Summer 2024 has officially been declared the hottest on record. In August 2024, the global average was 1.51° C higher than pre-industrial levels, a spike in temperature that previously wasn’t expected to arrive until 2030 at the earliest. (Copernicus, Climate Change Service, 2024) The fact that there are some still arguing against the boatloads of scientific proof that human activities such as fossil fuel combustion, deforestation, factory farms, and a myriad of industrial processes are responsible for this rapid change in our climate only further highlights the post- truth era so many are willing to join.

Late on the evening of September 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene ripped into the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 4 storm eventually killing over 230 people as the storm laid waste to large tracts of the Southern Appalachians. Currently, a week later, Florida is bracing for another hurricane hot on Helene’s heels. Hurricane Milton is barreling towards downtown Tampa Bay, the first storm to do so in over a hundred years. With Milton there are expectations of plus 15-foot storm surges, similar to Helene. The severity of these storms should not be surprising as they gain ferocity over the Gulf of Mexico that currently sits at 86.7°F. The Gulf’s surface temperature has increased at twice the rate of the rest of the oceans between 1970 and 2020 (National Centers for Environmental Information, 2023).

The complexity of relationships between industry and government can nearly guarantee that salvation from the deadly effects of climate change will not come from the top down, if they ever come at all. Having said that, at the risk of being reductionist, it’s greed and lack of vision that stands in the way of substantive changes led by the institutions that benefit from the capitalist status quo. Thankfully, there is a massive citizen-led movement of brave individuals and organizations willing to risk safety and freedom on the ground where corporations and government partners continue to push forward projects and policy that throw our climate into further chaos.

Resistance movements associated with Tar Sands Blockade (TransCanada-Keystone XL), Line 3 and Line 5 (Enbridge), and Mountain Valley Pipeline are incredible examples of the power of organized communities and their allies willing to exhaust legal channels and deploy direct action to physically stop pipeline construction while calling the world’s attention to the imminent threat these fossil fuel cash grabs represent. CLDC has been honored to support these movements in the myriad of ways within our varied movement law toolbox. As corporations and their state enablers continue to ratchet up harsh penalties for acts of resistance, the responsibility to create new and novel defenses has fallen to defenders and their lawyers.

In 2018, the Minnesota Supreme Court, in a landmark decision for the climate movement, granted use of the Climate Necessity Defense in relation to the 2016 ‘Valve Turner’ case in which five members of Climate Direct Action simultaneously closed tarsands pipeline shut-off valves across four states, temporarily stopping the flow of tarsands oil from Alberta, Canada into the U.S. CLDC’s own Lauren Regan was legal counsel in all four cases where the climate necessity defense was deployed in various state contexts. In the case out of Minnesota, co-counseled with Tim Phillips, the high court ruled that the necessity defense could be used in their defense at trial—a first in the United States in the climate/environmental context. For those not familiar with this defense, the basic framework is that breaking the law in an effort to stop the existential threat of climate change harms is ‘necessary’ when legal channels are ineffective and thus unavailable to prevent serious and imminent harms. Defendants admit they broke law, but did so in service to the greater good.

In April of 2019, ten environmental protestors backed a rented dump truck onto the railroad tracks on the property of Zenith Energy in Portland, Oregon, dumped a load of soil on the tracks and planted a garden. After refusing orders to leave by Zenith Energy personnel, as well as the Portland Police, the protestors were arrested and charged with Criminal Trespass II, a misdemeanor. In February of 2020, CLDC represented five of those arrested and successfully deployed the ‘Choice of Evils’ or Climate Necessity defense all the way through a jury trial– the first time this unique defense had ever been put to a jury to deliberate on. All five were successfully acquitted using this defense. CLDC continues to be a national expert and leader in the use of defenses like the climate necessity defense that pair the politics of the action with the law and courtroom.

The human toll of catastrophic storms and weather events reaches much further than loss of life or property due to what the insurance industry incorrectly refers to as ‘an act of god’. A community or region thrown into a chaotic state due to loss of services, resources, and the rule of law, creates ample opportunity for bad actors to step in and seize power or civil liberties from a stunned and frightened population. When we think about climate disasters, we also need to be cognizant that in those vulnerable moments, there are authoritarians and fascists waiting for the chance to exploit the moment. The power of movement solidarity and mutual aid becomes critically important in this type of situation.

September 4, 2005, six days after Hurricane Katrina destroyed levies and ‘filled the bowl’ of New Orleans, teenager James Brisette and a forty-year old developmentally disabled man, Ronald Madison, were murdered on the Danzinger Bridge by members of the New Orleans Police Department. These cops arrived in a commandeered Budget Rental truck, wore plain clothes, and were described by a witness as ‘lining up like a firing range’ before murdering two and severely injuring four others. None of the victims were armed nor posed a threat and were either seeking shelter or going for resources when the shooting took place. The administrative cover-up of this shooting began immediately. In 2016, the officers who had been found guilty of the various associated crimes had their sentences reduced from 65 years to 12, and 40 years to 10 respectively.

During the recent 2020 wildfires that swept through Clackamas County, Oregon, members of law enforcement as well as the far-right public were promoting the conspiracy theory that ‘antifa’ was responsible for starting and spreading the wildfires, as well as looting. This entirely false rumor was then compounded by the very real establishment of armed checkpoints by ultra-right wing militias, stopping drivers they deemed suspicious, aka people of color and suspected ‘antifa.’ Now with the known cross-over between law enforcement and right-wing militia movements, the stage is set for an unfolding civil liberties calamity the next time climate disaster comes knocking.

In the case of bad government actors, we’ve seen the imposition of curfews and travel restrictions akin to Marshall law, as well as the suspension or roll back of civil liberties that are often slow to return if they return at all. In the case of fascists filling a power vacuum, it offers an opportunity to not only exercise a militia’s malevolent agenda, as the wildfire-enabled Oath Keepers in Oregon, but to also rebrand their organization into a “community emergency response team.”

The bulk of responsibility to keep communities safe by members of that community will only increase over time as the negative effects of climate change outpace the resources the government allocates for the needs of the people. In addition to active resistance to the projects that line the pockets of the rich, while threatening the lives of all, the burden to protect civil liberties will also require an active and vigilant citizenry. Remember your threat modeling praxis: what do you want to protect, who do you need to protect it from, how likely is an attack, what are the likely consequences if you fail to prevent the attack, and how much trouble are you willing to go through in order to try and prevent harm and mitigate risk? Plan for the worst and hope for the best.

The bravery of the thousands upon thousands of activists that continue to work behind the scenes and on the front lines to resist the root causes of climate change continue to be an inspiration to become activated in this literal fight for our survival. CLDC will continue to stand with, and defend those willing to do so. Until all are free, we’ve got your back!