Diese Pressemitteilung zu einer ganz aktuellen neuen Klimaklage in den USA stelle ich hier gleich mal im Original rein:
On behalf of Clean Air Council and two Pennsylvania children, Hausfeld filed suit today in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against the federal government to prevent it from rolling back policies, programs, laws, rules, and regulations previously in place to address and ameliorate climate change and its consequences. This pro bono litigation focuses on the federal government’s knowledge (dating back over fifty years) that climate change presents a clear and present danger to life, and represents an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to human societies and the planet.
The United States has experienced a steady increase in extreme weather events caused by climate change, as exemplified most recently by the devastating impact of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and the October California wildfires. If not adequately addressed, climate change will cause human deaths, shorten human life spans, result in widespread damage to property, threaten human food sources, drastically affect human air quality, and dramatically alter the planet’s ecosystem to the detriment of the plaintiffs in this case, their children and grandchildren, and all future generations.
The federal government has relied on junk science to implement reckless climate change policies in the face of indisputable U.S. and international scientific consensus. It is the government’s responsibility to protect the lives and welfare of citizens and the life-sustaining resources they depend on. These acts of deliberate indifference are increasing U.S. contributions to climate change, thereby increasing the frequency and intensity of its life-threatening effects, and violating the constitutional rights of all U.S. citizens.
Plaintiffs are leading Philadelphia environmental nonprofit Clean Air Council and two child plaintiffs who have been personally impacted by climate change. The Federal Government Defendants include President Donald Trump, the Department of Energy, Secretary Rick Perry, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Administrator Scott Pruitt.
Clean Air Council Executive Director and Chief Counsel Joseph Minott said: “We will not stand idly by while President Trump and his agencies raze crucial environmental protections, ignore climate science, dispute well-documented facts and force future generations of Americans to suffer the consequences of this administration’s reckless choices and ignorant policies. We must hold the federal government accountable for the long-term environmental harm that is propagating under its direction. It’s time to fight back.”
Scientists refer to climate change as the most important issue of our time. Human contribution to climate change, which exacerbates its effects, has reached a critical moment, the consequences of which are potentially irreversible. Hausfeld Chairman Michael D. Hausfeld stated: “By deliberately engaging in this rollback of climate policies and programs, the government is affirmatively endangering the lives and welfare of its citizens.”
This lawsuit comes on the heels of the federal government’s release of the National Climate Assessment, which, in stark contrast to the administration’s environmental policies, affirms that climate change is almost entirely caused by human action and is a growing threat to the United States.
Die Klageschrift findet sich hier. Und verschiedene Organisationen, die eigene Klimaklagen eingereicht haben, haben bereits Unterstützung für diesen neuen Vorstoß signalisiert, so z.B. das Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL). Reuters hat berichtet.
Übrigens ist bei der COP 23 in Bonn auch eine U.S. People’s Delegation dabei:
This coordinated effort of several organizations bringing their own delegations include youth leaders who have successfully pressured their universities to divest from fossil fuels. It includes Indigenous leaders who have fought against major fossil fuel projects like the Dakota Access Pipeline and are building their own renewable energy solutions on tribal lands. It includes leaders from frontline communities who are fighting the injustice of local pollution and advocating for a just and equitable transition to a renewable energy future that works for all. And it includes advocates and activists who are pushing for bold climate action in dozens of cities and States across the country. They are backed by the voices of millions more Americans back at home who have signed onto petitions and calls to action supporting the goals of the Paris Agreement.
The organizations represented in the People’s Delegation include: SustainUS, Sunrise Movement, Indigenous Environmental Network and Global Grassroots Justice Alliance as part of It Takes Roots, U.S Human Rights Network, Climate Generation, Our Children’s Trust, NextGen America, and 350.org.