LWVUS Endorses Children’s Fundamental Rights and Climate Recovery Resolution

LWVUS stood with Members of Congress and the Children’s Fundamental Rights and Climate Recovery Resolution as it was introduced on September 23, 2020. Our letter of support builds on our amicus brief for the Julianna plaintiffs to call for bold and comprehensive climate action on behalf of our nation’s children. Vulnerable communities, transitioning economies, and the rest of the country need a clear climate recovery plan in order to protect the fundamental rights of young people and future generations.

September 22, 2020  

RE: Children’s Fundamental Rights and Climate Recovery Resolution  

Dear Representatives Schakowsky, Jayapal, and Rush and Senators Merkley, Booker, and Markey:  

On behalf of our thousands of members in Leagues across the country, the League of Women Voters of the United States supports the Children’s Fundamental Rights and Climate Recovery Resolution, which will be introduced tomorrow in the U.S. House and Senate. In recognition of the disproportionate impact of climate change on youth and future generations, this resolution demands that our nation develops a national, just, comprehensive, and science-based climate recovery plan. This legislation will be introduced by Representatives Schakowsky, Jayapal, and Rush in the U.S. House and by Senators Merkley, Booker and Markey in the U.S. Senate and has support from 49 leading climate, health, children’s, and human rights organizations.   

With the backdrop of orange skies and unlivable air quality indices caused by western wildfires, the resolution recognizes our current human-caused climate crisis and the hazards it poses to children’s health and futures. In order to uphold children’s fundamental rights, the resolution mandates that the United States develop and implement a bold and comprehensive climate recovery plan. This plan must put the nation on a trajectory consistent with reducing global atmospheric carbon dioxide to below 350 parts per million by the year 2100.   

For decades, the League of Women Voters has supported the stewardship and conservation of lands and natural resources. But younger generations are calling on us to go further; to repair the harm done by human-caused climate change and protect their freedoms and futures. The League of Women Voters stands ready to follow the leadership of young people in demanding a just climate recovery plan that prioritizes those most impacted; including indigenous peoples, communities of color, and working-class families caught in economic transition. The Children’s Fundamental Rights and Climate Recovery Resolution calls for bold and comprehensive action. Anything less would constitute neglect of future generations’ constitutional rights.  

The League of Women Voters strongly endorses this legislation and encourages all members of the U.S. House and Senate to support the legislation when it is introduced.  

Sincerely,

Virginia Kase 
CEO 
League of Women Voters of the United States