On October 6th, OCT convened legislators, policy makers, media, and other important stakeholders to learn more about a groundbreaking new report prepared by energy experts Evolved Energy Research (EER). This new report introduced accessible, systemic, and economically feasible strategies to rapidly transition the state of Florida off fossil fuels and toward climate stabilization, including a detailed new roadmap that illustrates several low carbon technically and economically sound energy pathways for Florida consistent with returning atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) to 350 parts per million (ppm) by 2100, which scientists say is necessary to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change. The new report is a crucial tool to inform statewide energy system decisions and complements the national energy transition report Our Children’s Trust shared in 2019.

Also in October, OCT unveiled a new organizational logo that married together our two identities: Our Children’s Trust and #youthvgov. While Our Children’s Trust is the name of our nonprofit public interest law firm, Youth v. Gov has long represented all of our legal actions where young people are taking on their governments on climate. To celebrate our 10th year as the world’s only law firm dedicated exclusively to representing youth in climate cases against their governments, all at no cost to them or their families, we unveiled a new logo that marries the name of our law firm with the identity of our community in a new timeless image that speaks to the sustainability and interconnectedness of our work, and the balance of justice and generational stewardship in our collective hands.

On October 22, in response to a divided ruling against the two youth plaintiffs in Chernaik v. Brown, Chief Justice Martha Walters of the Oregon Supreme Court wrote a powerful dissent that recognized the “ravages of climate change” and affirmed “the judicial branch has an important constitutional role to play and should declare the governing law.” Departing from the Supreme Court majority’s unwillingness to declare the law and duty of government at this urgent time of climate crisis, Justice Walters declared that “the time is now.” While the ruling was not what the youth plaintiffs nor their attorneys had hoped for, fierce dissents like these from Chief Justice Walters in October and Judge Staton in January signal to their peers in the judiciary a commitment to appropriately applying the law to constitutional cases that are often erroneously deemed to be too political for the courts.