One week after announcing his decision to run against Bill Nelson for Florida’s Senate seat during this years mid-term election, Rick Scott has once again found himself at odds with Florida’s youth. Eight kids, ranging from 10 to 19 years old sued the State of Florida and it’s climate change denying governor over failing to keep them safe from the impacts of global warming. Florida is one of the most vulnerable regions on earth for sea level rise, saltwater intrusion, storm surge and hurricanes.
Rick Scott became a national laughing stock back in 2015 when he banned the words climate change and global warming for employees of the Department of Environmental Protection. He also ducks questions on the impacts of rising sea levels to Florida’s thousand miles of coastline by stating that “I’m not a scientist”.
The eight students are teaming with Our Children’s Trust, which is an “Oregon based advocacy group that has filed lawsuits in multiple states — and one against the federal government — to force reluctant politicians to enact climate recovery policies”.
The lawsuit filed Monday is the latest in a wave of legal cases filed by children against states and the federal government that accuse government of depriving them of the fundamental right to a stable climate.
The Florida plaintiffs accuse the state of violating their constitutional rights by "perpetuating an energy system that is based on fossil fuels."
"The plaintiffs are asking the state of Florida to adhere to its legal and moral obligation to protect current and future generations from the intensifying impacts of climate change," the group said in a statement.
Their lawsuit asks that state officials "prepare and implement an enforceable comprehensive" plan to phase out fossil fuel use and "draw down excess atmospheric CO2 through forest and soil protection so as to stabilize the climate system."
In an editorial, Broward County’s Sun-Sentinel gave a shout out to the kids from Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School where their righteous indignation and activism at senseless gun violence forced Gov Scott, and the gerrymandered Republican legislature to pass new gun laws for the first time in decades. These same kids also helped organize and lead hundreds of thousands of protesters in the march in Washington demanding sane gun legislation. Now, new young Florida climate activists receive kudos for their movement to protect their lives from the greatest threat that humanity has ever faced.
“Without a stable climate system, everything we care about is at risk,” said Oscar Psychas, a college student from Gainesville.
The lawsuit targets Scott and other state leaders, including Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who’s running to be our next governor.
Scott’s office responded by questioning the motives of those who filed the lawsuit and highlighting the $4 billion in environmental spending in the state budget. He failed to mention, however, that a 2014 constitutional amendment — approved by 75 percent of Florida voters — forces the state to dedicate a share of real-estate sales taxes to acquiring and restoring conservation and recreation lands.
In truth, it took a constitutional amendment to force Scott and legislative leaders to restore funding for water and land conservation. Even then, their first response was to spend the money on salaries and expenses at state agencies like the Forestry Service. It took a lawsuit to get them to uphold the Florida Constitution and spend the money as intended.
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