Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

Our Children‚ Trust is the only 501(c)(3) nonprofit public interest law firm in the world dedicated exclusively to providing strategic, science-based legal services to youth from diverse backgrounds to secure the legal right to a safe climate. 

Our mission ‚ guided by constitutional and human rights laws, and the laws of nature ‚ is to achieve legal protection of the right to a safe climate and court ordered guidelines returning atmospheric CO2 concentrations to levels below 350 ppm by the year 2100: the scientific prescription for a safe climate. 

Since our founding in 2010 by ourExecutive Director Julia Olson, we have secured multiple judicial opinions in our favor that are forming a brand-new body of critical climate jurisprudence. Our cases have touched every level of the U.S. federal and state courts, and all levels of courts in other nations. Today, our cases continue to advance and our momentum is strong.

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How Project Affects Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions:

Replaces/avoids GHGs (e.g., projects that replace sources of GHGs, such as the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, transport, or other energy uses), Reduces GHGs (e.g., projects that reduce sources of GHGs, such as through efficiency or other changes in consumption), Removes/stores GHGs (e.g., projects that capture, sequester, or otherwise enhance the "sinks" that accumulate and store GHGs)

Best Estimate of GHG Avoidance/Reduction of This Project (Tonnes CO2 Equivalent/Year):

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

Initially, we are a woman-founded and women-led organization. 

But more importantly, the climate crisis impacts everyone, racial wealth disparities, but the climate crisis is much more harmful for BIPOC individuals and communities. 

Systemic factors make communities of color more vulnerable to the climate crisis. According to the American Public Health Association (APHA), BIPOC communities are more likely to experience pre-existing health conditions and poor living conditions than their white counterparts. And a lack of power and representation in political and economic systems makes it difficult for these communities to build climate resilience, or the ability to prepare and respond to extreme events that occur due to the climate crisis.
The pervasive racial wealth gap makes it harder to make sure the climate crisis solutions are distributed equitably. 

At Our Children‚ Trust, we believe that inclusive solutions to the climate crisis must increase the climate resilience of marginalized communities at risk, who should be included in proposed solutions.

The youth plaintiffs we represent ‚ and whose voices and stories we amplify ‚ are highly diverse in regards to race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, gender identity, and sexual orientation; 25% identify as Indigenous, Native, or as a Tribal member. 

The stories and perspectives of our plaintiffs and their communities are the core of our lawsuits and describe front-line climate impacts. The consequences of these impacts provide the basis for the claims in each case and the youth plaintiffs, alongside their diverse communities, guide the decision making in all of our cases.

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