{"id":451282,"date":"2026-05-20T14:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T14:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/451282\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T14:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T14:24:08","slug":"eva-v-goliath-the-20-year-old-climate-activist-taking-on-trump-and-the-fossil-fuel-industry-us-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/451282\/","title":{"rendered":"Eva v Goliath: the 20-year-old climate activist taking on Trump and the fossil fuel industry | US news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eva Lighthiser was at a dorm party on her Colorado<\/a> college campus last month when she had to call it an early night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Hey, I\u2019ve got to go to bed, I\u2019m flying out to Portland tomorrow,\u2019 and then of course follow-up questions get raised,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Well, it\u2019s a lot to explain.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

When the 20-year-old climate<\/a> activist isn\u2019t deciding her major \u2013 she is leaning toward environmental studies \u2013 she is preparing testimony for her lawsuit against the US president, Lighthiser v Trump<\/a>. She and 22 other young Americans are accusing the US federal government of violating their constitutional rights by passing executive orders boosting planet-warming fossil fuels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Even though a court dismissed Lighthiser v Trump<\/a> in the fall, Lighthiser and her fellow plaintiffs went to Portland, Oregon, in April to push for it to be reinstated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are challenging this administration for sacrificing the lives of myself and my fellow plaintiffs by expanding fossil fuels for the sake of power,\u201d she said in a speech outside the courthouse.<\/p>\n

It was a \u201cnerve-racking, but invigorating\u201d experience, Lighthiser said. In the coming months, the ninth circuit court of appeals, which covers Montana<\/a>, will decide if it will reinstate the youths\u2019 case.<\/p>\n

Lighthiser\u2019s affinity with the natural world was planted before she was born: her parents met as hiking buddies, and she grew up camping and climbing mountains in Livingston, Montana. During her first year of high school, she was home-schooled from the road, learning math and history while visiting national parks.<\/p>\n

A view of the Yellowstone River in Livingston, Montana.<\/p>\n

But she never imagined that her love for the outdoors would lead her to sue one of the most powerful people in the world. As a child, she was cautious, and even in adulthood, she does not naturally crave attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking on Trump, it\u2019s not the first thing that occurs to you that she would do,\u201d said her father, Mark, donning a well-worn Carhartt hoodie. \u201cI think Eva has had to push herself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018My name against his\u2019<\/p>\n

Lighthiser has now had six years to push herself. She began hearing about youth-led climate litigation in early 2020. A family friend told her about Our Children\u2019s Trust, a non-profit law firm that has been involved in dozens of legal actions<\/a> against governments across the US. They were hoping to bring a suit in Montana, the friend said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, wow, youth litigating,\u201d Lighthiser said. \u201cIt felt like a novel idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

She began sitting in on the group\u2019s Zoom calls and quickly decided to become a plaintiff in Held v Montana. Filed on her 14th birthday, the challenge alleged that her state\u2019s pro-fossil fuel policies violated provisions the state constitution guaranteed, including the right to a \u201cclean and healthful environment \u2026 for present and future generations\u201d. In 2023, it became the first lawsuit of its kind to go to trial. On the stand, Lighthiser spoke about her love for Montana and the climate threats it faces. \u201cMy future feels uncertain,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In a groundbreaking win, the judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. They are now pushing the state to enforce that victory; they say state lawmakers have enshrined new laws<\/a> that contradict the judge\u2019s ruling and should be overturned.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for Lighthiser to start thinking about the next challenge. In early 2025, she spoke at an event with Julia Olson, founder of Our Children\u2019s Trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt became clear early in the second Trump administration<\/a> that a federal case was something to pursue,\u201d Olson said. \u201cEva was actually one of the first youth who we were in conversation with and who wanted to be involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eva Lighthiser and her parents, Mark and Erica Lighthiser, at their home in Livingston. <\/p>\n

That May, Lighthiser was standing in her family home driveway, preparing to head to an overnight bike trip in the nearby Paradise valley. \u201cI got a call from one of my lawyers, and he was like, \u2018Hey, Eva, what\u2019s up? We\u2019re talking about this federal case. What do you think about being the lead plaintiff?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The attorney explained the responsibilities of the role, including the expectation that she mentor younger challengers. The lawsuit also would be called Lighthiser v Trump, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was really a moment when it clicked,\u201d she said. \u201cMy name against his name.\u201d<\/p>\n

A climate crisis in Montana<\/p>\n

Lighthiser can\u2019t imagine growing up anywhere but Montana<\/a>. A purple state with a long history of both conservation and environmental exploitation, it has sometimes been called a \u201cresource colony\u201d because its economy is driven by the extraction of raw materials to benefit wealthy moguls. The practice dates back to the 19th-century mining boom, and critics say it continues today, with, for instance, plans to mine more coal<\/a> to send to east Asia.<\/p>\n

But it is also a place where people of all party affiliations care about their local ecosystems, Lighthiser explained. An April poll<\/a> found that 90% of Montanans, including 82% of Republicans, said conservation issues were important when deciding whether to support an elected official.<\/p>\n

Eva Lighthiser takes a hike near her off-the-grid childhood home. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people who may not believe in climate change or be resistant to conversion to renewables,\u201d she said while driving down Livingston\u2019s main street. \u201cBut there\u2019s also a sense that everyone knows how special this place is, can see the beauty around them.\u201d<\/p>\n

That beauty is visible all around Livingston, her \u201ctight-knit, strange, little community of a town\u201d that draws ranchers and artists, as well as celebrities such as Jeff Bridges, Michael Keaton and John Mayer. From the towering Gallatin and Absaroka Range mountains to the Yellowstone River and its winding, babbling tributaries, Livingston is picaresque.<\/p>\n

