19-year-old Eva Lighthiser has experienced climate anxiety for most of her life, as her home state of Montana faces worsening floods, wildfires, and extreme heat. Now she and 20 other young people are suing the Trump administration over its efforts to boost fossil fuels while suppressing climate science and renewable energy. Eva Lighthiser, the lead plaintiff in Lighthiser v. Trump, joins Host Jenni Doering to share why she is pushing back against policies she believes are harming her future.

The new youth climate lawsuit Lighthiser v. Trump is ambitious as it targets specific executive orders and agency actions of the Trump administration. Vermont Law and Graduate School emeritus professor Pat Parenteau offers his views of Lighthiser v. Trump to Host Jenni Doering and explains why he thinks it may have a better chance of making it to trial than the pioneering Juliana youth climate case filed in 2015 which was ultimately blocked by the US Supreme Court before any trial.

Ten years since nations adopted the historic Paris Agreement, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, and hopes are dimming that we can meet the Paris goal of limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius. As global leaders prepare to meet in Brazil for COP30, some say the entire UN climate agreement system is broken. Preliminary sessions recently took place in Bonn, Germany where longtime UN climate observer and Senior Associate at E3G Alden Meyer was in attendance, and he joins Host Aynsley O’Neill.

Living on Earth’s Explorer in Residence Mark Seth Lender has photographed animals all over the world, including under the sea. He shared this observation from a dive in the Bahamas where he was photographing Caribbean reef sharks.

In a rare act of public criticism, hundreds of EPA employees published a declaration of dissent from the agency’s policies under the Trump administration, calling out its alleged ignoring of scientific consensus to benefit polluters, undermining of public trust and more. David Cash led EPA’s Region One covering New England under the Biden Administration and shares his thoughts and opinions about the letter and the Trump EPA with Host Aynsley O’Neill.

A case in Montana brought by sixteen youth plaintiffs has become the first constitutional climate suit in the U.S. to make it to trial. They allege that the state of Montana has violated their constitutional right to a “clean and healthful environment” by promoting fossil fuel extraction in the face of intensifying climate disruption. Inside Climate News reporter Richard Forbes was in the courtroom and fills in Host Jenni Doering on what happened and how the young plaintiffs’ powerful testimony contrasted with a bare-bones defense from the state.

In a landmark 6 to 1 decision, the Montana State Supreme Court upheld a ruling that found young people, and by extension all people in Montana, have a constitutional right to a livable climate that state officials can’t ignore. Vermont Law and Graduate School Emeritus Professor Pat Parenteau explains to Host Steve Curwood how the plaintiffs presented their case and how the ruling could guide litigation in other states.