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To the editor:
Governments at all levels have a responsibility to protect the environment. Elected officials become trustees of the people and have a fiduciary duty to protect Nature’s Trust. Nature’s Trust is the environmental service and resource we all depend on.
If these trustees fail in their responsibilities, they will be held responsible for the destruction they enable. Two recent court decisions illustrate this point. Sixteen young people in Montana have successfully sued the state for passing a pro-fossil fuel bill that undermines their constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment.
The International Court of Human Rights has ruled in favor of 2,000 Swiss women who brought a lawsuit against the government for causing climate change that is harming their health and quality of life.
See below for numerous examples of courts holding local, state, national, and international governments accountable for environmental damage. trust in nature Written by law professor Mary Christina Wood.
Fossil fuel companies will also ultimately be held responsible for the harm they cause. Just as the tobacco, asbestos and herbicide industries were held responsible for the damage they caused. As global warming increases health and property claims, people will demand accountability from those responsible.
A local civic group, Citizens for a Sustainable Future, has spent months urging the Alexandria City Council to take meaningful action toward sustainability in the community. They looked down on us. They didn’t take climate science seriously.
Elected officials and corporate leaders take on additional responsibilities because their positions give them a greater ability to create change. Pollution must be regulated because companies rarely police it themselves. The fact that we have a hard time finding exceptions proves the rule.
Companies and elected officials will be held accountable in the future if they fail to act environmentally responsibly. It is everyone’s responsibility to protect the commons.
The climate is changing, so why isn’t it?
Brian Van Gorp
Alexandria, Minnesota
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