- Dispatch from Rio: Part 2 Week two of the Mutirão of Independent Media has been dramatic, productive and inspiring. See some of the highlights of our work covering the social impacts of the Olympics 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
- WITNESS Stands With Youth Fighting Legal Battle for Climate Justice WITNESS joined other organizations and advocates in filing an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to support young people suing the federal government for not acting to reverse climate change.
- Why would adults from the Oil and Gas Industry bully 10 and 13 year old kids? I am writing this op-ed because I want to know why the biggest, most powerful industry is picking on kids who are trying to educate their peers about an issue they are passionate about.
- Activists & Film Festivals: A Romance for the Ages Effective film distribution means finding active audiences, wider recognition, and well-deserved love for your film and your issue. Romancing film festivals could be your best move.
- Young People Inspiring Young People Through Live Blogging I had never read a live blog before, but that didn't stop me from giving social justice filmmaker Karly Placek the go-ahead to write on my climate change campaign. And I'm glad I did.
- 16-year-old Climate Advocate Speaks Out on Hurricane Sandy 16-year-old Maya Faison from Queens, New York recently shared her thoughts on Hurricane Sandy and climate change in an article published by Climate Progress. Maya wrote the article on her sixth day without heat, her sixth day without power, and her sixth day with no gas in her mom’s car to escape. What troubled me most in what she shared is this: “I feel let down and disappointed that it’s taken a major storm that has taken over 40 lives and counting for my elected leaders to acknowledge the reality of climate change.”
- After Hurricane Sandy, Our Youth Call on Us: Be Upstanders, Not Bystanders. Vote for Climate Justice! Over the last year, we filmed youth from across the country – literally from Boston, Massachusetts to a village just inland from the Bering Sea – whose lives have already been changed by the deterioration of our Earth’s atmosphere. These award-winning video portraits showcase how our youth are bravely taking legal action against our governments’ collective failure to take serious climate action.
- TRUST Oregon: Kelsey Juliana Asks Courts to Recognize her Generation’s Right to a Healthy Atmosphere Since the world’s key decision makers and our legislature’s refuse to lead us out of our climate crisis and protect our air and water, our youth, between classes, after school and on weekends, are stepping up and asking the courts to recognize and honor their constitutional right to a healthy atmosphere. In Oregon, Kelsey Juliana’s parents taught her not to take the air and water for granted.
- TRUST Pennsylvania: America’s Youth Have Solutions to Climate Change, Let’s Follow Their Lead Over the course of the last year, I have been working with a dynamic, committed and brilliant group of young Americans who don't have trouble imagining a future different from the present. They don’t block out complex problems that lack simple solutions and instead find the solutions.
- TRUST: Connecting Catastrophe with Climate Change My biggest hope is that the media - and then the public - will begin connecting our weather catastrophes with climate change so we will not only hear what the climate is trying to tell us, but will also listen.
- TRUST Colorado: Understanding What It Means to Protect Our Atmosphere Justinian concluded that these essential, common, natural resources belong to everyone and not just the Emperor or the privileged. Consequently, the Roman Empire protected these resources in trust, for the public. This hallowed legal principle, referred to as the Public Trust Doctrine, is perhaps most simply explained by 11-year-old Xiuhtezcatl Martinez...
- Stories of TRUST: Celebrating Earth Day with Two Women From Iowa If we think about it, we can all remember a moment when we realized something was fundamentally wrong with our environment. For me, it was late spring and I was in my front yard in our middle-class neighborhood, in middle America, in the full mid-morning sun. I think I was about nine years old.
- TRUST Arizona: Asking Our Leaders to Lead on Climate Justice Congress and the White House are violating U.S. law. Most all our State Governments are breaking their own state laws too. So our youth are utilizing the last branch of our democracy that may be open to them and asking our judges to listen to their stories, hear their legal argument and make a considered and lawful decision.
- Judges in Five States Will Hear Climate Change Cases Filed by Youth Over the course of the last year WITNESS has partnered with Our Children’s Trust (OCT) and the iMatter Campaign to elevate the voices of youth from across the country who are defending their right to a healthy atmosphere and sustainable future. The youth are taking their case to judges across the country and asking that the courts order the adoption and implementation of scientifically sound Climate Recovery Plans.
- TRUST: Alaska Youth Call on Our Governments to Restore our Atmosphere With the international climate talks wrapped in Durban, South Africa the reviews are mixed. World leaders touted their success in reaching the Durban Platform, but observers outside the negotiations are much more skeptical.
