This Alaska Native Youth is Taking Her State Government to Court to Shut Down Alaska LNG Project and Protect Young People’s Rights to Safe Climate
May 31, 2024
Summer Sagoonick, lead plaintiff in Sagoonick v. State of Alaska II
Summer is a young Iñupiat Alaskan from Unalakleet, Alaska and the named plaintiff in the new youth-led constitutional climate lawsuit Sagoonick v. State of Alaska II, where she along with 7 other young Alaskan’s are taking their government to court over climate change. These young Alaskans are on the frontlines of the climate crisis and already experiencing serious harms to their health, safety, and access to natural resources they depend on, including for subsistence and cultural traditions. In their lawsuit, the youth plaintiffs are challenging the Alaska LNG Project, which would carry up to 3.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day and lock Alaska into fossil fuel dependence for another 30 years.
In a Q&A session with Summer, she shares what she loves about her home state, how the climate crisis is impacting her, what she hopes the lawsuit will accomplish and why it's important for her to take action and tell her story through the courts.
1. What do you love most about your home state?
For the 22 years that I have lived here, I have noticed the close connections that we have with not only the people, but the land that we live on. Over time, our people have worked to build knowledge on the vegetation, the mammals, and patterns of weather that surround us. This act of strength has helped excel the education that our future generations need to plant roots that will last for centuries to come.
2. How have you been impacted by climate change?
At a young age, we learn how to navigate our way around the land by important landmarks and use it to find the foods that we rely on for nutrition, diet, and a healthy lifestyle. As our water warms and the land erodes, it poses a threat to our sustainability in nourishment and dependency on our cultural practices.
3. What do you hope to accomplish with your lawsuit?
I hope to instill security and promise into our future, I hope that youth around Alaska and beyond could gain the courage to realize what their voice means to the world and what the future should and could be. It all begins with your passion and reason, without hope, we will not see the changes that we desperately need for the future.
4. What gives you hope?
Hope comes in many different forms, the ability to speak on my beliefs and true passions is only the beginning of what gives me hope. I am hopeful in my culture, in my traditions/practices, and in my future. Working with Our Children’s Trust has provided a strong sense of security and healthy influence to using my voice, and I am thrilled to see that there are many youths around the state of Alaska that understand what difference they can make. Having hope is a strength like no other, however, I would like to make it a reality.