As Trump Denies Climate Reality, This Miami-Based Advocate (with 21 Others) is Taking Action in Court
For Delaney Reynolds, President Trump’s orders unleashing fossil fuels is “not politics. It’s personal.”
Delaney Reynolds, a plaintiff in the lawsuit Lighthiser v. Trump, speaks during a September 24 webinar. Credit: Screen shot from the event recording
Growing up in South Florida, Delaney Reynolds has spent her life surrounded by water. And as a fourth generation Miami native, she has experienced the impacts of a rapidly warming planet firsthand in a city that is often described as ground zero for climate change in the US. From increasingly frequent tidal flooding and catastrophic storms to severe coral reef bleaching and rising sea levels, the manifestations of the climate crisis are dramatically altering Delaney’s watery environment and endangering the natural places she loves.
“The reefs and the beaches,” Delaney explains, “they weren’t just places to visit. They were and continue to be part of who I am.” As a teenager she started to immerse herself in learning about climate change and what it means for her home, and she uses this knowledge to help educate others and to advocate for sustainable solutions. She founded a nonprofit called the Sink or Swim Project and earned her degree in marine science and coastal geology. Now, at age 26 with a law degree under her belt, Delaney is finishing up her PhD program in climate adaptation solutions at the University of Miami.
She is also, along with 21 other young Americans, currently suing the Trump administration over its anti-climate, pro-fossil fuel executive orders and actions.
“On his first day back in office President Trump told the federal government to unleash fossil fuels, block clean energy, and silence climate science. And for me, that’s not politics. It’s personal. Every single one of those actions makes my life more dangerous,” Delaney said during a September 24 webinar hosted by the community organization Sustainable San Mateo County (SSMC).
When she is not in Miami, Delaney spends time down in the Florida Keys on a small, 1000-acre island called No Name Key, where her family has a solar-powered house. But during Hurricane Irma in 2017 the house was damaged. The Florida Keys are especially vulnerable to Atlantic Basin hurricanes and tropical storms, which are becoming more intense with climate change, and to rising sea levels. “Every additional ton of greenhouse gases accelerates sea level rise,” Delaney explained. “By midcentury parts of Miami Beach, Key West, and the Everglades, which is the only habitat of its type on planet Earth, could see chronic flooding that makes the environment unlivable for people and animals alike.”
In Miami this is already leading to what is known as sunny day flooding, when streets turn into waterways even when the sun is shining. The city has seen an almost 400 percent increase in this flooding since 2006, and it is only projected to get worse as water levels keep rising.
Then there is extreme heat. Floridians like Delaney are used to dealing with heat, but not the kinds of brutal and downright oppressive heat waves that are becoming more intense and frequent as the climate heats up. “Climate projections show that if fossil fuel use expands unchecked, then Miami could experience up to 130 heat index days over 100 degrees every year by 2050,” Delaney explained during the webinar, adding that this is “not just uncomfortable, but deadly, especially for children, seniors, and outdoor workers.”
The Trump administration of course is doing everything it can to expand fossil fuel production and use in the US. It is forcing uneconomic and polluting coal plants to keep operating, expediting approvals of fossil fuel leasing, prioritizing the buildout and export of liquified natural gas, and more – all under the guise of a purported national energy emergency. President Trump’s executive orders declaring an energy emergency, directing agencies to unleash fossil fuels, and requiring the federal government to prop up the fading coal industry are facing a legal challenge from Delaney and other youth plaintiffs in a case called Lighthiser v. Trump. The case is named after lead plaintiff Eva Lighthiser, a 19-year-old activist from Livingston, Montana who was one of the sixteen young Montanans that won a historic climate lawsuit against their state government.
“These executive orders are not just bad policy,” Delaney said. “They are unconstitutional. They knowingly endanger people like me and Eva and millions of other Floridians, Montanans, and Americans who will live with the consequences for the rest of our lives.”
