Teens challenge US government for not protecting them from climate change

If allowed to go forward, plaintiffs in Oregon will ask court to hold government responsible for violating their rights to life, liberty, property and equal protection

Twenty-one teenagers appeared in an Oregon courtroom to challenge the federal government over what they claim is a failure to protect them from the impacts of climate change, while several hundred schoolchildren protested outside.

While the mass of children, their parents, chaperones and local activists lined up in the rain on Wednesday, trying to get in to watch the proceedings, Judge Thomas Coffin of the US district court in Eugene, Oregon, questioned the lawyers on the government's claim that the case should be thrown out.