From record heat waves to hurricanes to unprecedented wildfires, the devastating consequences of climate change continue to ravage our cities. One of the most recent examples of these impacts is the Lahaina wildfire.

Recent scientific studies on climate change paint a bleak picture of the biosphere. In reaction to this large-scale destruction and impending international global crisis, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres stated that the “world must step up” to protect the Earth from “the immediate and ever-growing risk of the climate emergency.” The Rights of Nature (RoN) legal approach is a system communities around the globe can implement to “step up” responses to the climate change threat and mitigate climate change impacts through an alternative legal mechanism.

In the past, when summer winds down and fall begins, the threats of a wildfire catching spark would diminish until the following summer. Recently, however, that threat has extended to be year long due to decades long droughts and disappearing snow caps. 

Climate change activists across the world, frustrated by the inaction of world leaders to address climate change, have transitioned from traditional protests to demonstrative non-violent protests like vandalizing famous works of art and supergluing themselves at various locations. While their methods may be unorthodox, their message is being spread as they make headline news.  The message? That climate change is tied to capitalism and has a larger socio economic impact.

War, famine, and human rights issues. These concepts are typically what one may think of when hearing the word “refugee.” However, a less common notion thought of when considering refugee crises is climate change. The number of climate change refugees is steadily rising and becoming more common as climate change itself continues to occur. Climate change and human rights issues are deeply intertwined, particularly when extreme changes in a natural environment leads to the displacement of individuals.

Hearing the words “Inflation Reduction Act” does not necessarily trigger thoughts of environmental legislation nor efforts of reducing the negative impacts of climate change. However, not only does President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (“the Act”) combat inflation and lower healthcare costs, it also heavily invests in clean energy. In fact, Congress has never passed such expansive investments in combatting climate change. The Act seeks to delegate funds that will invest in clean energy, allowing the United States to return to its leadership role as a major player in combatting against climate change.

As the climate crisis continues to ravage the planet and government action remains limited, some people have resorted to extreme measures to draw attention to the problem. Some of these actions include blocking barges full of coal from leaving port, fraudulently bidding on oil and gas leases, and turning off transcontinental oil pipelines. Many of the individuals who commit such acts have faced criminal prosecution.