Children and climate

Do children have the right to a sustainable future? Children believe they do. Many are aware of the climate-change threat to the world they will inherit and wonder why their future isn’t being protected. Jayden Foytlin, 13, became aware of climate change at age 7: “I always thought, ‘Oh, there are people who will handle it.’ [But as the years passed] I noticed that nothing was getting better” (quoted in Winter 2016 Audubon magazine story by Molly Bennet).

Jayden learned about Our Children’s Trust (OCT), and decided to take action. She and 20 other children from around our country, with the help of OCT, filed a civil suit that accuses the government of failing to protect future generations from the impacts of climate change. OCT is an Oregon-based, youth-driven nonprofit organization whose goal is to secure the legal right to a stable climate and healthy atmosphere (www.ourchildrenstrust.org).

Children should not have to fight for the right to a livable planet alone. Parents and adults can support their struggle by backing the Carbon Fee and Dividend policy proposed by Citizens Climate Lobby. This effective solution proposes a fee placed on fossil fuels at the source; 100 percent of the net fees are returned to American households on an equal basis. A border tariff adjustment is placed on goods imported from, or exported to, countries without an equivalent price on carbon. Details of the proposal can be found at www.citizensclimatelobby.org. This Carbon Fee and Dividend is successfully working in British Columbia, Canada.

Children do have the right to a sustainable future. We all can help defend that right by supporting the Carbon Fee and Dividend proposal. ROBERT J. PEKEL

Rogers