Politics

Kids' lawsuit alleges government has known of climate change risk for 50 years

The TV show Sixty Minutes ran a segment this weekend on a lawsuit making its way through the courts in the Pacific Northwest.  Titled "Juliana vs. United States," the suit seeks to have the government stop supporting fossil fuel use.  The lawsuit was filed in 2015 by Oregon lawyer Julia Olson on behalf of 21 children —the "climate kids" — that she recruited from environmental groups around the country.  The plaintiffs submitted evidence indicating that as early as 1965 the government had information on the cumulative dangers of fossil fuel usage, and ignored it.


Here's some background on the program.  


Scientists confirm climate change

By congressional mandate, scientists from multiple federal agencies prepare a National Climate Assessment every four years.  A final draft report completed this year concludes that Americans are feeling the effects of climate change right now.  The report received little attention until it was just published in the New York Times.  Scientists leaked the draft out of concern that the Trump administration might try to suppress it.

Here is a quote from the New York Times article reporting on the climate assessment report:

The report concludes that even if humans immediately stopped emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the world would still feel at least an additional 0.50 degrees Fahrenheit (0.30 degrees Celsius) of warming over this century compared with today. The projected actual rise, scientists say, will be as much as 2 degrees Celsius. 

 


Republicans want to make it harder to add a species to the endangered list

In the steady drip, drip, drip of Trump legislation threatening nature, survival, and the Great Society, Republicans in the House of Representatives have introduced a bill, HR 717, intended to weaken the Endangered Species Act.  The bill, known as the Listing Reform Act of 2017, would amend the Endangered Species Act to require review of the economic cost of adding a species to the list of endangered species or threatened species, or for other purposes.  More info from The Verge .