed a way to take on climate change all together and all at once. And she also knew that kids were the ones who were being hurt most by climate change. And so they should be the ones who bring the case.

Nate: Julia teamed up with 21 young climate activists and pretty quickly their case started making the evening news.

60 Minutes: Of all the cases working their way through the federal court system, none is more interesting or potentially more life-changing than Juliana versus the United States.

KOIN 6 News: This case argues that the flooding and Arctic temperatures in the east, along with the wildfires and the droughts out here in the west, show that climate change is just not an impending threat that risks the nation. But they say it’s a crisis right now.

NBC News: Filed during the Obama administration, the suit sponsored by our Children’s Trust seeks to phase out fossil fuels that cause climate change.

60 Minutes: The lead plaintiff, University of Oregon student Kelsey Juliana, was 19 when the lawsuit was filed and the oldest of 21 plaintiffs.

They come from 10 different states and all claim to be affected or threatened by the consequences of climate change.

Nate: OK, so who are some of these kids and what are they like?

Elizabeth Rusch: Yeah, so there were kids like Levi Draheim, who was eight years old. He lived on a barrier island in Florida and he saw a map once that showed that his house would be underwater from sea level rise in his lifetime.

And there were also two huge hurricanes that blew through. We had to evacuate his home. He has nightmares about stumbling around his neighborhood, looking for his parents, looking for his home. And then there is Sahara, who was 12 years old and she has asthma. There was wildfire smoke and she was struggling to breathe.

And then there’s Jamie, who lived in Arizona, and she and her mom lived on the Navajo Nation and were forced off their native land from drought. So all these kids are suffering from these climate impacts. And there’s this lawyer, this small town environmental lawyer. And so the 21 tells a story of how Julia joined forces with 21 of these young activists to take on the most powerful government in the world over climate change.

Nate: After joining forces in 2015, they filed their case and they immediately got to work.

Elizabeth Rusch: So they had to build this constitutional case and they were interviewing witnesses.

Nate: They were also gathering government documents and scientific research. And so over the years, all of this work turned into 36,000 pages of compelling evidence detailing what the U.S. government knew about climate change and when they knew it.

Julia Olson: They admit that the government has known for over 50 years that burning fossil fuels would cause climate change.

Nate: This is Julia talking about that evidence on 60 Minutes.

Julia Olson: They don’t dispute that we are in a danger zone on climate change. And they don’t dispute that climate change is a national security threat and a threat to people’s lives and safety.

They do not dispute any of those facts of the case.

Nate: The more Elizabeth learned about Julia and the 21 kids suing the government, the more interested she became in following their story.

Elizabeth Rusch: So as I got into the story, I realized that this case, Juliana v. United States, is really like a legal thriller. There are these really dramatic hearings and these rulings.

And the case has been up to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals several times and has won. It’s been up to the U.S. Supreme Court twice. And twice, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the kids’ favor. In October of 2018, they were all set for trial in Eugene, Oregon, when the rug got pulled out from under them.

And what’s incredible about this story is that even when they faced obstacles, they always found another way forward. And they are currently headed to trial. So I think that the young people will get their trial, and I think that they’ll win. And I think that it’s going to be the biggest step forward on climate change that we’ve ever had.

Because if they win, then the U.S. government will no longer be allowed to actively support the fossil fuel energy system.

Nate: So they’re suing the federal government. I mean, how does that even work? How are they suing them to get rid of fossil fuel usage?

Elizabeth Rusch: Yeah. So basically, what they’re saying is that it’s not so much that the government isn’t doing enough about climate change. It’s that the government is actively supporting the fossil fuel energy system.

So currently, on federal public lands, so these are lands that are owned by American citizens, they permit drilling of oil and gas and mining of coal. The federal government also permits the moving of fossil fuels in and out of the country, imports and exports. They also subsidize fossil fuels. So what the youth are trying to do is to get the U.S.

government out of supporting the fossil fuel industry. So 25 percent of emissions of greenhouse gases in the United States come from federal public lands. So if the courts rule that the federal government’s behavior is unconstitutional, that by supporting the fossil fuel industry, they’re infringing on these kids’ rights to life, liberty and property, then that behavior would have to stop.

So that means they could no longer permit drilling on public lands. They could no longer allow pipelines to cut across the country. They could no longer subsidize, which means like give a whole bunch of money to the fossil fuel system. So if they won, that would be probably the biggest drop in the production of greenhouse gases in the world.

I mean, that’s incredible that they could have that much power, right, and that they could do that.

Nate: Yeah. So in this book, there’s a lot of personal moments, like with the 21 kids who are suing the government. So how did you learn about all of these different little moments? Like were you there as the case was happening or yeah, how did you write this sort of?

Elizabeth Rusch: Yeah, that’s a great question. So I first got interested in the case when one of my kids actually went with a bunch of school friends down to Eugene, Oregon for the first hearing of this case. So I wasn’t there, but she was there and she came back and told me about it and that got me really interested in it.

