Hear from those active in the climate justice movement with hosts Zanagee and Olivia and special guest Levi Draheim. Let’s talk about the need for all voices to join together in achieving justice.
Hear from those active in the climate justice movement with hosts Zanagee and Olivia and special guest Levi Draheim. Let’s talk about the need for all voices to join together in achieving justice.
You can learn more about Levi’s work by visiting: ourchildrenstrust.org/levi
And learn more about Juliana v. US by visiting: ourchildrenstrust.org/juliana-v-us
Other resources mentioned:
The Paris Agreement - https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement
The Children's Fundamental Rights and Climate Recovery Resolution - https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-concurrent-resolution/119/text
Check out A Kids Book About Climate Change: HERE
There’s other great guides on what climate is for kids! We like this guide from The New York Times: A Climate Change Guide for Kids
1 Point 5: A Kids Climate Justice Podcast
S1 EP4 Who is Involved in the Climate Justice Movement?
[INTRODUCTION]
Zanagee: Hi there and welcome to 1 Point 5: A Kids Podcast About Climate Justice! I’m Zanagee Artis.
Olivia: And I’m Olivia Greenspan.
Zanagee: And we believe that kids like you deserve a livable future.
Smart Speaker: A liveable future. This means a future where no one will have to worry if our planet is healthy enough for humans to live safe and happy lives.
Olivia: That’s Joanna. She’s our on-hand dictionary if we ever come to a word or phrase you might not know or understand already.
Zanagee: So, you already know that 1P5 is a show where we explore what is going on with our planet with experts of all sorts—scientists, youth activists, and other environmental leaders, friends in the movement, all these people that we're bringing together to talk about this one issue of the climate crisis.
And then there are people who have experienced this issue firsthand, who are sharing their firsthand knowledge of this.
Olivia: Yes! If you’ve been following along with One Point Five, you know all about what climate change is and how we got here. You’ll remember that in the first 3 episodes, we discussed what climate change is, what’s causing climate change, and how climate change is impacting humanity. But don’t worry—while listening to the episodes in order will help you build on your knowledge, you do not need to have listened to any prior episodes to listen to today’s show!
Zanagee: Awesome and so you know the basics. You know what climate change is and all about what’s causing it. And today, we’re going to shift gears a bit and explore what people are doing about climate change! And not just person—but what YOUNG people are doing to help stop climate change! And to do that, today we’re speaking with Levi Draheim, a thirteen year old climate activist and the youngest member of Juliana v. U.S.
Smart Speaker: Juliana v U.S. is a lawsuit in which 21 young people have taken the U.S. government to court for the government’s role in contributing to climate change. These young people claim that government-caused climate change has threatened the constitutional guarantee of the right to life, liberty, and property.
Zanagee: Joanna, you said the “constitutional guarantee to life, liberty, and property”. What’s that even mean?
Smart Speaker: “Constitutional” refers to the constitution of your state or federal government. A guarantee is a promise. Therefore a “constitutional guarantee” is a promise or protection made by your government to life, which is the health of everyone, liberty, everyone's freedom, and property, the things that everyone owns. So a “constitutional guarantee to life, liberty, and property” is a promise made by your government to protect your health, freedom, and the things you own, as well as the health and freedom of others, and the things that they own. This means that the U.S. government cannot harm current or future generation’s rights as laid out in the U.S. Constitution, the highest law of the land.
Olivia: Okay, okay. I’m understanding. So, according to this explanation, these 21 young people are suing the government for contributing to climate change, despite—and this is important—despite the government knowing about it for decades, and overall failing to protect the futures of young people and people not born yet.
Zanagee: Mmhm yes, okay. Everyone put on your seatbelts cause we’re getting on the knowledge roller coaster here. And Our conversation with Levi delves a bit deeper into the details of the Juliana lawsuit, why Levi is hopef ul about the future, and whether there is room in the climate justice movement for kids of all types.
Olivia: Take it away, Zanagee!
[MEET THE GUEST]
Zanagee: Hi Levi. So we're so excited to have you on the show. Olivia and I are looking forward to digging into the amazing climate activism that you're doing right now, and that everything that you've been doing and for you to share with other kids and the adults in their lives, what's important to know about climate justice, but first, uh, we'd love for you to let the audience know more about yourself, who is Levi Draheim?
Levi: For sure. So my name is Levi Draheim. I am 13 years old. Um, I grew up in Indialantic, Florida, and I now live in Melbourne.
