Alan Journet, Cofacilitator, Southern Oregon Climate Action Now

On Tuesday April 27th, at 6:00 pm in the Medford Public Library, SOCAN will screen the video documentary Youth v Gov which covers the historic effort by 21 youth, led by Eugene’s Kelsey Juliana and supported by Our Children’s Trust, to sue the United States Government for not addressing the climate crisis by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.. The video documentary Youth v Gov documents this story from its inception in 2015 through 2020. Much has happened since then. This blog post presents a brief background and discusses what has happened since then….

Background

An ancient principle with roots in Roman Law, the Public Trust Doctrine (PTD) asserts that sovereigns and governments have a duty to manage natural resources for the ongoing benefit of the public (e.g., Quirke 2016). Though applying mainly to water resources, recent efforts have sought to expand this PTD to include natural resources, especially those impacted by climate change (NALC undated). This doctrine could reasonably be interpreted as an early recognition of the importance of applying sustainability principles to the management of our natural resources.

In 2010, the Eugene-based public interest law firm, Our Children’s Trust (OCT), was founded by current co-Executive Director Julia Olson. In Olson’s words, its mission was “to provide legal representation to young people in lawsuits against government entities for actions causing and worsening climate change….” (Olson 2025). Since then, OCT has assisted our youth in seeking judicial application of this doctrine in defense of their future. This effort has involved suits brought by young Americans against state and federal governments for not applying laws that exist and would, if applied, defend our natural resources against their abuse and excessive exploitation.  Juliana v United States is probably the OCT flagship suit, but they have been engaged in others (see below)

In 2015, OCT assisted 21 young Americans in filing suit against the U.S. Government. Their complaint asserted (OCT 2025a) that “…through the government’s affirmative actions that cause climate change, it has violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, as well as failed to protect essential public trust resources.”

Christi Cooper’s 2020 film, Youth V Gov shows how Our Children’s Trust and the young plaintiffs have, through the case known as Juliana versus the United States of America, sought to require the world’s most powerful government to remedy actions it has allowed that have created and continue to create the climate crisis.

Of particular interest is that 15 of the plaintiffs have now filed suit against the U.S. for Human Rights Violations at the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (OCT 2025b). In their petition, they accuse the U.S. of violating their fundamental human rights stating: “For more than five decades, their government has knowingly violated their substantive rights by perpetuating fossil fuel-driven climate destruction. For the past decade, it has violated their procedural rights by taking extraordinary measures to block their access to justice and preventing their case from being heard in court.”

As Ochenski (2024) noted, the Montana constitution provides an “inalienable right to a clean and healthful environment” in Montana for “present and future generations.” 

In Held vs State of Montana 16 Montana youth, supported by OCT, filed suit against a bill passed by the Montana House  that precluded consideration of climate change in the application of the Montana Environmental Policy Act. The plaintiffs sought to overturn that law as unconstitutional.  

When Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Kathy Seeley ruled on the case (August 2023), Miller (2023) reported the outcome as follows: “The State of Montana’s failure to consider greenhouse gas emissions from energy and mining projects violates the state constitution because it does not protect Montanans’ right to a clean and healthful environment and the state’s natural resources from unreasonable depletion, a judge ruled Monday in a victory for 16 youth plaintiffs who sued the state.”

Inevitably, the state appealed the Seely decision, to the state Supreme Court. In a 70-page decision, that court affirmed, as reported by Drew and Miller (2024) “that the youth plaintiffs have a “fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.”” 

Unsurprisingly, the state has been tardy in complying with the Supreme Court ruling, so thirteen of the original plaintiffs are now returning to the state Supreme Court seeking enforcement of their historic victory (OCT 2025c).

Article 11, Section 9 of the Hawai’i Constitution deals with Environmental Rights (Justia undated). Among other requirements, it states “Each person has the right to a clean and healthful environment, as defined by laws relating to environmental quality, including control of pollution and conservation, protection and enhancement of natural resources.” In June 2022, 13 Hawai’i Children of the land (Keiki o ka ‘āina) took to the courts to require the state Department of Transportation to decarbonize its transportation system in accordance with the demands of the constitution. Echoing the Public Trust Doctrine, the youth argued that the state should acknowledge its responsibility to future generations by achieving a zero emissions transportation sector by 2045

While the outcomes of court cases, and the reasoning for judicial decisions are always complex and nuanced, there seems to be a track record of the courts and government agencies being much more sensitive to the claims that our youth make when the state constitution clearly incorporates the concept that residents have the right to a safe and healthy environment. than when that is absent.”  

In recognition of the profound role a constitutional guarantee to a healthy environment can have on the ability of Oregonians to insist that the state government enforce the laws that exist, The Oregon Coalition for an Environmental Rights Amendment, of which SOCAN is a member, is seeking to amend the Oregon Constitution, which currently doesn’t include such a provision, to include it. The goal is to include in the 2028 state General Election a Ballot Measure appropriately amending the Oregon Constitution.

Sources Cited:

• Drew M, and Miller B. 2024 Montana Supreme Court affirms decision in Held, historic youth climate case. Florida Phoenix https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/12/19/montana-supreme-court-affirms-decision-in-held-historic-youth-climate-case/  
• Justia undated.  Article 11 Conservation, Control  and Development of Resources Justia U.S. Law. https://law.justia.com/constitution/hawaii/conart11.html  
• Miller B. 2023. Judge sides with youth in Montana climate change trial, finds two laws unconstitutional. Daily Montanan https://dailymontanan.com/2023/08/14/judge-sides-with-youth-in-montana-climate-change-trial-finds-two-laws-unconstitutional/
• NALC. Undated. The Public Domain: Basics of the Public Trust Doctrine The Public. The National Agricultural Law Center. https://nationalaglawcenter.org/the-public-domain-basics-of-the-public-trust-doctrine/
• Ochenski G. 2024 ‘Clean and healthful environment’ is the Supreme Court’s gift to ‘present and future generations’ Daily Montanan. https://dailymontanan.com/2024/12/20/clean-and-healthful-environment-is-the-supreme-courts-gift-to-present-and-future-generations/  
• OCT 2025a. Julians v United States. Our Children’s Trust. https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/juliana-v-us
• OCT 2025b Former Juliana Plaintiffs File Petition Against U.S. for Human Rights Violations at the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. Our Children’s Trust. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/655a2d016eb74e41dc292ed5/t/68d54d9c059c000cb506442f/1758809500144/2025.09.22.JulianaPetitionPR.pdf  
• OCT 2025c Montana Youth Return to State Supreme Court to Enforce Landmark Climate Victory. Our Children’s Trust.  https://static1.squarespace.com/static/655a2d016eb74e41dc292ed5/t/6939966c7ded694a81f5fb10/1765381740684/2025.12.04.HeldIIPressRelease.pdf
• OCT 2025d HDOT Releases Multimodal Transportation Plan Advancing Navahine Climate Settlement Commitments. Our Children’s Trust. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/655a2d016eb74e41dc292ed5/t/68f249ec54532b4da90b70a2/1760709100607/2025-10-17+HDOT+Energy+and+Waste+Reduction+Plan+Statement+DRAFT.pdf
• Olson J. 2025. The Birth of Our Children’s Trust: A Mother’s Day to Remember. Our Children’s Trust.  https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/blog/the-birth-of-our-childrens-trust-a-mothers-day-to-remember
• Quirke D. 2016 The Public Trust Doctrine: A Primer.  University of Oregon School of Law. https://law.uoregon.edu/sites/default/files/mary-wood_0/mary-wood/PTD_primer_7-27-15_EK_revision.pdf