As the Trump administration reverses federal action to combat climate change in the midst of unprecedented warming, climate activists are gearing up for a new wave of civil disobedience and direct action.
In recent years, climate protesters have sat in at the White House, blocked oil trains, and hung off of oil vessels. Such tactics secured (temporary) victories in the Keystone XL and Standing Rock conflicts, and have helped jump-start the growth of a new social movement.
But with the U.S. still on track to miss its commitment to the Paris Agreement’s target of 2 degrees Celsius warming, many climate protesters are attempting to extend their struggle to the courtroom. Arguing that their acts of civil disobedience were justified by the government’s failure to adequately address global warming, they seek acquittals based upon the common law defense of necessity.
The so-called “climate necessity defense” has not met with much judicial success in American courts thus far. But a group of defendants will get another chance in a series of trials over the next few months as they attempt to justify the October “Shut It Down” actions that temporarily stopped all tar sands oil exports from Canada into the U.S. (In February, the Washington state trial of Shut It Down activist Ken Ward ended in a hung jury. He will stand trial again in May.)
Looking back on the history of the necessity defense and its use in political cases — and considering the state of climate change…