REUTERS: US$1 billion lawsuit against world leaders for global warming

http://blogs.reuters.com/environment/2008/11/28/sue-world-leaders-1-billion-for-global-warming/

Aaron Gray-Block reports from Reuters today:

Tags: Environment, climate treaty, crimes against humanity, global warming, greenhouse emissions, international criminal court...James Lovelock, James Hansen, Mark Lynas, Fred Pearce, Tim Flannery, Sharon Astyk, James Howard Kunstler

AMSTERDAM -- In a global stunt, a U.S. environmental activist is poised to lodge a $1 billion damages class action lawsuit at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against all world leaders for failing to prevent global warming.

Activist and blogger Dan Bloom says he will sue world leaders for “intent to commit manslaughter against future generations of human beings by allowing murderous amounts of fossil fuels to be harvested, burned and sent into the atmosphere as CO2″.

He intends to lodge the lawsuit in the week starting Sunday, Dec. 6.

The prosecutor’s office at the ICC, the world’s first permanent court (pictured below right) for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, says it is allowed to receive information on crimes that may fall within the court’s jurisdiction from any source.

“Such information does not per se trigger a judicial proceeding,” the prosecutor’s office hastened to add.

The question is: will or should the prosecutor take on the case?

One might argue in defence that world leaders are in fact trying to impose climate-saving measures. In Vienna last year, almost all rich nations agreed to consider cuts in greenhouse emissions of 25-40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Talks on a new climate treaty will be held in Poznan, Poland, from Dec. 1-12.

Rajendra Pachauri, head of the U.N. Climate Panel, says the cuts are needed to limit temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius, an amount seen by the EU, some other nations and many environmentalists as a threshold for “dangerous” climate change.

Granted then that there is growing consensus that climate change poses a real threat, is it not only world leaders who are failing to prevent global warming?

Perhaps the global collective of individuals, governments and industry is to blame and the ICC lawsuit a valid publicity stunt in the constant battle to raise awareness and prompt action?

Because it’s action we need — and now, right?

Putting Climate Laggards on Trial

MITCHELL ANDERSON'S BLOG, [DESMOGBLOG] - November 21, 2008

PUTTING CLIMATE LAGGARDS ON TRIAL

by Mitchell Anderson, [published originally on DeSmogBlog]

------------------------------------------

Ballsy.

That is perhaps best word to describe a class action lawsuit filed this week in the International Criminal Court in The Hague in Holland against national governments refusing to act on reducing carbon emissions.

The suit was filed by climate activist Danny Bloom who is asking for "US$1 billion dollars in damages on behalf of future generations of human beings on Earth - if there are any".

No Joke.

The lawsuit is specifically seeking damages from ""all world leaders for intent to commit manslaughter against future generations of human beings by allowing murderous amounts of fossil fuels to be harvested, burned and sent into the atmosphere as CO2, causing possible apocalyptic harm to the Earth's ecosystem and the very future of the human species."

The point of the suit of course is not to wring money out of carbon emitters, but to embarrass the legions of laggard governments in advance of upcoming international climate negotiations next month in Poland.

According to Bloom, the legal action "is about trying to protect future generations of mankind, humankind, and a positive judgment in this case will help prod more people to take the issues of climate change and global warming more seriously. We fully intend to make all world leaders of today responsible for their actions in the present day and age."

This case is a legal long shot no doubt, but Bloom's team said ""it's up to the court to decide whether this case has any merit. We fully expect the court to agree to at least hear the case and make a responsible and measured decision later."

It would also be the first case of its kind to seek to act on behalf of future generations for the irresponsibility of their ancestors.

The need to put world leaders on the hot seat is very real. International climate talks like the one happening next month in Poland have happening for over a decade yet global emissions just keep climbing. A recent report showed that in spite of international commitments, carbon emissions of 40 industrialized countries rose by 2.3 percent between 2000 and 2006.

That said, those countries that signed Kyoto saw their overall emissions fall by 17% below 1990. The disgraceful outlier among those nations is Canada, whose emissions ballooned by over 20% in spite of having ratifying Kyoto.

