Youth Climate Courts : How You Can Host a Human Rights Trial for People and Planet

"This book focuses on Youth Climate Courts, a bold new tool that young people in their teens to mid-twenties can use to compel their local city or county government to live up to its human rights obligations, formally acknowledge the climate crisis, and take major steps to address it. Tom Kerns shows how youth climate leaders can form their own local Youth Climate Court, with youth judges, youth prosecuting attorneys and youth jury members and put their local city or county government on trial for not meeting its human rights obligations. Kerns describes how a Youth Climate Court works, how to start one, what human rights are, what they require of local governments, and what governmental changes a Youth Climate Court can realistically hope to accomplish. The book offers young activists a brand new, user-friendly, cost-free, barrier-free, powerful tool for forcing local governments to come to terms with their obligation to protect the rights of their citizens with respect to the climate crisis. This book offers a unique new tool to young climate activists desperate for genuinely effective ways to directly move governments to aggressively address the climate crisis"-- Provided by publisher Cover Endorsement Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents Acknowledgments Dear Reader Introduction Premises The Plight of the Young Brief Overview of Youth Climate Courts Purposes of Youth Climate Courts How to Read this Book Notes 1 How Does a Youth Climate Court Work? Why Conduct a Youth Climate Court? Whom Should Youth Courts Put on Trial? Roles of the Youth Climate Court Team The Youth Judge The Question to Be Decided The Youth Prosecuting Team The Youth Liaison for the Government Representative to the Court Youth Jury Members Media Organizer (For News Reporters, Bloggers, Social Media Outlets, etc.) Video-Recording Organizer Adult Advisor or Mentor? But Will Governments Even Show Up? Youth Climate Courts’ Teeth The Prosecutor’s Argument The Verdict If Not Guilty If Guilty Issuing a Mandate Mandate Options Restorative Justice Process Climate Emergency and Climate Action Plan Climate-in-all-policies Rule Formally Endorse and Promote the Declaration on Human Rights and Climate Change Add Climate Language or Amendment to Founding Document Divest City or County Investments From Fossil Fuel Corporations Artistic Installations Any Combination of the Above Climate Emergency Declarations Climate Action Plans International Coalition of Youth Courts Basic Steps in the Process of Developing a Youth Climate Court Adaptable, Flexible, Malleable, Innovative Notes 2 What Are Human Rights? What Are Human Rights? Modern History of Human Rights Human Rights as Moral and Legal Standards Why Human Rights? The Purpose of Governments Human Rights Obligations of Governments Tools Available in Human Rights Advocacy Telling the Story Claiming Moral Authority With Human Rights Assessments, Reports, Tribunal and Inquiry Findings Exercising Moral Power: Inquiries, Tribunals, and Youth Climate Courts The Power of the Moral Notes 3 Which Specific Human Rights? Environmental Justice Right to Life Right to Health Right to an Adequate Standard of Living Right to Food Right to Water and Sanitation Rights of the Child Rights of Vulnerable Populations The Right of Indigenous Peoples to Own, Use, Develop, and Control Traditional Lands and Water Right to a Healthy Environment Human Rights Documents Notes Coda: Youth Interventions for an Addicted World Notes Appendices Appendix I: The Declaration on Human Rights and Climate Change Preamble The Following Principles Are Declared Appendix II: The Restorative Justice Only Option Appendix III: A Note on Rights of Nature Appendix IV: Measures That Local Governments Should Consider Including in Their Climate Action Plans Appendix V: Potential Risks to Youth Organizers? This book focuses on Youth Climate Courts, a bold new tool that young people in their teens and twenties can use to compel their local city or county government to live up to its human rights obligations, formally acknowledge the climate crisis, and take major steps to address it. Tom Kerns shows how youth climate leaders can form their own local Youth Climate Court, with youth judges, youth prosecuting attorneys, and youth jury members, and put their local city or county government on trial for not meeting its human rights obligations. Kerns describes how a Youth Climate Court works, how to start one, what human rights are, what they require of local governments, and what governmental changes a Youth Climate Court can realistically hope to accomplish. The book offers young activists a brand new, user-friendly, cost-free, barrier-free, powerful tool for forcing local governments to come to terms with their obligation to protect the rights of their citizens with respect to the climate crisis. This book offers a unique new tool to young climate activists hungry for genuinely effective ways to directly move governments to aggressively address the climate crisis.