A Small & Hopeful Victory for Eco-justice

 

Ecojustice 

@ecojustice_ca

BREAKING: Ontario’s top court has overturned the dismissal of

@ecojustice_ca

’s youth-led climate Charter case, allowing our clients’ challenge to ON gov’s climate target rollbacks to move forward. Read more https://hubs.ly/Q02TRHmV0

Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
24 But let justice roll down like waters,
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amos 5: 23, 24 NRSVue

Remember Greta Thunberg? Of course you do. Thunberg's climate activism began as a kid when she persuaded her parents to change their carbon footprint ways. In 2018, at the age of fifteen. she decided not to return to school until the Swedish government developed a responsible climate action plan. Her solitary vigil on the steps of parliament In August attracted other young people who were concerned about their future and the health of the planet. This became to School Strike for Climate and Fridays for Future with teens and others around the globe.

There were huge rallies in major cities and smaller towns with one of the largest in Montreal where school boards cancelled classes and an estimated half a million people marched through the streets. Thunberg was invited to address the United Nations and other forums where she was blunt in her criticism of the inaction of governments.

Another outcome of this movement has been legal action taken by groups of young people claiming that the unwillingness to take real action on climate change was a violation of their rights and those of future generations. Some of these challenges have been heard, others dismissed, including here in Ontario. Now the Ontario Court of Appeals has overturned that dismissal, what is at least an initial victory.

Lots of adults, including the Orange Menace, derided Thunberg, demonstrating that the term "childish" can be applied to people of any age. As I've said before, these are prophetic voices in the sense that they challenge the status quo, greed, and indifference to the plight of the marginalized, including other species. While these young people may not be religious in intent there is is a powerful spiritual element to their message and action. I figure that they are following courageously in the footsteps of the biblical prophets in ways political leaders and the "profits" of industry have failed to do, despite their weasel words.

Whatever their religious convictions, I hope the God of Creation blesses them and gives them strength. Let eco-justice roll down like a clean, clear stream.

How can we dance when our earth is turning?

How do we sleep while our beds are burning?
How can we dance when our earth is turning?
How do we sleep while our beds are burning?

The time has come to say fair's fair
To pay the rent now, to pay our share

chorus from Beds are Burning -- Midnight Oil