Canada's Prime Minister Harper has called Kyoto a "mistake" and he seems openly contemptuous of such international efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. Mr. Harper is of course not alone in the responsibility for Canada' terrible climate change record. The Canadian public recently handed him another mandate in a general election.

Back to Mr. Bloom. His lawsuit seems directly targeted towards such irresponsible nations like Canada that have refused to take this issue seriously.

If he wins, Bloom is planning to donate the $1 billion in damages to the Nobel winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Godspeed Mr. Bloom.

------------------
Source: DeSmogBlog
http://www.desmogblog.com

The DeSmogBlog team is led by Jim Hoggan, founder of one of Canada's leading public relations firms. He is also a board member of the David Suzuki Foundation. The DeSmogBlog team is especially grateful to our benefactor John Lefebvre, a lawyer, internet entrepreneur and past-president of NETeller. Editorial assistance on the blog is provided by renowned author Ross Gelbspan and by Richard Littlemore, an award-winning science and magazine writer. Kevin Grandia oversees the project as a whole.

Tags: Mitchell Anderson, Environment, George W. Bush, Government Policy, climate change, global warming, U.S. Senate Committee On The Environment And Public Works,

Mitchell Anderson's blog [Login or register at DeSmogBlog to post comments]

Class action lawsuit against world leaders for allowing global warming being filed at the International Criminal Court in the Hague

Class action lawsuit against world leaders for allowing global warming being filed at the International Criminal Court in the Hague

Class action lawsuit against global warming puts world leaders on notice



Nov 06, 3008

Think Don Quixote had it hard tilting at windmills? Now comes climate activist Danny Bloom with a class action lawsuit against all current world leaders for allowing global warming to proceed apace, and he's asking for US1$billion in damages to be paid to future generations of human beings -- "if there are any", he deadpans.

Let's check that again: Bloom is filing his lawsuit at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, the Netherlands, asking for "US$1 billion dollars in damages on behalf of future generations of human beings on Earth."

Bloom said he is filing the lawsuit with the help of a team of pro bono international lawyers to sue -- according to the proposed lawsuit's language -- "all world leaders for intent to commit manslaughter against future generations of human beings by allowing murderous amounts of fossil fuels to be harvested, burned and sent into the atmosphere as CO2, causing possible apocalyptic harm to the Earth's ecosystem and the very future of the human species."

That's strong language, and while it's likely not one giant step for humankind, Bloom says it's another "public wake-up call about the dangers of climate change and global warming pose for the future of the human species."

The 60-year-old climate activist is not kidding. While asking for damages of US$1 billion, Bloom says he and his team plan to donate any damages granted by the court to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- winner of the Novel Prize for Peace in 2007, along with green campaigner Al Gore -- and other groups fighting climate change -- "before it is too late".

The lawsuit, if is accepted by the court, will be the first of its kind to lobby for the welfare and very existence of future generations of human beings, according Bloom.

"This is not about money," according to a press release issued by Bloom's legal team in Boston. "This is about trying to protect future generations of mankind, humankind, and a positive judgment in this case will help prod more people to take the issues of climate change and global warming more seriously. We fully intend to make all world leaders of today responsible for their actions in the present day and age."

When asked what the likelihood of such a class action lawsuit being heard by the court in the Hague, a representative of the legal team said: "It's up to the court to decide whether this case has any merit. We fully expect the court to agree to at least hear the case and make a responsible and measured decision later."

The ICC currently has 108 member nations and was set up in 1998. It began hearing cases in 2002 and was established as a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression, although it cannot currently exercise jurisdiction over the crime of aggression.

Don Quixote, move over. A global class action lawsuit against global warmings is now making headlines around the world, and not everyone is laughing. Bloom admits that many people "are laughing", but insists that he is "sincere in trying to issue this wake up call about the dangers of climate change".

A psychiatrist at a teaching hospital in the midwest said, when asked about this lawsuit: "What an ingenious idea. Although I have
no knowledge about whether this could ever have any practical merit,
it certainly has psychological merit. One of the main psychological challenges of climate change is to make it seem more immediate and important to people."