YOUTH v GOV is the story of America’s youth taking on the world’s most powerful government, filing a ground-breaking lawsuit against the U.S. government. They assert it has willfully acted over six decades to create the climate crisis, thus endangering their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property.
The Juliana plaintiffs represent the diversity of America’s youth impacted by the climate crisis. Hailing from across the country, they encompass cultural, economic racial, and geographic diversity, with many from marginalized communities, and their stories are universal. Their diversity speaks not only to the impacts of climate change but to the inclusion required if we are to build a better, more just future together. If these young people are successful, they will not only make history, they will change the future.
As leaders in the youth climate movement, the twenty-one plaintiffs of Juliana v. The United States of America represent the diversity of American youth impacted by the climate crisis. They hail from 10 states: Florida, Alaska, Hawaii, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Louisiana, and New York. These film characters encompass cultural, economic, and geographic diversity and many come from marginalized communities, serving as beacons of hope for those who do not have a platform to share their own stories. They are African-American, Indigenous, white, biracial, and LGBTQ and their diversity speaks not only to the impacts of climate change but to the inclusion required if we are to build a better and more just future together. These young people are activists, students, artists, musicians, and farmers, and their stories are universal.
