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Let’s turn to the specifics of the atmospheric trust litigation.

Every single level of government has to reduce carbon [emissions from all sources within its jurisdiction]. Otherwise, it leaves its share on the table without anybody taking responsibility for it. I call that an orphan share. Virtually every city, every county, every state, every nation must accept its own responsibility for carbon reduction, and that’s not happening right now. There’s a patchwork quilt of carbon reduction, and people are treating this as a political choice. It’s not. The scientists have defined the fiduciary obligation, and now it’s up to every level of government as trustee to carry out that fiduciary obligation in a uniform manner so that all of the carbon reduction will add up to the amount we need. This is a matter of carbon math. It all must add up.

And you believe the way to do this is atmospheric trust litigation?

That’s only one piece of it. The trust approach is part of an overall paradigm shift that demands that our government, every level of it, start protecting the resources that we, the public, own. [Awareness] must happen in the communities, the agencies, the churches, the schools, all of that, and in other countries as well.

The atmospheric trust litigation part is a road map for citizens to bring suit against their government—city, state, or federal—to enforce the fiduciary obligation. We still have three branches of government in this country, last time I checked. But the courts have been passive observers to this monumental destruction that now threatens, literally, the future of human civilization and our children. The courts must provide a check against runaway politicization by the other two branches. They have been on the sidelines in climate crisis. With atmospheric trust litigation the courts become enforcers.

How would it work?

The court would declare this trust obligation, which is well-rooted in law. And then it could craft a declaratory judgment setting forth these principles. That alone would go a long way, because suddenly the public would have clarity on its own government’s responsibility.

Second, a judge can order an accounting against any level of government. An accounting is a very standard tool—it basically means the government would have to measure its carbon footprint, and it would have to show the court that it’s reducing carbon in accordance with the scientifically defined fiduciary obligation. A court would not tell the jurisdiction how to accomplish carbon reduction—that would be up to the political branches, and the citizens—but the court would enforce that carbon reduction, and have a method by which citizens can know whether their government is squandering their future or protecting their resources.

And finally there could be injunctive backstops. If officials do not perform as trustees, they would be subject to contempt of court, or to injunctions such as prohibitions on logging, road building, and other activities that contribute carbon.

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