Climate Defense Project Executive Director Kelsey Skaggs published an op-ed in Pacific Standard. The piece discusses how social movements have successfully used the necessity defense.
Is it expected that the recent declarations of climate emergency by governments in the UK following extended action by the school strikers and Extinction Rebellion might assist defendants in climate action cases in employing a necessity defense? Would a similar declaration at the state or municipal level in the US have any such effect?
Hi Guido — yes, it seems reasonable to expect that the emergency declarations might strengthen the argument for climate necessity, specifically the elements of the defense having to do with the harm disobedients seek to avert and the effectiveness of nonviolent civil disobedience in creating political change.
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Is it expected that the recent declarations of climate emergency by governments in the UK following extended action by the school strikers and Extinction Rebellion might assist defendants in climate action cases in employing a necessity defense? Would a similar declaration at the state or municipal level in the US have any such effect?
Hi Guido — yes, it seems reasonable to expect that the emergency declarations might strengthen the argument for climate necessity, specifically the elements of the defense having to do with the harm disobedients seek to avert and the effectiveness of nonviolent civil disobedience in creating political change.