<
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/21/fossil-fuel-companies-homicide-climate-deaths-lawsuit>
"Each year, extreme temperatures take 5 million lives, while 400,000 people die
from climate-related hunger and disease and scores perish in floods and
wildfires.
Now, researchers are promoting a new legal theory that says fossil fuel
companies – which, data show, are the leading contributors to planet-heating
pollution – could be tried for homicide for climate-related deaths.
The radical idea, first proposed last year by consumer advocacy non-profit
Public Citizen, may sound far-fetched, but it’s gaining interest from experts
and public officials.
“We’ve been really excited to see the curiosity, interest and support these
ideas have garnered from members of the legal community, including from both
former and current federal, state and local prosecutors,” said Aaron Regunberg,
senior policy counsel with Public Citizen’s climate program.
The Public Citizen researchers are currently holding events at top law schools
including Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, University of Chicago
and New York University to promote the idea.
“I strongly support the effort to go after these bastards,” Christopher Rabb, a
Pennsylvania state representative said at a recent UPenn event. The researchers
say other public officials have expressed interest behind the scenes as well.
The proposal, which will soon be published in the
Harvard Law Review, stems
in part from the growing body of evidence that the fossil fuel industry hid
information about the dangers of fossil fuel use from the public. Those
revelations have inspired 40 lawsuits alleging big oil has violated tort,
product liability and consumer protection laws and engaged in racketeering.
In addition to those civil lawsuits, fossil fuel companies should also face
criminal charges, the researchers say."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
