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Kudos to the 14 youth plaintiffs and lawyers from Our Children’s Trust and Earthjustice who bravely filed suit against Hawaii’s Department of Transportation, as reported in the Star-Advertiser (“Hawaii youth file lawsuit against state,” Jan. 27).
The state defended its motion to dismiss with technical legal and political arguments obfuscating and postponing the real issue: taking immediate corrective action to mitigate, under existing laws and the state Constitution’s Public Trust doctrine, the existential crisis we face. This postponement of climate reality especially affects the plaintiff children’s generation.
As the plaintiff children point out, the DOT has failed to protect their right to health, well-being and cultural practices. Simply put, the DOT and state have not done enough to protect these children (and us). The children offer an emergency wake-up call for all of Hawaii nei and planet Earth. Are we listening?
Tom DiGrazia
Kailua
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