{"id":1586288,"date":"2022-08-03T07:46:10","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T11:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1586288"},"modified":"2022-08-03T07:46:35","modified_gmt":"2022-08-03T11:46:35","slug":"climate-activists-are-using-kids-to-wage-a-legal-war-over-fossil-fuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/climate-activists-are-using-kids-to-wage-a-legal-war-over-fossil-fuels\/","title":{"rendered":"Climate Activists Are Using Kids To Wage A Legal War Over Fossil Fuels"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fclimate-activists-are-using-kids-to-wage-a-legal-war-over-fossil-fuels%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1586288&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Decades of catastrophic claims about climate change have terrorized generations into believing the planet will be uninhabitable by the time they have their own children. Today\u2019s young people are no different.<\/p>\n<p>In 1970, North Texas State University Professor Peter Gunter predicted that \u201cby the year 2000 \u2026  the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine.\u201d But 50 years later, that\u2019s just not the case.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"ssAJVKdWxB0FtcCgJRP7rZ8GRzCc3wzkZOLf3U9Gorh4hQ52ImiS96WpbDk4TlTqEaA\"><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;By the year 2000\u2026 the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>\u2014Peter Gunter, North Texas State University professor, 1970<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Catastrophizing?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Catastrophizing<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/eG8M3JVARg\">pic.twitter.com\/eG8M3JVARg<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Alex Epstein (@AlexEpstein) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AlexEpstein\/status\/1541768533004148738?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 28, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Also in 1970, Harvard Biologist George Wald prophesied that \u201ccivilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.\u201d Obviously, it hasn\u2019t. In fact, here are <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/09\/25\/here-are-a-bunch-of-charts-that-prove-the-world-is-better-than-ever\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">29 charts<\/a> showing the world has been better than ever.  <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"tKSiSjQilAuEVRpBeQZBNJw9cm7WC8dDFLOflaPZa7GtjAquk1fhyh1WyvH5goXOzv6GDVb5mEnIKs02c86xrJUMgrkd9wTI2P0\"><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u2014George Wald, Harvard biologist, 1970<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Catastrophizing?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Catastrophizing<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Alex Epstein (@AlexEpstein) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AlexEpstein\/status\/1542855928764039169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 1, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In 2008, former Vice President Al Gore warned there was a \u201c75 percent chance that the entire north polar ice cap\u201d would be completely erased during the summer months \u201cwithin the next five to seven years.\u201d Except ice is covering more of the Arctic this year than it did in 2012, <a href=\"http:\/\/nsidc.org\/arcticseaicenews\/\">according<\/a> to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><\/figure>\n<p>The endless \u201ccatastrophizing,\u201d as it has been described by Alex Epstein, who outlines the years of hysteria in his book \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Fossil-Future-Flourishing-Requires-Gas-Not-ebook\/dp\/B098M3Y7VC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Fossil Future<\/a>,\u201d has left today\u2019s young people crippled with \u201cclimate anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In December, The Lancet published a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lanplh\/article\/PIIS2542-5196(21)00278-3\/fulltext\">study<\/a> from a team of nine researchers including psychologists, environmental scientists, and psychiatrists who surveyed 10,000 people aged 16 to 25 about their anxiety related to climate change and their governments\u2019 response. Seventy-five percent of those surveyed across 10 different countries reported feeling the \u201cfuture is frightening.\u201d Researchers reported nearly half of all participants said their \u201cfeelings about climate change negatively affected their daily life and functioning.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>The study also showed fewer and fewer young people willing to reproduce, reportedly out of fear of climate change. Nearly 40 percent reported that their anxiety about the climate made them \u201chesitant to have children.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/morningconsult.com\/2020\/09\/28\/adults-children-climate-change-polling\/\">According<\/a> to a 2020 survey from the Morning Consult, 1 in 4 adults cited climate change as their reason to remain childless. While children are often depicted as environmental burdens, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/06\/25\/biden-land-management-nominee-is-an-ecoterrorist-who-demanded-chinese-style-child-cap\/\">including<\/a> by current Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning in her graduate thesis, population decline <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/03\/13\/dear-david-frum-u-s-population-growth-not-problem-solution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">itself is a major long-term problem <\/a>facing future generations.<\/p>\n<p>But now, today\u2019s kids inundated with incessant catastrophizing by reporters who themselves grew up with prophetic warnings about the \u201cclimate crisis\u201d are launching lawsuits.