A remarkable case will be heard in federal appeals court in San Francisco today. A group of young people are suing the federal government, demanding action to protect the environment.

“The kids went to court because young people, present and future, will suffer most from the dangerous impacts of global warming, much worse than the wildfires, floods, hurricanes, droughts and rising seas we see today.

“The stakes are big. In their lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, the youngsters charge that the government is contributing to climate change by doing things like allowing coal and oil to be produced on public lands. They argue that a climate system capable of sustaining human life must be protected by the government as a public trust. But their most important argument – one that could take their case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court – is that the federal government’s failure to do enough about global warming will damage the planet so profoundly that it violates children’s constitutional rights to life and liberty.

“Based on those arguments, lower courts have allowed the case to proceed. A trial against the government is scheduled for next February, but President Trump and his Administration want to keep it from taking place.

“The kids filed their lawsuit when Barack Obama was president, even though he was doing more than any previous president stop global warming. President Donald Trump does not even believe that global warming is a problem, if it’s real at all, and he has been undoing all the climate-action initiatives President Obama put in place. That makes the lawsuit even more important and the federal government even more culpable.”

Despite the Trump administration’s well-known hostility to science, and especially to acknowledging the existence and causes of climate change, it did not block publication of a report prepared by more than a dozen federal agencies.

The Fourth National Climate Assessment concludes that human activities are the primary causes of climate change.

This assessment concludes, based on extensive evidence, that it is extremely likely that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century,” it says. “For the warming over the last century, there is no convincing alternative explanation supported by the extent of the observational evidence.”

The report is mandated by Congress, with three federal agencies — NOAA, NASA and the Department of Energy — coordinating its publication. It uses research from thousands of scientists around the world.

Another way to look at climate change: by the year 2070, Mar-a-Lago might be underwater.

Rick Perry, Secretary of the Department of Energy, said a few days ago when interviewed on Meet the Press that fossil fuels were a deterrent to sexual assaults. When the lights are on, he said, bad things are less likely to happen. When Perry accepted the offer to be Secretary of Energy, he thought that his job was to promote the sale of fossil fuels; he didn’t realize that the main job of the Secretary is to oversee the nation’s nuclear arsenal. But he is nonetheless promoting fossil fuels. Not the brightest bulb in the Cabinet. Wonder what powers that bulb?

Scott Pruitt, director of the Environmental Protection Agency, has announced that any scientist who receives a grant from the agency may not serve on an advisory panel. He says they have a conflict of interest.

However, representatives of the coal, oil, and gas industries may serve on these panels because they do not get grants to study the environmental effects of their activities.

Pruitt continues as a faithful servant of the industries that pollute the environment.

The madness continues.

Trump names lobbyist for coal industry to be second in command at EPA.

To those who said there was no difference between Trump and Clinton, take note.

And take a deep breath, while you can. Before the air is so polluted that you can’t breathe.

I hope you can open this. It worked for me. It captures the near-apocalyptic moment we are in.

https://s2.washingtonpost.com/9c3c/59b3c9b2fe1ff671d4f277d5/Z2FyZGVuZHJAZ21haWwuY29t/15/29/2160de31454b787c80a706dd1b1faf11

The Gulf of Mexico sustains a large fishing and tourism industry. Not for long.

Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, wants to gut environmental protection regulations that prevent the dumping of toxic chemicals into the Gulf.

Pruitt sued the EPA a dozen times when he was attorney general of Oklahoma. Oklahoma now has so much fracking that fracking is blamed for extraordinary earthquakes in the state.

Fracking involves pumping chemicals into the earth to force the release of natural gas. What to do with the chemical waste? Pruitt says, dump it into the Gulf.

If you want to learn about fracking, see a film that was nominated for an zacademy Award called “Gasland.”

We are familiar with ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) model legislation to promote charter schools and vouchers, as well as to eliminate teachers’ unions.

The New York Times reported today that ALEC and the Koch brothers are working on behalf of the electric industry to block and reverse support for the rooftop solar power movement. When the public was concerned about over-reliance on fossil fuels, many states offered incentives for homeowners to install rooftop solar panels. Some allow homeowners to sell excess power back to utilities. The power industry wants to get rid of these incentives. And they are succeeding. In the Trump era, there is no form of progress that can’t be rolled back.