For most 16-year-olds, the month of May is spent cramming for finals and Advanced Placement exams, planning prom night or impatiently counting the days until summer break. For Alec Loorz, it’s a time to sue the United States Government and hit the streets in protest.

Loorz, 16, is a youth activist working to halt and reverse the effects of climate change. At 12, he founded a nonprofit called Kids vs. Global Warming and began speaking for his generation at conferences, keynote presentations and discussion panels across the nation. In 2008, he became the youngest alumni of Al Gore’s Climate Project training program.

In addition to Kids vs. Global Warming, Loorz runs the iMatter campaign, which is organizing youth marches around the globe from May 7 to May 14. Like Loorz, many of iMatter’s members are too young to vote in their countries. The iMatter March demands that their voices be heard despite their age.

From the campaign’s Mission and “Our Future” statements:

We are not only the generation who will suffer most from its consequences. We are also the generation who will bring about the change needed to create a sustainable and just society that values nature and future generations as much as short term interests.

… This is not the time to stand idly by and watch the destruction of our planet. This is not the time to sit in fear of an uncertain future. This is the time to stand up and let our voices be heard! There are about 1.2 billion youth on Earth today. 34% of the population is people under the age of 24. We have power, and we have purpose. This is not the end of the story – this is the beginning of our revolution!

iMatter members pledge to reduce their yearly carbon emissions and adopt a more sustainable lifestyle, urging older generations to follow their example. The group seeks to hold parents, corporations and public leaders accountable for the damage being done to their global inheritance.

The Lawsuit

On May 4, Loorz announced that he’s taking the iMatter cause one step further by filing a lawsuit against the United States Government. Loorz and his fellow activists charge the government with violation of public trust law by favoring corporate interests over future generations’ right to a low-carbon atmosphere.

The iMatter lawsuit outlines a rigid yet vital plan to stop and ultimately reverse the effects of global warming:

[T]o get our atmosphere balanced again at 350 ppm within a century [we must implement]:

• peak emissions in 2011
• [at] least a 6% reduction in global CO2 emissions every year
• 100 gigaton reforestation (especially in the tropics)

In a contributing article for GOOD.is, Loorz writes passionately of the dangers facing his generation if climate change is allowed to continue at its current rate. It isn’t enough to recycle and drive hybrid cars, he says. We must revolutionize the way we use energy, which starts with government responsibility.

The government has a legal responsibility to protect the future for our children. So we are demanding that they recognize the atmosphere as a commons that needs to be preserved, and commit to a plan to reduce emissions to a safe level.

The plaintiffs and petitioners on all the cases are young people. We are standing up for our future. But we will not only stand up in the courts. We will stand up in the streets as well.

We will let the world know that climate change is not about money, it’s not about power, it’s not about convenience. It’s about our future. It’s about the survival of this and every generation to come.

Take Action

Sign a petition to pledge your support for the iMatter youth movement.

Click here to find an iMatter March near you or start your own.

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