From Calvin Ball to Climate Crisis: A Genesis Plaintiff’s Plea for Change
August 14, 2024
Genesis v. EPA youth plaintiff Maryam D. Photo by Robin Loznak
Maryam D. is a youth plaintiff in Genesis v. EPA. The excerpt below is from her declaration filed on August 12, 2024, in response to the defendant's motion to dismiss.
“I love my city, but I don’t know how much my city loves me.
I’m a young person of color and I don’t feel seen by leaders. Being Muslim and female already makes it harder to be listened to. Being young and not even of voting age, compounds my ability to make a difference and even be seen or listened to.
I’ve worked on national climate issues through phone banking trying to persuade voters. I sign climate petitions that relate to federal or U.S. policy. However, I don’t think I have power to influence policy on a national level or that my congressional representatives represent my interests. They don’t see me as a voter or someone who has real influence like through money contributions.
When I think about how the government’s discrimination of young people is affecting my future, it’s really sad and scary.
Every summer growing up my brother and I would play outside a game called “Calvin Ball” that we learned from the Calvin and Hobbes books. We loved playing that game outside in the summer months. Now, we are a little older and it keeps getting hotter, which keeps us inside more. We’ve stopped playing Calvin Ball. The fires and smoke are also really scary. I used to think we were safe from fires and big tropical storms, but now we aren’t. It’s worrisome to think where I live is not going to be even as it is right now for long. It’s going to keep getting worse.
Until the people who run our government and make decisions about fossil fuel pollution see that we are being treated differently than adults and it is harming my rights, and other kids’ rights, politicians will be able to keep doing the same thing, ignore me, and listen to adult voters who want to keep their fossil fuel appliances and cars and other things burning up my planet. I won’t feel like I can be free to live my life as a young person as long as this continues.”
Read Maryam’s full declaration here.