Nathan Baring is one of 21 young Americans who is challenging the U.S. government directly over its historical support for polluting fossil fuels such as oil and coal, the Guardian reports.
Baring is a third-generation resident of Alaska, which means he's had a front-row seat to the world's rising temperature across his 24 years of life. "It's incredible the changes that have happened within my lifetime," he told the Guardian. "When I was growing up, it used to be very normal to have two-week periods of 40-below temperatures during the winter. Now it seems like it's rare that we get those temperatures at all."
Baring, who has been pushing for an end to air pollution since he was 12, was also concerned about the melting permafrost — the part of the ground in the polar regions that stays frozen all year round in normal conditions.
Not only does the melting ice paint a troubling picture of global warming and create a muddy mess, but it's also releasing harmful chemicals such as mercury that used to be trapped by the frost.
The Earth's rising temperature is due to air pollution that traps heat inside the atmosphere, and over 75% of that pollution comes from oil, coal, and gas, according to the U.N. But despite that fact, and despite the increasing calls from environmentalists to cut back on these dirty energy sources, the U.S. has continued to rely on coal and oil. It has developed drilling projects in Alaska and elsewhere, and it has become the world's largest oil producer.
According to Baring and the other young citizens in his group, that policy choice has deprived them of their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, the Guardian reports. That's why they've filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government.
Juliana v United States was first filed in 2015, nine years ago, by the nonprofit law firm Our Children's Trust. It says the government "willfully ignored" the damage caused by dirty energy. A win for Baring and his group would mean that the country's policies on oil, coal, and gas are unconstitutional.
A similar lawsuit, filed in Montana against that state's government, recently ended in victory for the plaintiffs, who were friends of Baring's. "I was absolutely thrilled for them. They really got to make history," said Baring. "This win … didn't just come from a state where you might stereotypically expect more favorable rulings, right? It came from a state with a really rich coal industry."
Baring worries about the power that the oil industry has in Alaska. "Alaska is probably the most oil-dependent state in the nation," he said. "It's been really painful to see how that gives the industry a chokehold on our state politics since long before I was born."
Baring had an especially difficult time during the COVID-19 pandemic but has pushed forward and hopes that the case will go to trial soon. "It's like that famous quote: 'Hope is a discipline.' I really took that to heart," he said.
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