For young Californians, climate change is a crisis, and the constant drumbeat of environmental disasters can also aggravate depression and anxiety. Many of them are fighting back by becoming activists. Eighteen-year-old Maya Williams is part of a lawsuit by several young people against the EPA. LA Times reporter Alex Wigglesworth and Williams joined host Lisa McRee on “LA Times Today.”

Wigglesworth explained the climate-focused storytelling that led her to Williams. 

“The paper did a whole special section about climate change. And we realized, in many ways, young people are on the front lines. They’re experiencing the effects of a warming world in the form of extreme weather, drought and fast-moving wildfires. Our research has found that worry and anxiety associated with climate change are on the rise among young people around the world. They’re also some of the loudest voices and most active participants when it comes to fighting for change,” Wigglesworth said.

Williams is currently in her freshman year at UC Berkeley, but she said her life was impacted by climate change when she was in high school, when wildfire smoke caused her to have an asthma attack during soccer practice. Since then, climate change activism has been central to her life.

“It’s something that I think about every time I make a decision. I transitioned to a vegan diet. I’ve made lots of changes to how I live my life because of the fear for our future and the fear of what it’s going to look like if we don’t take action,” Williams said. “As a young person, I know that this is not a problem that my generation caused. This is a problem that we inherited, and it’s a problem that we are going to have to deal with for the rest of our lives. And so to have politicians and to have people in power discount our experiences and discount our voices just because of our age is incredibly frustrating.”

Wigglesworth spoke about the lawsuit that Williams and 17 other California children and teens are part of against the EPA. 

“They allege the agency violated their constitutional rights by allowing pollution from burning fossil fuels to continue, despite knowing the harms. They’re being represented by an Oregon based nonprofit called Our Children’s Trust that has taken similar climate actions in other states as well. Back in May, a judge dismissed the action ruling of the plaintiffs’ legal standing. But the plaintiffs did amend and resubmit their allegations, which remain pending before the court,” she explained. 

Williams and her friends have worked on the local level to implement change in their own community. 

“We wrote a climate literacy resolution and environmental education board policy to get climate into all of our classrooms. I’ve also been involved with organizations like Youth Climate Strike Los Angeles working to pressure the LA City Council to declare a climate emergency and develop a more comprehensive plan for protecting our communities and mitigating the climate crisis in Los Angeles. I think it’s also very important to keep corporations accountable. We’ve organized at the Los Angeles Auto Show and rallied in front of Disney headquarters,” Williams said.

Wigglesworth explained that while there have been some legislative steps to address climate change’s impact on young people, any more action “remains to be seen” after the 2024 election. 

Click the arrow above to watch the full interview.

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