Insane: Hawaii Has Children Advising DOT Due To Climate Doom

This is truly insane

What happened after 13 young people in Hawaii sued over climate change

Young people in Hawaii now meet regularly with the state’s Department of Transportation to offer input on public transit, bike lanes, and other strategies to help the department transition away from fossil fuels.

Establishing the Hawai‘i Youth Transportation Council was just one of the outcomes of the landmark 2024 settlement of the Navahine v. Hawai‘i DOT lawsuit, which was brought by 13 young plaintiffs. Their lawsuit alleged that the DOT wasn’t making progress toward the climate goals set by the state, violating the plaintiffs’ constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment.

They settled the lawsuit in 2024 before it went to trial, and the DOT is now required to decarbonize transportation by 2045 and, through the youth council, to listen and incorporate the priorities of young Hawaiians.

Well, Hawaii is chock full of climate cultists, so, when does the government give up all it’s fossil fueled vehicles, planes, boats, and helicopters? Same for the private citizens? When do they end the use of all the airports and seaports?

Yale Climate Connections: Charlotte, what got you concerned about climate change in the first place?

Charlotte Madin: I was born in Sydney, Australia, and I lived there until I was eight years old. And while I lived there, my family and I would often experience really large heat waves that would make us essentially have to evacuate our home and go to the nearest air-conditioned place because my mother was concerned that my sister and I would be sick or have health concerns due to this heat.

The entire time I’ve lived in Hawaii, about eight years now, I’ve noticed the beautiful ocean and the biodiversity of the coral reefs just slowly becoming less and less healthy, which is really challenging to see, especially since both my parents are marine biologists….

So, wait, she and her family took a long fossil fueled flight from Sydney? I can bet her parents both use fossil fueled boats. And, more importantly, the Hawaiian DOT is taking advice from a 16 year old (is she even a US citizen?)? That’s nuts.

YCC: What are some of the major points that the settlement requires the government to do?

Zeigler: The settlement requires HDOT to decarbonize the transportation sector by 2045, which means zero emissions from ground, marine, and interisland air transportation. And the settlement provides benchmarks and requirements for what HDOT needs to do to reach zero emissions.

Well, good luck with that. And good luck thinking people are going to take expensive vacations to Hawaii and have to travel by bike and such.