Olivia: Can you share a bit about your climate justice work and why addressing climate change is so important to you?
Levi: Addressing climate change is really important because, oh, I love nature. I love the world. I have a little baby sister who I want her to be able to see all the wonderful things that this world has to offer. And with climate change, I've had two years in a row. We had a mandatory evacuation where we had to pack up our stuff and leave the barrier island.
And it's really scary not knowing what would happen to our home. And so I don't want my baby sister to have to deal with that. So I've decided to Sue the United States government as a way to do that.
Zanagee: Why are you doing this case? Why is it so important for you for young people all over the world and for your baby sister, why are you suing the government and what is Juliana v U.S. all about?
Levi: Juliana v the United States was filed in 2015 and is the first federal constitutional climate change lawsuit and it's supported by some of the world's top experts. There's the documentary Youth Meet Gov, which features the story of all the plaintiffs, including me on a movie screen. And so there's 21 plaintiffs between the ages of 13 and 25, which is including 11 Black, brown, and indigenous youth. Basically a search that the executive branch of the government through its affirmative actions and creating a national energy system that causes climate change is violating our constitutional rights to life, liberty, property, and equal protection of the laws and is impairing our central public trust resources.
Olivia: Our podcast of course is called One Point Five, which is referencing The Paris Agreementt goal.
Can you share why the Juliana lawsuit and The Children's Fundamental Rights and Climate Recovery Resolution supports the more aggressive target of one degree Celsius?
Levi: Scientists say that global atmospheric CO2 concentrations must be reduced from over 415 parts per million to the low 350 parts per million by the year 2100.
And this is to stabilize our climate system. Um, and this will limit warming to one degree Celsius. Above pre-industrial temperatures. And, um, and like, this is what scientists have been saying and is needed to avoid catastrophic climate change impacts. So I, uh, experts have found tech technically feasible and economically feasible pathways to place.
All sectors of our economy on a path to reach, uh, 350 parts per million. So we're shooting for the best number possible. And the most that we can hope for is one degree Celsius.
Zanagee: It's so important to make demands that will really guarantee that we have a livable future and not, you know, put up these lofty goals that that might not, you know, that give us a percentage.
Right. And we want to guarantee as young people. So that's really great. Um, I'm also wondering, I guess, yeah. Got you figured out what the film, um, I know you all have done pressers, you've done rallies across the country. You're meeting with offices. Um, and what would you. Tell people, how can they support, um, as movement you have the resolution, um, you have the case that's going.
Yeah. What, what do you want supporters to do?
Levi: Fighting climate change might not be everybody's passion. It could be. Um, helping save polar bears or to help, to, um, to save some endangered species of raccoon or that's the first thing that popped in my head. And I don't know if there's an endangered species of raccoons. I'll often look into that.
Um, but it just is so important to find what is most important to you because if you're fighting for something that you're not really passionate about, then. It's not going to help. You need to find what you're most passionate about and find outlets that can help you to take action.
Olivia: I love that answer. One of the things we wrote about in A Kids Book About Climate Change is that everybody has special skills and talents that can be brought to the climate movement. And sometimes I think that that message isn't shared enough.
Zanagee: More from Levi Draheim when we return after this quick break.
[BREAK]
Zanagee: Welcome back to One Point Five, a Kids Podcast About Climate Justice. Let’s return to our interview with climate activist Levi Draheim and why he’s fighting for his right to a livable future.
Olivia: Of course, everyone here can agree that, youth perspectives are so important in the climate movement because, of course, youth are one of the groups most impacted by the climate crisis.
Could you share a bit about what it's like to be 13 and fighting for your right to a livable future?
Levi: So being 13 years old and having to literally fight for your life can be very stressful, but it's really important to know that you are making an impact.
You're making a difference because I want to be able to tell my children, grandchildren that I did everything I possibly could to fight for their future. And it's like, you have to balance out, I guess, is the biggest thing is balancing out fun and fighting for your life. You have to find things that are fun, but also don't interfere with fighting for your life. (And suing the United States government.)
I do a lot of sports. Well I did do a lot of sports. The season for sailing just ended and my swim team moved to a different pool that was too far away.
But so I do a lot of sports. I play with my sister, entertain her, find things that she likes to do. I go on lots of walks. I talked to our neighbors, help them out if they need help with anything. Do yard work. Just generally try to leave a kind of normal life on top of suing the United States government.
