For parents, one of the most troubling aspects of climate change is the fact that it will disproportionately impact the people we love the most: our children. Research suggests that kids born today will experience as many as seven times more climate disasters than people born in 1960. This makes climate change an issue of intergenerational justice and underscores the urgency of putting policies in place today that will ensure a safe, livable environment for future generations.
Our Children’s Trust is a nonprofit law firm wholly dedicated to making sure children’s legal right to a safe climate is protected. Featured in the film Youth v. Gov, Our Children’s Trust has sued state governments on behalf of young people in all 50 states. On June 12, in a historic step forward, Held v. Montana will be the first of these state cases to go to trial. Moms Clean Air Force Montana State Coordinator Michelle Uberuaga will be there to stand in solidarity with the youth plaintiffs.
Michelle is an environmental lawyer and community activist whose career has been devoted to protecting the natural world and the humans who call it home. She lives with her husband and three children in Livingston, Montana, and first heard about Our Children’s Trust when the organization was just getting started over a decade ago. When discussions emerged about doing a lawsuit in Montana, Michelle became involved through the close-knit community of environmental lawyers across the state.
Montana’s state constitution guarantees the right to a clean and healthful environment—a right Our Children’s Trust says the state government is violating through its continued support of a fossil fuel-driven energy system. During the Held v. Montana case that will go to trial in June, 16 youth plaintiffs will assert their legal rights to a healthy environment. Michelle cares deeply about the young people involved: she knows many of the families involved and even loaned one of them a suit jacket and shoes for depositions in earlier phases of the case.
On a spring afternoon, in a season where Montana has been blanketed by smoke from wildfires in Canada, I speak with Michelle over Zoom about her experiences with the families involved in Our Children’s Trust. She describes the emotional toll of being involved in a legal case—a toll particularly amplified for young people trying to navigate the very adult world of the legal system. “The court system is scary and foreign and intimidating for many people,” she tells me. “It’s not the right fit for every kid to be a plaintiff.” Being a young person is challenging enough in an age where social media, sociopolitical tensions, and the aftershocks of the pandemic also take their emotional toll; for the youth involved in Held v. Montana and the other Our Children’s Trust cases, the challenges of being involved in litigation pile on top of the normal challenges of growing up. Michelle is close friends with the parents of one of the plaintiffs, and says that for the parents involved in the case, there’s a lot to process as well.
But the challenges are also infused with meaning and commitment. Michelle relays a story of taking a group of local youth to a climate summit in Helena, Montana, including a student celebrating her 16th birthday, during a week of high school exams. “This speaks volumes about how much climate action means to them,” she tells me. The young people involved in the climate movement in Montana also find meaning in connecting with each other—they need to be in community with other activists who understand what they’re going through. For these youth, peer support is invaluable.
As a mother, Michelle feels the emotional toll of what’s at stake too: “I have a 3-year-old who will be 30 in 2050. What is the world going to look like then? We have a moral responsibility to do everything we can to alleviate as much suffering as possible.” There’s emotion in her voice as she speaks. But Michelle isn’t hopeless: she describes a deep belief that collectively, we are capable of figuring out how to address climate change. She tells me that she doesn’t want to create a story about anxiety for her children; she wants to create a story of hope and what’s possible when we take the climate action our children deserve:
“There’s a better life possible here… The way that we’re living right now on the planet is also not healthy for our bodies. That gives me hope. It’s an opportunity to focus on what’s really important in life. Boil it down to caring for the people we love, doing things for our community. That will lead to a more rich, happier, healthier life.”
When I ask Michelle what parents and allied adults can do to support the young people involved in Our Children’s Trust’s cases, she encourages supporting local youth climate groups and getting involved in climate action ourselves. (For additional ways to support the young people in the Held v. Montana case, see a list of ideas here.) Parents can remind young people, especially those who feel the weight of the world on their shoulders, that caring for the climate is a shared burden—not a weight they have to carry alone.
Intergenerational justice requires intergenerational activism. The Held v. Montana trial begins June 12, and I’ll be following it closely, cheering on the youth plaintiffs and the amazing adult allies like Michelle who will be standing alongside them in solidarity.
Regardless of the outcome, the young people in this trial will have made history. Let’s do everything we can to help them make the future too.
Image via Our Children’s Trust
TELL CONGRESS: SUPPORT YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH AND ACCESS TO CLIMATE EDUCATION