<\/p>\n<p>In February, the first youth-led lawsuit over climate change will go to trial as 16 plaintiffs sue Montana over the government\u2019s promotion of fossil fuels. The Oregon-based environmental legal group \u201cOur Children\u2019s Trust\u201d co-opted Montana teens in <em>Held v. State of Montana <\/em>to strong-arm Helena into eliminating fossil fuels as a centerpiece of the state\u2019s energy policy.<\/p>\n<p>Coverage of the lawsuit has been predictable cheerleading with a spotlight on the anxieties young people face from weather. An April write-up from the Guardian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2022\/apr\/13\/young-people-montana-fossil-fuels-climate-crisis\">headlined<\/a> \u201cFossil fuels v. our future: young Montanans wage historic climate fight,\u201d was published under the \u201cClimate crimes\u201d section of the British paper. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 16 young people, who were between the ages of two and 18 when they filed the lawsiut in March 2020, have already felt the impacts of climate change,\u201d the Guardian reported. \u201cAs these environmental consequences mount, young people have emerged as a leading force in the climate activism movement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Their lawsuit seeks to undermine Montana\u2019s lucrative fossil fuel industry, asserting that emissions violate the right to a clean environment guaranteed in the state constitution. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eia.gov\/state\/analysis.php?sid=MT\">According<\/a> to the Energy Information Administration, Montana is home to the \u201clargest estimated recoverable coal reserves among the states\u201d and provides 30 percent of the nation\u2019s coal. Even with six operating coal mines and four private coal plants, the state is also already a top 10 state when it comes to the use of renewables. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eia.gov\/state\/?sid=MT\">Fifty-two percent<\/a> of the electricity provided by Montana\u2019s power grid was generated by renewable energy. <\/p>\n<p>This summer, however, the Montana attorney general\u2019s office lost a motion before the state Supreme Court to dismiss the case now headed to trial this winter. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur Children\u2019s Trust is a special interest group that is exploiting well-intentioned kids \u2014 including a 4-year-old and an 8-year-old \u2014 to achieve its goal of shutting down responsible energy development in Montana,\u201d said Kyler Nerison, a spokesman for the attorney general\u2019s office, in a statement to The Federalist. \u201cUnable to implement their policies through our normal processes of representative government, these out-of-state climate activists are trying to use Montana\u2019s liberal courts to impose their authoritarian climate agenda on us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In its coverage of the suit, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/climate-change-lawsuit-kids-montana\/\">CBS News<\/a> quoted an anxiety-stricken activist who worries about having children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt best, they will grow up in an environment different than mine and with the same guilt and fear that I have about this issue,\u201d Grace Gibson-Snyder told CBS. \u201cAt worst, they will suffer directly from the fires and the floods and the famines. I think a lot of my peers are going through very similar things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Floods, fires and famines, however, are not new phenomena for the human race. In fact, nations today have adapted to handle environmental catastrophes far better than ever before in human history when people simply lived at the mercy of the elements. Climate-related deaths have dropped more than\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/reason.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/files\/deaths_from_extreme_weather_1900_2010.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">98 percent<\/a>\u00a0since 1900 despite higher emissions. Weather disaster-related damage also\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/climate-activists-disasters-fire-storms-deaths-change-cop26-glasgow-global-warming-11635973538\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">dropped<\/a>\u00a0from 0.26 percent of global GDP to 0.18 percent from 1990 to 2020 as nations develop with cheap, reliable energy offered by fossil fuels, which enables us to deal with severe weather events. <\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, if the kids wanted to sue anybody for future emissions, they might begin with Big Green interest groups working to eliminate nuclear power as a viable emissions-free alternative such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sierraclub.org\/nuclear-free\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sierra Club<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/04\/15\/apples-earth-day-initiative-demonizes-carbon-free-nuclear-power\/\">World Wildlife Fund<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/usa\/fighting-climate-chaos\/issues\/nuclear\/\">Greenpeace<\/a>. Unlike weather-dependent wind and solar technology, nuclear offers reliable, instantaneous, and environmentally sustainable energy for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.energy.gov\/ne\/articles\/3-reasons-why-nuclear-clean-and-sustainable\">fraction<\/a> of the acreage required to install panel and turbine farms.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Decades of catastrophic claims about climate change have terrorized generations into believing the planet will be uninhabitable by the time they have their own children. Today\u2019s young people are no<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1586288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1586288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1586288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1586288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1586288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}