It can be rather difficult at times, but you have to figure it out cause suing the United States government is I guess, it's part of my identity. Now it's a part of me because I spent so long suing the United States government that it just is part of me.
Zanagee: I really agree with what you said. This is a fight for our lives. It's a fight for a guaranteed future and it's fight for survival.
And I'm wondering, do you feel heard by elected leaders? And of course that's very different from your court case, but I've been in meetings with you. I've had the pleasure of, um, supporting our children's trust in all of your work and senior baby sister and these meetings with congressional leaders.
And what is that like? Are people listening to young people?
Levi: So, I mean, it depends. I think sometimes individual people. Listen to what I have to say and what the youth have to say, but oh, but some people think that, oh, I'm just a kid and I don't know what I'm talking about. I just am trying to get media attention or things like that. I told them to look at the science.
Olivia: Of course, you've, I'm sure, experienced many ups and downs. You know, it's not all wins. Far from it. And I think it would be really helpful for the young people listening to share about a time where you felt defeated and how you've handled that.
Levi: I guess I mostly handle the hard things by remembering what I'm fighting for.
I'll go down to the beach and play in the water and think about how much fun it is and how beautiful place it is. And I want everybody to be able to do the kind of things that the world has to offer to experience: going to the beach or swimming with sharks or snorkeling, scuba diving. I want people to be able to do those kinds of things.
And it really helps to keep me motivated, getting to see all these beautiful places.
Olivia: So remembering why. Why you're fighting for climate justice in the first place.
Zanagee: Thinking about why we're fighting for the things that we are and thinking about the people who it'll impact is so important.
What gives you hope? And should kids who are listening to this be hopeful about a future without human-caused climate disasters?
Levi: What gives me hope is seeing all the young people coming together and for what they find important and hold dear to them.
And like looking at my baby sister. I mean, we call her “full of beans” cause she's constantly yelling or crawling around and she'll find something that she finds exciting cause everything's new to her. And I don't want her to not be able to see all the things that I've seen. I want her to be able to experience all these things.
And what gives me hope is that there's so many things and so many people who are fighting for the world because they know that it is so important to be able to keep these things that are so important to keeping things the planet alive. Kids that are listening to this should be hopeful about the future because there are so many of us fighting and the science is on our side.
You can't argue with science. We're going to win this lawsuit because we have science on our side.
Olivia: I love that we're going to win this lawsuit because science is on our side. Um, that is a really good touch point to remember that the science is on our side and ever increasingly.
It's great to hear how the thing that gives you hope as the other young people who are in this movement, but of course there's a lot more young people who can join. And what would you say to a young person? A peer who doesn't feel like they have a place in the climate movement because they're too young or too late to join?
Levi: If you really want to help, you can look for different youth led organizations online or in your area to join in. Find out what they are doing and find out how you can help.
I tell young people to find something they're passionate about, maybe animals or clean water or something along those lines, and finding things that go along with your passion. That's what makes activism so fun because you can fight for whatever is important to you and is meaningful.
Zanagee: Well said! This case Juliana v US has really become such a core part of your life.
We want to know what would you be doing if you didn't have to spend so much time fighting for your right to a simple future?
Levi: I'd probably be doing what I love best, which is spending time in nature, camping, climbing trees, boogie boarding at the beach, all that kind of thing and show my baby sister, all of those things as well. It's what I'm fighting for in the first place. We got to take my baby sister to Brevard Zoo, which is our local zoo, which is just absolutely amazing.
I usually don't like zoos, but they're one of the only zoological facilities that I really like because they're constantly helping out injured animals. They have lots of conservation things that are happening there.
It is so cute to see such a little baby getting to experience all these things for the first time. It just is absolutely amazing. And we were really happy because it was my great grandmother's favorite place to go when she would visit us. And it was on her birthday that we went. She's not around anymore, but shout out to Grammy. She was the best. One of the best great-grandma's I've ever had.
Olivia: It's clear how much love you have for your baby sister and and your whole family. And it's, it's kind of amazing that you have an appreciation for what it's like for a baby to experience things for the first time.
I was thinking about something you said earlier, which was that, correct me if I'm wrong, but you had to evacuate twice in the past two years.
Levi: I would say It just is absolutely horrible to see the places that you love, the places where you grew up, in such a bad state. I mean, there's no way to really describe the feeling that you get when you come back from being evacuated when you don't know what's going on. Where you live. You drive onto the barrier island and there's signs that were because of such high winds.
