A Fight For Our Future: An Interview with Climate Activist Delaney Reynolds

Youth climate activist Delaney Reynolds presents at a TEDx event in Miami in 2016. Photo by TEDxYouth Miami. 

Buried under the ongoing slew of breaking news surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and post-election coverage, climate change remains a real threat to the lives and livelihoods of many Americans, and it is an issue that should not fall by the wayside. Many young people agree, and concern for the environment is significant among younger generations in the United States. A September 2020 poll found that 16 percent of American voters between 18 and 29 rated climate change as their most important issue, with only the economy ranking higher. At a time when partisan affiliation influences many political views, many young voters—including more than half of registered young Republicans and an overwhelming share of young Democrats—favor a range of government initiatives to reduce the impact of climate change. This indicates that which young Americans know better than most: climate change should not be a political issue.

In what they see as a battle for their future, youth activists are taking action and demanding that today’s lawmakers do more to protect the environment. Among those leading the charge is Delaney Reynolds, a 21-year-old climate activist and educator based in South Florida. A current Marine Science student at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, Delaney has grown up in both Miami and No Name Key, a 1,000-acre island with 43 solar powered homes in the Florida Keys. She is the Founder and C.E.O. of her N.G.O., The Sink or Swim Project, an educational and political advocacy organization focused on addressing climate change, sea level rise, and other environmental issues. 

In April 2018, Delaney became the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit Reynolds v. State of Florida. Along with seven other young people from all over Florida, and helped by lawyers from Our Children’s Trust, Delaney filed a complaint against then-Governor of Florida Rick Scott and the State of Florida, alleging a failure to uphold duties outlined in the Florida Constitution and the Public Trust Doctrine. This ongoing lawsuit seeks to challenge Florida’s operation of a fossil fuel energy based system and obligate Florida’s elected officials to do more in protecting the state’s natural resources and addressing climate change through the judiciary system.

I sat down with Delaney to discuss her journey in activism, the status of her lawsuit, and how other young people can get involved in the environmental cause. The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity. The full episode of the Columbia Political Review Podcast can be found on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Since becoming a prominent youth climate activist, you have addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations, been featured in National Geographic's Earth Day issue, and have been called "one of the leading voices for the environment for our generation." What drove you to get involved in the environmental cause, and how did you first get started?

It was a gradual introduction to the topic of climate change. I grew up splitting my time between Miami and a very small 1000 acre island in the Florida Keys called No Name Key. It's a very special place. It's in the middle of two wildlife refuges, so there's all sorts of unique nature there. There are only 40 houses on the island, and they're all solar powered, so I grew up learning about sustainability. Growing up in these two very different places, but always around the water, fishing, swimming, boating, I developed a love for the ocean and our natural environment, and always knew that I wanted to study marine science in some capacity when I was older. That love for nature ultimately led me to write, illustrate and publish three children's books on ecology topics based on that island in the Florida Keys. As I was researching and writing about those animals and habitats, I was learning more and more about how climate change would impact that island, the state of Florida, the United States, and the world as a whole. What I was reading was scary and concerning. So, I decided that I wanted to write my fourth book on climate change and sea level rise. I started to interview scientists to learn as much of the science as I could, I started to interview politicians to learn what they were doing in their municipalities, and I started to interview business and home owners here in South Florida to learn how they were being impacted by rising seas. I started to curate these stories and tell them in hopes that people could put themselves in our shoes and understand what we've been facing down here. Along the way, I decided that I wanted to share the knowledge that I was learning with other kids because I had never even heard of the term climate change until I did my own research, and so I assumed that there were some other kids who probably had the same experience. I started to give PowerPoint presentations and lectures to kids my age, and then it expanded to older children, younger children, and adults. Eventually, I started a nonprofit organization called The Sink or Swim Project that educates people about climate change, but also does a lot of political advocacy work, which is where the work with the United Nations that you mentioned stems from.

Your story and activism are incredibly inspiring. You mentioned your roots in South Florida as really a catalyst for your getting involved. South Florida is considered "ground zero" for the devastating effects of climate change and sea level rise. As you mentioned, your organization The Sink or Swim Project, focuses on these urgent environmental issues in your hometown of Miami and in South Florida. What does the science say about sea level rise in Florida, and how can we work to stop it?

