From Fighting America’s Climate Case to Lessons in Perú: A Youth Plaintiff’s Journey for Climate Justice
This Hispanic Heritage Month, we proudly highlight Sahara, one of the 21 youth plaintiffs in the constitutional climate lawsuit Juliana v. United States. Sahara is also a college student studying abroad in Cusco, Perú, and in the Q&A below, she shares her perspective on being a youth plaintiff in America’s Climate Case and the climate challenges facing Cusco’s communities.
Fossil Fuels Come for The Greatest Snow on Earth
For more than sixty years, Utah’s “white gold” has been considered “the greatest snow on Earth”, with numerous ski areas and an Olympics to back up the claim(1). This snow, when it melts, supplies about 70% of the water to the Great Salt Lake(2). And the Great Salt Lake contributes ~$2.5 billion to Utah’s economy and supplies additional moisture to the mountains to make “the greatest snow on Earth”(3). In addition, the lake supports ~80% of Utah’s wetlands, provides for over 10 million migratory birds a year, and hosts 350 bird species(4).
The Last Frontier Places First in the U.S. Warming Derby
Thoughts of Alaska bring to my mind massive glaciers (the largest glaciers outside of the continental ice sheets), endless frozen ground to the horizon (called permafrost), towering mountains (the highest relief of any mountain on the planet), so much snow and avalanches, dark spruce forests, never-ending days in the boreal summer sun and never-ending winter nights lit by the aurora borealis, lazy brown bears, mad moose cows with their quirky calves, clumsy caribou, cold streams choked with salmon, coastal waters teaming with food, huckleberries, and more lazy brown bears (haven’t seen a polar bear in Alaska, yet…). You know, the last frontier.