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- Currently in San Francisco — June 13, 2023: Cloudy morning with some sun coming through in the afternoon
Currently in San Francisco — June 13, 2023: Cloudy morning with some sun coming through in the afternoon
Plus, 16 kids are suing the government to protect their future.
Eric Holthaus & Priya Shukla
June 12, 2023
The weather, currently.
Cloudy morning with some sun coming through in the afternoon
Despite the rain abating, the resurrected Tulare Lake continues to overwhelm prized farmlands. Recently, a journalist and photographer paddled from Tulare Lake to San Francisco Bay to follow the connection between the two bodies of water. En route, they encountered gunfire, sheriff’s reminding them they were on private land (despite the mass of water covering it), and bluffs. A full feature on this trip will be in Outside magazine next year.
What you need to know, currently.
The first climate-related constitutional court case in US history to go to trial got underway on Monday in Helena, Montana.
Though Montana’s Republican-led government has repeatedly tried to block it, the case brought by 16 youth plaintiffs from the state alleges that approving fossil fuel projects violates their constitutional right to a safe environment.
Inside the courtroom for the start of a two-week youth climate trial - the first ever in a constitutional climate case in the US. These youth plaintiffs sitting in the first row are making history #youthvgov#climatelitigation#HeldMakesHistory
— Dana Drugmand (@Dana_Drugmand)
2:48 PM • Jun 12, 2023
The case isn’t an isolated one, it’s part of a concerted years-long effort led by Our Childrens Trust, a group of lawyers dedicated to supporting youth and their right to a safe environment around the world. A second constitutional court case, and the first in the world to take on systemic funding of fossil-intensive transportation network, goes to trial in Hawaii later this year.
For more on the Hawaii case, here’s climate reporter Dana Drugmand:
The stakes for climate trials like these are not just philosophical. Kaliko T., one of the younger plaintiffs in the lawsuit, already has felt firsthand the effects of a destabilizing climate. In 2018, Tropical Storm Olivia’s heavy rainfall caused flash flooding that destroyed her family’s home, an extreme weather occurrence expected to become increasingly common in Hawaii under climate change projections.
“I am glad that my story is helping to advance climate action in Hawaiʻi. I don’t want anyone else to suffer the way I and my family have,” she said in a statement.
Dana Drugmand
Montana and Hawaii are two states that enshrine the right to a safe environment in their constitutions. If these cases are successful, they could pave the way for a future federal constitutional claim to a right to a stable climate, under the Due Process clause of the Fifth Amendment.
-Eric Holthaus
What you can do, currently.
Welcome to the new-and-improved Currently!
If you’re a big fan of Currently, please share us with a friend! Our brand-new referral program is a way to give our biggest fans direct ownership of our company. We are the first weather service in the world to do this, and we’ll have much more in the coming days on our hopes and dreams for member-ownership, as well as Currently as a whole.
Thank you for taking this exciting journey with us!
—Eric Holthaus