Hawaii school students sue transport department over pollution crisis and claim 'rising tides are washing up ancestors' BONES' - months after Montana youths won landmark climate change trial (only 7.14 years left)

Daily Mail ^ | 12/03/23 | Laura Parnaby

[Libloather]

Fourteen Hawaiian school students are suing the transport department for infringing on their right to grow up in a healthy environment by polluting it with greenhouse gases.

Ranging in age from 10 to 19, the plaintiffs claim they have been 'seriously injured' due to the government violating constitutional pledges to decarbonize the transport sector by 2045.

Their complaint says global warming is threatening age-old agricultural industries in Hawaii, while rising sea levels are projected to wipe out entire communities within the plaintiffs' lifetimes.

It also laments the emotional distress suffered by the young Pacific islanders - sparked by 'climate anxiety' and the destruction of their cultural traditions, citing examples like the bones of their ancestors being washed up by rising tides.

It is the second lawsuit of its kind - echoing the landmark trial in Montana where in August a judge ruled in favor of 16 youths who claimed the state government's use of fossil fuels was harming their health.

The Hawaiian youth advocates are represented by attorneys from non-profit Our Children's Trust, and their case is set to play out in the Environmental Court of First Circuit in June 2024.

The lead plaintiff, 15-year-old Navahine Fukumitsu, claims that her family's livelihood, which has relied upon farming kalo crops for more than 10 generations, is now under threat due to increasingly extreme climate conditions like droughts and floods.

Navahine, from Hakipu'u, Honolulu, said rising sea levels are also destroying the delicate pH balance in the soil needed for farming.

Her parents also work as caretakers of the historic 125-acre Mōli'i fishpond - but the threadfish, muller and milkfish which feed the local community are now often deluged by high tides which wash in invasive jellyfish and pollutants.

Navahine is also claiming for 'emotional harm'...

[oldasrocks]

I hope they all have to walk to school. Could put them on an bus with pedals instead of a motor.