People's roofs were damaged. You just see a sea of blue, because everybody puts tarps on their roof in areas and there are sandbags on people's roofs as well where it was messed up and everybody just kind of walking around in kind of shock as to what happened.
It's really just, it's just absolutely horrible and horrific.
Zanagee: Thank you for sharing that. I think that that's really a powerful imagery to think about. Um, the blue tarps on roofs. I'd never seen that, but yeah. Thank you for sharing.
Olivia: Thank you for being here with us and sharing.
Levi: I thank you so much for having me and letting me share my story.
It's really amazing to be able to let people know what is going on and what I fight for and why.
[CLIMATE JUSTICE GAME SHOW]
Zanagee: Okay everyone, that concludes our conversation with youth climate activist Levi Draheim! So get ready, because it’s time for the…...
Zanagee & Olivia: CLIMATE! JUSTICE! GAME! SHOW!
Olivia: Okay my favorite show. Okay, Zanagee, you are up first this time. Questions number one: What is Juliana v U.S. and what is it setting out to accomplish?
Zanagee: Okay, so what is Juliana v. U.S.? Well, it’s a lawsuit where 21 young people are suing the U.S. government for their role in destabilizing the climate and failing to protect the rights of children by allowing climate change to happen.
Olivia: Bingo! You got it. Yes, I think Juliana v. U.S. is so cool and I really encourage everyone and all the kids listening and their grownups to check out their website—we of course will have a link in our show notes. These young people and the grownups working alongside them are truly making history.
Zanagee: So cool!
Olivia: So cool!
Zanagee: Totally agree, Olivia. And okay, question 2: What evidence gives our guest, Levi, hope about a future without human-caused climate disasters?
Olivia: Yes, I loved this part of the interview because even though Levi is this amazing activist who is a a true leader in this movement, um Levi cited that seeing other young people uh work on this climate movement and the fact that it’s growing so much over a year is one of the things that gives him the most hope. Um, and I just, you know I love that answer and it, it rings true for me.
Zanagee: Yeah, definitely. I love this part too, because I think it really shows how much young people draw inspiration from other people organizing in this space. And it shows the power of a movement and building community because we look to others for hope and to turn our anxiety into action. And that was really inspiring to see from Levi as well.
Olivia: Yes. Turning anxiety into action. One of my favorite mantras. Okay. Zanagee third and final question for you. This one is especially important, no pressure. Is there room in the climate justice movement for all types of kids?
Zanagee: Yes! Of course there is. There is so much room in the climate justice movement for all manner of kids. Every single person is important and there is room in the climate justice movement for everyone’s special skills and interests. Because everyone lives on this planet. And everyone's from earth, our one shared home and you do not have to look or act or be any type of way to be a part of this movement to heal our planet.
Olivia: What if you’re really shy?
Zanagee: You can join the movement.
Olivia: What if you can only organize online and not in person.
Zanagee: There is a place in the movement for that too.
Olivia: What if you don’t know where to start?
Zanagee: There’s resources like this podcast, like our book, uh other organizations, the internet, google, google my friends.
So there is so much room for anyone who, who is just getting started, who doesn't know where to start. And, uh, we welcome that because we need you and Levi needs you. And there is so much energy in this movement that could benefit from you too.
Olivia: Awesome. Okay. That concludes today's episode of climate justice game show. And as always remember that this is not a quiz, so do not worry about nailing every question you are learning all you need to know just by listening.
[CLOSING]
Olivia: Thank you, listeners, for joining us today. And thanks to Levi Draheim for sharing his experience with fighting for climate justice and his involvement in Juliana v. US. And you can find more about Levi’s activist work by visiting www.ourchildrenstrust.org/levi. You can read more about the Juliana lawsuit at youthvgov.org. We’ll have all the links you need in our show notes.
One Point Five is written by me, Olivia Greenspan
Zanagee: and me, Zanagee Artis.
Smart Speaker: With occasional support from me, Joanna, from Natural Readers dot com.
Olivia: Our show is edited and produced by Matthew Winner with help from Ari Mathae and the team at Sound On Studios. Our executive producer is Jelani Memory. And this show was brought to you by A Kids Podcast About.
Zanagee: This show is inspired by our book, A Kids Book About Climate Change, and the millions of young people around the world fighting for their right to a livable future.
Olivia: You can write to us. Send your questions at listen@akidspodcastabout.com. And check out other podcasts made for kids just like you by visiting akidsco.com.