CBS News celebrated an eleven-year-old who is suing President Trump for his climate change skepticism. The kid, Avery McRae, said, "Trump is not doing anything to help stop climate change. He's a climate change denier, and we're going to prove that to to the world."
CBS felt like this was the cutest thing ever -- to possibly cost taxpayers oodles of money and perpetuate fake news. The journalist said, "Although their lawsuit may seem leak a long shot, who better to fight for the future than those who will be here to see it?"
Here is the Atlantic's take on this:
It was supposed to be Avery McRaes first day back at school after winter break, but fat snowflakes were falling outside and class was canceled. Her horseback-riding lesson wasnt happening either. At lunch with her mom and dad at Hot Mamas Wings, in Eugene, Oregon, Avery slumped in her seat and stuck out her lip, disappointed the way 11-year-olds are when theyve been waiting for something forever.
I havent seen the horses in three weeks, she cried. Im going to die.
Avery had been in Denver for the holiday visiting family, but now she was back home, eager to return to sixth grade and afternoons stacked with extracurricular activities. She plays piano and has practiced Bhangra, a Punjabi folk dance, since she was two. Each morning, she feeds chickens shes named after flowers, and each evening, she makes sure theyre tucked in their coop. In the spring, she runs a backyard business raising chicks for customers.
article continues after advertisement
And, sometimes, she goes to court. Unlike most tweens, Avery is suing the federal government.
Shes the second-youngest of 21 plaintiffs, ages 9 to 20, in Juliana v. United States, a case filed in Eugene in 2015 on the grounds that the federal government has knowingly endangered them by promoting the burning of fossil fuels. If climate change threatens their future, they reason, the government has violated their constitutional right to due process. There are roughly the same number of defendants as plaintiffs in the case, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of the President and the president himself. Until January 20, that was Barack Obama. Now its Donald Trump.
Youre suing Trump! Avery recalls her classmates said when they flocked her at school on November 9. Im like, Yep. What did I get myself into?
* * *
When Avery and I spoke on the phone for the first time, about six months before the election, I asked her why people should care about the lawsuit. She became breathless as she described the stakes. In short, she said, the case will decide how future generations will survive on earth: If theyre going to have to wear air masks every time they go outside or if theyre going to live in pristine environments where they can swim in cold water in the summer and fish and hike in old-growth forests and not worry about climate change.
Avery started caring about the environment around the age of 5, when she read a book about snow leopards. Finding out they were endangered made her super heartbroken. Her mom suggested they raise money for the animals, so one day in December, Avery threw a party with a small suggested donation. She and some friends made leopard Christmas ornaments and decorated cupcakes with spots. By the end, she had raised $200 that she donated to the Snow Leopard Trust.
(Avery is at bottom right)
Poster Comment:
Avery will be a real pistol when she grows up. In the meantime, who in the hell thinks that an 11-year old knows anything about anything at that age.
We have decided as a society that children have the facts and wisdom to tell the adults what to do and how to do it. Children are so all-knowing that they can now even determine their sex! Remember, these are the same kids who can't spell their names, don't clean their rooms, and don't know their colors and numbers. Yet one of them is suing the president because he doesn't believe in man-made climate change. After reading this, one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. If the story doesn't make your blood boil, THIS one will: Chelsea Clinton recently bragged during an interview that, at five years of age, she wrote then-president Reagan because he was planning to visit a site in Europe where Holocaust victims were buried. And that even after her warning, he dared to go there anyway!!!