So I started following it in terms of just like reading news articles about it and reading the briefs. And then when I actually started writing the book, I went to, there was a hearing here in Portland, Oregon, where I live and I took my notebook and I went to the hearing and it was just really dramatic.

And I took notes and then I went to the rally afterwards with the kids and I took notes. But then I also interviewed the lawyers and I spent a lot of time interviewing five of the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs are the people who are bringing the case. So five of the young people, I had long interviews with them about how does climate change impact them?

How did they get involved in the case? What is it like to agree to be part of a lawsuit suing the US government? What did their family say? What was it like when they went to the first hearing? What did it feel like? Did they understand everything? And so that’s where I got a lot of stories about how Levi is really squirmy and he was really worried about being able to sit still for two hours.

And the kids’ reactions while the hearing is going on to things the defendant said about how they didn’t have a right to bring the case to court and how angry that made them feel. And then when they were about to go to trial, I talked to them a lot about, OK, what was it like when you were headed towards trial and you were so excited and they were all together in this house with all these other young people and they were going to be having this trial and taking on the federal government?

And it was like this real high. And at the very last minute, the lawyer called them into a room and told them that the trial date had been delayed and then canceled and how that felt and how they were all hugging and crying. And so it was really getting the young people to tell their stories about what it was like.

And then towards the end of the book, I was able to attend some of the later hearings and take notes and then read the hearing transcripts and then again, interview the kids about what it was actually like to hear the judge question both sides and what they thought. So I really couldn’t have written the book without the help of these five young people who not only are like in school doing all their stuff with their family and their sports and in this lawsuit, they also took the time to talk to me about the case and tell their stories.

It was really amazing that they did that and they are just incredibly generous and powerful people.

Nate: And so parts of California are burning, parts of Florida are flooding whenever a hurricane comes and hurricanes are getting more and more powerful every year. So with all of the negative news about climate change, can we take away something hopeful from this book?

Elizabeth Rusch: Yeah, so I think that this case really has the potential to change everything. So as I said before, like if they win, it’s going to be the biggest step forward on climate change ever. The US government would no longer be able to actively support fossil fuels. But even more than that, I think that it shows the power of young people.

So young people are already doing amazing work around climate change. So they’re marching in the streets, a lot of them are talking to their representatives. And this book, The Twenty-One, really highlights another incredibly powerful way that they’re speaking up. They’re asking the courts to protect their right.

And it’s not only the court case, but it’s also just changing the way people think about climate change. We all have a right to a stable climate. We all have a right to live on a planet where we can depend on what the weather cycle is going to be like where we live. And these young people, by pointing to the federal government and making them accountable, really can change the way we think about climate change and can actually start to make a difference.

You know, I think sometimes we adults need kids to tell us the obvious, you know, that we really have a right to a stable climate and that our government should not be allowed to continue contributing to this problem. And that’s really revolutionary, like both simple and super revolutionary.

Nate: And so one other thing that this whole story really proves is that anybody can make a really big difference.

Like no matter the age, no matter the experience in politics or world affairs or anything like that, anybody just by taking a stand for what they believe in can make a big difference. And so this story is still ongoing. Like as you said, they’re going to trial soon. And so I’d say that this book,  “The Twenty-One, The True Story of the Youth Who Sue the U.S. Government Over Climate Change,” I’d say that it’s a great way to catch up on all of the twists and turns in the case before a trial that could potentially drop fossil fuel emissions by 25 percent.

Elizabeth Rusch: Yeah, it’s incredible. You know, people always say that like kids are our future. But I think what The Twenty-One shows is that the future is now.

Kids already have the power and are changing things. And that is a real ray of light and a real story of hope. And also, you know, as you said, like this is an ongoing case. It’s going to be in the news. And this book will really give a deep understanding of like who these kids are and where they came from and what they’re trying to do and what they’ve been through already.

So that when there’s a trial, like you’ll be prepared, you’ll be ready to jump in and probably watch the trial and really understand what these kids are doing and how they can really transform the climate change situation.

Nate: Yeah. So where could people learn more about this book or maybe where to find it?

Elizabeth Rusch: Yeah, well, they can definitely visit my website, which is http://www.elizabethrush.com. But I also really encourage people to go to the website of Our Children’s Trust. So that’s the nonprofit that is supporting the young people in this legal effort. So that website is OurChildrenstrust.org. And there you can find updates on the case.

There are also ways to get involved to support the young people, like signing walls of support. And if there’s a trial or a hearing that is being video recorded, you can actually watch it in action. So as this case unfolds, I’m going to be really excited to hop onto that website and see what’s happening with the case and maybe actually be part of witnessing history being made.

Nate: Thank you for being on the show.

Elizabeth Rusch: Thank you so much for having me. You’re a wonderful interviewer, and I could tell how thoughtfully you read the book. Thank you. I really appreciate it.

Nate: There you have it, folks. The Show About Science is complete. Music on today’s episode comes from Epidemic Sound and Descript.

And our theme music, as always, was composed by Jeff Dan and Theresa Brooks.

If you want to stay in touch and never miss an episode, go to theshowaboutscience.com, and sign up for our newsletter. Alright Dad, you can shut the recording off.