The Alaska Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Oct. 9 on the constitutionality of Alaska’s energy policy promoting development of oil and gas. The plaintiffs in Sinnok vs the state of Alaska are 16 young Alaskans ranging in age from 5 to 22.
Several of the plaintiffs spoke outside the courthouse after the oral arguments. They described the effects of climate change on their lives.
Esau Sinnok, Inupiaq and age 21, is the lead plaintiff in the case. He’s from Shishmaref, in northwest Alaska. There, sea ice no longer protects the shore from pounding winter storms. The shoreline is also weakened by melting permafrost. The island, which is only a quarter of a mile wide, is quickly losing ground to the sea. As the island shrinks, roads, houses, and other infrastructure are being destroyed by erosion.
Bernadette Demientieff, Gwich'in Athabascan, is from Fort Yukon, Alaska, in eastern interior Alaska just north of the Arctic Circle. She’s the director of the Gwich’in Steering Committee, a group fighting oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Children shouldn’t have to worry about the future of the planet, she said.
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