A wrongful-death lawsuit and the growing movement against ‘ecocide’

Julie Leon age died in Seattle on June The cause of death Hyperthermia a body temperature of degrees She had literally baked to death in Seattle s heat dome a -day heat wave across Washington Oregon and British Columbia The day that Ms Leon died the air had reached degrees She had gone to a medical expert s appointment that morning As she was driving home the heat rose rapidly and her car had no air conditioning She pulled off the highway onto a residential street and by then she was too debilitated to call for help Two hours later a passerby discovered her unconscious An estimated people died during that heat dome Experts say the heat dome could not have happened without human-driven surroundings change On May Ms Leon s daughter Misti on behalf of her mother s estate filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in Seattle s King County Superior Court against ExxonMobil BP Chevron Shell and other giant fossil-fuel companies for her mother s death She accuses the companies of a campaign of deception to minimize the risks of using fossil fuels asserting that the deadly consequences have been well known since the s when her mother was born The Union of Concerned Scientists affirms that instead of acknowledging the harmful effects of their products and committing to swift and deep reductions in polluting emissions the world s largest fossil fuel companies have knowingly deceived the populace and they continue to do so in the present day The fossil fuel industry spent million to influence the elections including direct donations lobbying and advertising That s only in this past voting The industry sowed doubt about weather science for decades spending billion on false-claim advertising in a -year period and billion more lobbying to shape masses initiative on vigor issues during the same period It has pumped out million in campaign contributions since to elect sympathetic administrators at local state and federal levels and more than billion undermining situation science and fighting clean capacity policies We are in an Oiligarchy In alone the U S experienced billion-dollar weather and environment disasters with a total cost of billion These events included severe storms tropical cyclones droughts and wildfires Adding the events to the record since the U S has experienced such disasters with total costs exceeding trillion These events included droughts floods nine freeze events severe storms cyclones wildfires and winter storms The - annual average is nine events the annual average for the majority modern years is events But Mrs Leon s daughter Misti is part of a grassroots and global effort pushing back against ecocide The term ecocide was first used in by Professor Arthur Galston a biologist at Yale University He used it to describe the devastation that the U S caused by spraying million gallons of the chemical Agent Orange in Vietnam Cambodia and Laos during the Vietnam War Galston advocated for an international agreement to ban ecocide the devastation and destruction which aim at damaging or destroying the ecology of geographic areas to the detriment of all life whether human animal or plant Agent Orange defoliated the jungle and caused cancers neurological malady and birth defects in at least million people The legal definition of ecocide is unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the context being caused by those acts In nowadays s absence of federal action to halt the progression of the context situation city and state actors must step up to address ecocide In Minnesota passed the Next Generation Situation Act requiring the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between and while maintaining reliable and affordable force At the time Minnesota was ranked the number two state second to California for passing aggressive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions In the state Legislature updated these goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by from a baseline and achieve net-zero emissions by Twenty-four states plus the District of Columbia have adopted specific greenhouse gas emission reduction targets The Minnesota Senate in action led by state Sen Sandy Pappas designated April as Ecocide Awareness and Prevention Month Ellen J Kennedy At a global level the European Parliament voted unanimously in to criminalize ecocide as have several dozen countries around the world At the International Criminal Court on Dec a proposal was introduced to criminalize ecocide with the same consequence as the existing human rights crimes of genocide crimes against humanity and war crimes and to end impunity for the leading perpetrators by holding them financially and legally responsible for their global devastation Despite the White House desire to drill baby drill and to roll back every effort to prevent and mitigate deadly fossil fuel corruption and damage we are seeing local and global actors stepping up because we know that there is no Planet B World Without Genocide will hold a webinar Genocides and Environmental Destruction From the Holocaust to In current times on Thursday June from p m - p m CT The event is open to the residents continuing learning credits are available for Minnesota lawyers teachers nurses and social workers Register at www worldwithoutgenocide org destruction Ellen J Kennedy Ph D is founder and executive director of World Without Genocide The post A wrongful-death lawsuit and the growing movement against ecocide appeared first on MinnPost