Former Youth Plaintiff Ashley Funk is Representing Her Daughter in New Climate Case: “There's So Much Left Worth Fighting For”
January 30, 2026
Ashley Funk and her daughter enjoying the outdoors. Photo courtesy of Ashley Funk.
Ashley Funk, a seventh-generation Pennsylvanian, has spent much of her life in court. She has appeared not as a defendant, but as a defender of constitutional rights. As a young person, she served as the lead plaintiff in two constitutional climate rights lawsuits represented by Our Children’s Trust. Today, litigation remains a key part of her work at the Mountain Watershed Association. Now, Ashley is returning to court on behalf of her daughter alongside fourteen other appellants in McIntosh v. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
A Dedicated Citizen
Ashley grew up experiencing harms from climate change and pollution in Pennsylvania, including rising temperatures, increasing extreme weather, and flooding. Her local waterways were polluted with orange acidic drainage, and her own backyard was full of gob piles and slate dumps: waste from previous mining that now sits as an eyesore in her community.
At a young age, she knew she couldn’t sit back and watch it all happen. So, in addition to starting up a local litter clean-up group, she jumped into action, letting her passion for the environment guide her to litigation and her career conserving local waterways. Now, as a mother of a young daughter, she is not only fighting for her future, but for her daughter’s future as well.
Advocating For Her Daughter
Ashley’s daughter loves the outdoors. Walking and playing in the woods is her favorite thing to do. Even letting the dog out in the morning often means her daughter eagerly peeking outside to see what the world is up to.
But there are days when just going outside is unsafe due to wildfire smoke coming in from the north. Ashley’s wish for her daughter is simple: “I want her to be able to go outside and breathe clean air.”
The Case That Brought Her Back
That desire, for something as basic as clean air for her child, is what led her back to the courts.
Her daughter is now one of the youth appellants in McIntosh v. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, a case challenging a state-issued permit for a massive gas-fired power plant planned on the site of the former Homer City coal plant. If built, it would release millions of tons of climate pollution each year, deepening the very harms Ashley has spent her life trying to stop.
Years ago, Ashley challenged the state through her own constitutional climate lawsuits. Today, she and her daughter are confronting new threats, taking a stand for the clean air, pure water, and protected natural resources guaranteed under Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, as well as their constitutional rights to life, health, and safety.
"There’s So Much Left Worth Fighting For”
Ashley desires to leave a better world for her daughter, not a devastated one. While she works towards this, she also wants to teach her that she can be a catalyst for change, even in the face of overwhelming challenges. “I want her to realize that even as she grows up, she shouldn’t be bogged down by the weight of grief. I recognize that feeling grief is very important, but I don’t want her to get bogged down by it because there's so much left worth fighting for.”
Ashley remembers a time in college when she went to Belize with her class for an ecology project. She thought the coral reefs looked beautiful, but her professor remarked on how changed the reef was because of warming waters brought on by climate change: “I can’t believe how different it is.”
“Even now there are places I haven’t been able to experience in my lifetime,” Ashley reflects, “but I hope there’s still some semblance of them for her in the future.”
Litigation As a Last Resort
Although Ashley is no stranger to litigation, she views it as a last resort. She remembers sitting in a room with decision makers, listening as they claimed that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection was doing enough to address the climate crisis. They pointed to a transition from coal to natural gas and to modest carbon reductions.
However, now the situation has only worsened. “Now, it’s not that they're trying to transition from natural gas to renewables. Instead, they’re doubling down on natural gas production in a way that is terrifying.”
It is this disregard for both science and youth voices that makes the new petition feel necessary.
“It does feel like a last resort,” Ashley says of the new petition. “DEP is not listening when we talk about Article 1, Section 27, and its promise to protect the environment for current and future generations. They’re not listening and that’s why we have to take this step.”
Don’t Accept What You Can Change
Ashley wants to teach her daughter that she has a voice and the power to change things. “A very important part of participating in the legal system and bringing a lawsuit is recognizing that you do not have to just accept what is being told to you. That if you believe that a decision was made, and it was not in your favor or in the planet's favor, then you do not have to just say yes and move on. You can challenge that and fight because that is really one of the only ways to make change happen.”