Fourteen young activists have filed suit against the Hawaii Department of Transportation, claiming that HDOT is spoiling the climate — and their future.
It’s a longshot effort, but if it generates more discussions about, and actions against, harmful emissions, the suit is worthwhile. To see youths engaging so robustly in decisions that will affect their future provides an example for all Hawaii.
The lawsuit, filed in the state’s First Circuit Court, goes after the Transportation Department for operations that support mostly gas-burning vehicles — pouring exhaust into the air, altering its chemistry and heating the planet.
Global warming is raising sea levels, undermining public beaches and kids’ access to them. These Hawaii youths have themselves watched as warmer temperatures lead to bleached corals and shrinking fishing stocks. One plaintiff lost their home in a flood linked to climate change.
The youths, ages 9-18, argue that they have a right, guaranteed by the Hawaii Constitution, to a healthful environment — and that Hawaii’s public trust doctrine also requires government agencies to protect natural resources for the benefit of all.
These kids, and their backers, should take their cause as far as it will go. If Hawaii’s Constitution does indeed guarantee a healthful environment, our Hawaii “paradise” can be seen as being under many unconstitutional attacks, from belching diesel buses to swaths of heat-emitting blacktop.
Navahine F. v. Hawaii Department of Transportation seeks a court order requiring “science-based climate recovery planning and remedies” from HDOT, action tailored to meet a legal mandate from the Hawaii Legislature to get to a zero-emissions economy by 2045.
The suit is backed by public interest law firm Our Children’s Trust, formed to back cases involving youthful activists, worldwide; and Earthjustice, an activist environmental law firm that’s been involved in many significant Hawaii cases.
It’s a disturbing truth that children born in 2020 — growing up today — are likely to face twice as many extreme climate events, such as heat waves and fires, floods, hurricanes and drought in the course of their lives, compared to people born in 1960.
Adults, of course, also would benefit from the youths pressing this lawsuit, on this issue of extreme urgency.
It’s rather easy to ignore the toxic, destructive reality of carbon emissions from inside an air-conditioned, gas-burning car, truck or SUV. Stand by a busy roadside, however — at a bus stop, perhaps? — on a no-tradewinds day, and these acrid emissions will force a new awareness.
These youths, and the law firms backing them, are sounding the alarm. Under current state policy, they say, pollution from transportation is increasing and will reach a monstrous 9.15 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by the end of this decade. That’s nearly 60% of Hawaii’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
Across the globe, youths are joining the fight to halt environmental degradation. In the U.S., young people sued the federal government in Juliana v. United States, arguing the U.S. Constitution protects a right to a healthy environment, and drawing pushback from energy companies. Filed in 2015, the case has been stalled by a series of appeals without reaching trial.
Another case supported by Our Children’s Trust, Helt v. State of Montana, charges that the state’s energy policy and reliance on fossil fuel development worsens climate change and violates a state-based constitutional right to a healthful environment. A trial date has been set for Feb. 6, 2023.
In its rulings, Hawaii’s Supreme Court has held that climate change “harms present and future generations.” These kids are suing for our well-being and a sustained healthy environment. It benefits all of us to take them seriously.