The lawsuit against the Trump administration, filed by an organization called Our Children’s Trust on May 29, came before a federal court in Missoula, Montana in mid-September in a two-day hearing that saw scientists, doctors and other experts as well as some of the youth plaintiffs take the stand. This testimony was intended to provide evidentiary support for the plaintiffs’ request that the court take immediate action to halt implementation of Trump’s fossil fuel orders. According to Our Children’s Trust, the nonprofit law firm representing the youth, this hearing marked a historic moment.
“For the first time ever a federal judge heard live testimony in a constitutional climate case led by young people,” Phil Gregory, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said during last week’s webinar. The government, which is trying to get the case dismissed, “chose not to present a single witness,” Gregory noted.
It is now up to U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen to decide whether or not to block Trump’s orders at this preliminary stage or to just toss out the case.
Regardless of what happens, for the youth activists like Delaney the federal court hearing provided a critical opportunity to speak out in a space that really matters in a fight against injustice – a courtroom. “Today has been really important and historic because we are using democracy to have our voices heard here in court,” Delaney said in speaking outside the courthouse in Missoula on September 16 (she did not testify but was there to support her fellow plaintiffs).
The Lighthiser case is not the first suit in which young people have taken the US federal government to court over climate. A landmark constitutional lawsuit called Juliana v. United States attempted to put the US government on trial for its perpetuation of a fossil fuel-based energy system that has substantially contributed to dangerous climate change. That case, first filed in 2015, was met with what Our Children’s Trust says was unprecedented resistance from the US Justice Department, and it never did make it to trial. Now, many of these same young plaintiffs are turning to an international tribunal as they continue on in their pursuit of accountability and justice.
Last week Our Children’s Trust and 15 of the 21 Juliana plaintiffs filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a quasi-judicial body of the Organization of American States (of which the US is a part) that reviews allegations of human rights violations. The petitioners argue the US has violated international human rights law through its decades-long practices and policies prioritizing fossil fuels despite full knowledge of the climate change consequences. They also claim that the Juliana plaintiffs were denied access to justice and of the opportunity to be heard in US courts.
“Access to justice is one of the pillars of democracy. If we fail to keep the courtroom doors open to young people, to vulnerable people, then we’ve already lost democracy,” Kelly Matheson, deputy director of global strategy at Our Children’s Trust, told me. “That’s one of the really important things about this petition is ensuring that one of the pillars of democracy remains standing.”
Matheson said these young people are “standing up to one of the most, if not the most, powerful governments in the world, and using every means at their disposal, every legal means, to stand up and fight for climate protection. They are modeling what the United States government should be doing.”
On September 24, the very same day this petition was filed, President Trump stood before world leaders and delegates at the United Nations General Assembly in New York and repeated his false claim that climate change is a hoax. “It’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world in my opinion,” he said, adding: “If you don’t get away from the green energy scam, your country is going to fail.”
“It’s disgraceful, and it’s embarrassing to the entire United States of America,” Delaney said during the SSMC webinar in sharing her reaction to Trump’s remarks. “And in front of the entire world nonetheless, it’s appalling.”
She explained that she decided to get involved in the Lighthiser lawsuit against the Trump administration not because she wanted to, but because she felt obligated to take action given the incredibly high stakes.
“I did not join this case because I dreamed of suing the President of the United States. Honestly, I wish that I didn’t have to do this at all. But when your home, your future, and your right to live safely are on the line, you don’t just sit back. You stand up.”
Eva said it is absolutely critical for her generation to speak truth to power when it comes to the climate crisis, and to demand that their voices be heard.
“It’s so, so important that young people use our voices, because they are our strongest tools,” she said. “The time to act really is now.”
Further Reading
Check out my latest published articles:
“Climate Activists Thwarted in U.S. Courts Are Headed to an International Tribunal for Review,” Inside Climate News, https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29092025/juliana-youth-climate-activists-head-to-inter-american-commission-on-human-rights/
“The Gap Between Climate Targets and Fossil Fuel Production is Wider Than Ever,” Sierra, https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/gap-between-climate-targets-and-fossil-fuel-production-wider-ever