The legal technicalities of the case will play out as they will (“Hawaii youth file lawsuit against state regarding emissions,” Star-Advertiser, Jan. 27). Be that as it may, everyone even remotely aware of the seriousness of climate change must be supportive of and sympathetic to this legal action.

The fundamental concept of harm to civil society by the actions of a particular entity is at stake here. Will the state Department of Transportation be held accountable for being co-opted by the cynical fossil-fuel industry, thereby allowing it to poison the atmosphere for decades, sufficient to cause untold death and destruction in Hawaii and around the globe?

These youth are going to pay a very high price, in terms of overall life impacts. They are fully within their rights to demand immediate and ambitious climate action. They will not tolerate dismissal.

Gary M. Stewart

Laguna Beach, Calif.

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