But environmental threats are also visible everywhere. Blocks from Lighthiser\u2019s family home, mile-long coal trains spew coal dust daily. A climate-linked parasite killed tens of thousands of fish in 2016, closing parts of the Yellowstone River. Most alarmingly, extreme floods, a rarity during Lighthiser\u2019s early childhood, are now increasingly frequent. These deluges have upended her life, she said.<\/p>\n

The Lighthisers used to live 15 minutes outside town by the Shields River, which was the subject of a journal entry<\/a> by Capt William Clark during the Lewis and Clark expedition. In 2018, it flooded, washing out the bridge her family used to get into town. That forced the family to take a 30-minute detour each day \u2013 and ultimately convinced them to move.<\/p>\n

A coal and oil train running through Livingston. <\/p>\n

They had just settled into their new home when the Yellowstone River, just a three-minute walk away, overflowed in 2022. The waters inundated homes and turned streets into streams, causing $128m in damages<\/a>. But the community response amazed Lighthiser.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the following weeks, I remember there were a lot of efforts to clean up homes and help each other out,\u201d she remembered. \u201cI thought that was a really special thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Youth-led climate litigation provides Lighthiser with a similar sense of togetherness \u2013 a banding together in the face of disaster. As a plaintiff in Held v Montana, she began to see her fellow challengers as \u201cfamily\u201d, thanks in part to the closeness fostered by lead plaintiff Rikki Held, who helped her feel confident speaking publicly and regularly checked in on challengers during the \u201cemotional rollercoaster\u201d of court proceedings, she said. Now, as a named plaintiff, Lighthiser hopes to do the same for her co-challengers.<\/p>\n

She is accomplishing that goal, said Jorja McCormick, a 17-year-old plaintiff in the Lighthiser lawsuit who is also based in Livingston. McCormick first got to know Lighthiser when she spoke at the Green Initiative, an influential local climate club. Though she initially found the prospect of joining a lawsuit daunting, listening to Lighthiser\u2019s speeches made the process seem approachable. \u201cI definitely look up to the older plaintiffs like Eva,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Jorja McCormick, 17, a plaintiff in Lighthiser v Trump. <\/p>\n

Lighthiser\u2019s mother, Erica, is proud of her daughter for uniting young environmentalists, but she fears the scrutiny that the lawsuit could bring \u2013 particularly from a president who seems to prioritize retribution<\/a> against his political critics.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, it\u2019s our last name next to the president\u2019s last name,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I know there\u2019s a sense of duty or responsibility to future generations. I see that in her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The future of youth-led climate litigation<\/p>\n

Pat Parenteau, an environmental law expert at Vermont Law School, said he admired the courage Lighthiser and her fellow youth plaintiffs exhibited. But he worried about what cases like these could mean for environmental law at large. Though he had donated to Our Children\u2019s Trust and offered their \u201cvery good lawyers\u201d friendly legal advice, he fears their case could be seen as a form of overreach.<\/p>\n

Lighthiser v Trump employs a sweeping set of arguments to call for several pro-fossil fuel executive orders to be blocked. That goes beyond what courts tend to see as their role, Parenteau said.<\/p>\n

A replacement bridge now stands where a previous bridge collapsed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe courts are not able to reform the energy system of the United States, and they\u2019re not going to entertain requests for them to do that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When Dana Christensen, the district court judge in Montana, dismissed<\/a> Lighthiser v Trump last fall, he said he did so \u201creluctantly\u201d, but that the scope of the requests made by the plaintiffs was \u201cunworkable\u201d and outside the jurisdiction of the court. Parenteau does not expect the ninth circuit court of appeals to reinstate the youths\u2019 case, as Lighthiser and her fellow plaintiffs had asked it to do in Portland last month. If Our Children\u2019s Trust then brings their lawsuit to the supreme court, they could risk a far less sympathetic judgment \u2013 one that could be used to \u201cslam the door\u201d on other kinds of environmental lawsuits, Parenteau said.<\/p>\n

Courts have an easier time with cases that demonstrate injury has been caused by specific government actions, said Parenteau. The Lighthiser case instead makes the broad claim that certain executive orders \u2013 and the manifold policy decisions that they spark \u2013 are unconstitutional. That is a legally sound argument, he said, but not one that high court justices have \u201cany chance\u201d of backing.<\/p>\n

Eva Lighthiser and McCormick take a walk in Livingston. Photograph: Will Warasila\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re playing with fire with courts nowadays,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe in their cause, because what they\u2019re arguing is what the law ought to be, but it\u2019s not what the law is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olson declined to comment on whether she would take the case to the high court in the event of an unfavorable outcome from the ninth circuit court of appeals. Though she has \u201cenormous respect\u201d for Parenteau, she said concerns about negative court reactions to \u201cbold constitutional arguments\u201d had been \u201craised about every major civil rights advance in history, including cases that ultimately transformed American law\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe answer has never been to step back from the courthouse door,\u201d she said. \u201cChildren are being harmed right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Eva Lighthiser isn\u2019t deciding her major, she is preparing testimony for her lawsuit against Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

She is optimistic that the case could receive a favorable judgment. But even if it doesn\u2019t, bringing the lawsuits is still important because it educates judges about the climate harms facing young people, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t use our constitution, we will lose it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Lighthiser agrees that bold climate litigation is necessary to push the courts forward. If her lawsuit is successful, it would set an \u201cincredible legal precedent\u201d and force the government to \u201cacknowledge the fact that they are doing active harm to young people in this country\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

Eventually, youth climate litigation will be successful, Lighthiser said: \u201cThere are risks. But if you never take risks, nothing good happens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eva Lighthiser was at a dorm party on her Colorado college campus last month when she had to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-451282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}