Smoky Skies

By Joyce Lazarus, Ph.D., Massachusetts.

Note: This is a fictional story, based on actual events. The names have been changed to protect the identities of the plaintiffs.

Rachel sits down on a riverbank, shaded by a giant cottonwood. Its silvery leaves turn in the breeze, shielding her from the stifling August sun. She stares at sunburnt grasslands and distant blue hills on her ranch in Montana, where her family has been ranching for generations.

Something catches her eye. She looks toward the west and sees plumes of dark smoke rising, reddening in the afternoon sun. Dark, billowing clouds are filling the sky, blotting out sunlight.

“Dad, do you see the smoke?” Rachel calls to her father.

“No. Where is it?”

Rachel starts running toward the smoke. She spots a wildfire in the distant hills, its orange flames devouring the withered forest. With no rain for the past three weeks and a severe heatwave, there is little they can do to stop wildfires from spreading. She already knows of twenty-five other fires this summer, less than fifty miles from their ranch.

How long before one of these wildfires reaches their ranch? How can they stop fires that spread so quickly, whipped up by winds?

The look on Dad’s face tells Rachel how concerned he is.

“Let’s hose down the house and barn,” he says. “We’ll bring in the cattle and horses.”

Rachel learned about climate change when she was eleven and thought it was something she could do nothing about. Now thirteen, she feels her stomach twisting into knots, panic surging. Her whole ranch could be destroyed! How can she stop something so powerful?

Every year there are more storms, droughts, wildfires, heatwaves―every kind of natural disaster. Rachel understands that burning coal and other fossil fuels are a major cause of climate change, but most people she knows do not want to admit this. They shrug their shoulders, saying, “Let nature run its course. We’ll get through this crisis like we always have.”

Many people do not see things as Rachel does. When she learned in science class that humans have only about seven years to act before irreversible harm is done to the Earth, it hit her very hard. She knows the feeling of smoke caught in her throat, of dense gray smog blocking out sunlight. She is just a teenager, but if teens don’t try to solve this climate crisis, who else will?

Rachel has nightmares about fires sweeping across her ranch. She sees herself racing to save her family, horses, cattle, and little dog, Felix. She wakes up covered in sweat.

 ***

She isn’t the only teen in Montana worried about climate change. Since joining a climate action club, Rachel has gotten to know Nora. Nora tells her that every time she hears about wildfires, it feels like getting punched in the stomach. When Nora watched Greta Thunberg on TV, speaking at the United Nations, asking world leaders, “How dare you?” it took her breath away. This was the first time someone close to her age expressed the anger and determination to do something that Nora felt.

Later that month, Nora brings her exciting news.

“There is a law firm, Rachel, “Our Children’s Trust*,” that can help us sue the State of Montana for not protecting us against climate disasters. I plan to join the lawsuit.”

“Really?”

“The state constitution says that all Montanans are entitled to a clean and healthful environment. When fossil fuel companies drill into the land, polluting the air and water, they disregard what science has been telling us for decades about dangers to the environment.”

“What do we need to do?”

“We should sign up as plaintiffs, to explain in court how climate change has harmed us, then talk about our fears for the future. We’ll tell our lawyer, Janet Olsen, what disasters might occur if we don’t act soon.”

“You’ve convinced me, Nora. I’ll join!”

“Your story is much more persuasive than mine, Rachel. Your ranch has come close to being destroyed by wildfires! Why don’t you represent our group and I’ll give interviews to the press? We’ll work together to win this case!”

Rachel, Nora, and fourteen other teens join the lawsuit against the State of Montana.

***

While Janet Olsen prepares arguments for the trial, Nora gives interviews to the press. Articles soon appear in newspapers all over the country. TV news anchors speak of “the kids who are leading the way to save the US from climate catastrophe.”

Rachel Heller gives her name to the lawsuit, “Heller v. Montana,” since her story makes the strongest case for acting quickly.

After three long years, their lawsuit makes it to court―the first time in US history that a kids-led climate lawsuit goes to trial.

***

One hot June day in Helena, Montana, the trial begins.

Teens stand up in court one after another to tell the judge how climate change is harming them.

Sara, sixteen, says that her life as a member of the Diné Tribe is completely tied to nature.

“We tell many stories to our people,” Sara says. “We can only tell a Coyote story if there is snow on the ground. But the time left to share these stories is getting shorter, with so little snow in winter. What will happen to our stories when there is no more snow?”

Lilian, from the Crow Tribe, speaks about a summer tradition, Crow Fair, with its rodeo, traditional dances, and parades. Because of intense heat, the fair was cancelled this year.

“If you miss Crow Fair, you’ve missed something that’s part of your identity,” Lilian says. “We’re taught that we have three mothers: your natural mother, your home, and Mother Earth. Taking care of all three is our responsibility.”

Rachel, Nora and others stand up and talk about the harm caused by climate change.

The judge thanks everyone for their testimony.

***

One day in July, the judge announces that she has reached a verdict. All sixteen plaintiffs file into the court and nervously sit down.

The judge reads: “We find the plaintiffs’ arguments for protecting Montana from the harmful effects of climate change to be convincing. We rule in favor of the sixteen plaintiffs.”

Loud cheers and applause greet the children as they leave the courthouse. Nora and Rachel lift their fists, crying, “We are heard! We are heard!”

Rachel later says to Nora, “We can’t save the planet by ourselves, but we took a first step. Others will follow.”                             

—Joyce Lazarus, Ph.D., Massachusetts. is a retired French professor and an author of a number of books.  A grandmother to three children, Joyce has also published several children’s stories. She adds: “I feel inspired by my three grandchildren, and am concerned about the growing climate crisis that their generation will face.  My hope is that young people, like the characters in this story, will find ways to mitigate the threat of climate change, to protect and preserve our precious Earth… My aim in writing this story is to show young people that they can help make a difference by recognizing that they are stewards of the environment.”

* Our Children’s Trust is a national nonprofit based in Eugene, Oregon. Their mission statement reads: “Our Children’s Trust is a non-profit public interest law firm that provides strategic, campaign-based legal services to youth from diverse backgrounds to secure their legal rights to a safe climate. We work to protect the Earth’s climate system for present and future generations by representing young people in global legal efforts to secure their binding and enforceable legal rights to a healthy atmosphere and stable climate, based on the best available science.
“We support our youth clients and amplify their voices before the third branch of government in a highly strategic legal campaign that includes targeted media, education, and public engagement work to support the youths’ legal actions. Our legal work—guided by constitutional, public trust, human rights laws and the laws of nature—aims to ensure systemic and science-based climate recovery planning and remedies at federal, state, and global levels.”
To learn more about them, please visit: https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org