The most unfortunate part of sea level rise science is that two to three feet of sea rise is going to happen. It's set in stone because of the damage that we've already done, so we are expecting that, and we're already seeing some of it. But now, scientists are predicting that by the end of the century, 2100, we could be seeing six feet, seven feet, eight feet, nine feet, ten feet. That’s very scary; at that point, South Florida no longer exists. We're going to have people become climate refugees; in Miami-Dade County alone, where I'm from, 2.5 million people are expected to become climate refugees forced from their homes, because they can no longer live in them due to flooding seas. It's a very scary and real thing, and it's only a matter of time if we don't start to implement the serious solutions that we need. Right now, we experience about six days per year of sunny day flooding, which is flooding on a perfectly sunny day. No rain—just salt water rising higher than it typically does, and by 2030, scientists predict that we will see about 80 flooding days per year. By 2045, by the time that I'm just 45 years old, so all within our lifetimes, we could see 380 flooding events per year, meaning sometimes more than once a day during the two high tides. That's the reality, our sad reality here in South Florida. How do we fix it? What do we do about that? Well, we have to go to the root of the problem, and that's carbon dioxide emissions and burning fossil fuels. The only way for us to truly solve the climate change crisis is to cut back and ultimately eliminate our burning of fossil fuels and carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, because that's what's causing the problem.

A 2016 sunny day tidal flooding due to sea level rise in downtown Miami. Photo by Wikimedia user B137. 

You are the lead plaintiff in Reynolds v. The State of Florida, a landmark constitutional climate lawsuit in Florida, that has received national attention. What are the goals of this lawsuit, and what inspired you to take legal action against the Florida state government?

A few years ago, I read about a federal lawsuit that 21 youth plaintiffs were taking to court against the United States government for inaction on climate change. I was really inspired by their bravery, and I figured that that was something maybe Florida could use as well, especially because we have had three terms in a row of a governor who completely denies climate change. Our former governor [Rick Scott] wouldn't even talk about it; he would always say “I'm not a scientist.” He actually banned the state government from using terms such as “climate change,” “sea level rise,” and “global warming” within all government work. It's completely immoral, and that's just one of the many things that he's done against the environment. So, I figured: maybe we could do something here. I reached out to the team of lawyers, called Our Children's Trust, involved with the federal lawsuit, and I asked if they wanted to do something similar here in Florida. They wrote me back enthusiastically and said that they had actually just started to work on something in Florida. We got together and found a bunch of other friends from across the state. There's eight plaintiffs in total, all youths, and we put together a fantastic team of lawyers who are all working pro bono because they simply care about the environment and agree with our cause. So, we filed in April of 2018 on the basis that the Florida governor, government, Commissioner of Agriculture, and other members of the Cabinet are not doing their duties outlined in the Florida Constitution and something called the Public Trust Doctrine. The Public Trust Doctrine says the government has the responsibility to protect public trust resources, and that includes beaches, waters, and the atmosphere. By pumping massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, they're not doing the job that's outlined in these legal documents. What we're asking of the courts is to tell the government that they have to do their job by cutting back carbon emissions and by putting laws and plans in place that will accomplish that goal. We're not asking the courts to do this because they can't do that. We're just simply asking the court to tell the government to do their job. What we would like to see come out of this is the government creating plans that will cut back carbon emissions or ultimately eliminate them in the state of Florida, in order to transition our economy from one based on fossil fuels to one based on sustainable energy. These plans are not only better for the environment, but they’re also better for the state's pocketbook and its citizens. 

What is the current status of the lawsuit?

We filed our complaint in April 2018, and we had our first hearing this summer. Although the judge did choose to dismiss our case, he did so on the basis of one argument; so, he literally said: "I'm doing you guys a favor". Now we have put in an appeal, and we're waiting to hear back. Hopefully, we will be going to the district court of appeals very soon, and we're staying optimistic about the outcome of the case. We think that we still have a really good shot.

As you mentioned in the complaint, you allege that through the creation and operation of fossil fuel based energy systems, the state of Florida has "created an exacerbated unconstitutional conditions," including but not limited to "dangerous increasing temperatures, rising seas and storm surge flooding, ocean acidification, freshwater degradation, resource and species extinctions," just to name a few. Can you talk about what this “right to a future” legal argument entails? What specific governmental actions do you hope to see if the Florida State Government does have to implement new policy and address your case? 

Science tells us that burning fossil fuels and emitting carbon dioxide into our atmosphere is the cause of climate change. It heats up the atmosphere because it traps extra sun rays in it, which melts ice and glaciers, which causes sea level rise, which causes thermal expansion and a list of other things. By the government not doing their job, not protecting our environment, and taking money from these polluting companies such as oil, gas, and utility companies, they're protecting profits rather than our future. By not protecting our future, by allowing our state to continue to pollute, continuing to pump massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and literally watching South Florida waste away and drown, they're not protecting our future. They're not protecting our rights to property. They're not protecting our rights to life. We are no longer going to be able to live in South Florida if they don't start to solve this problem. We're seeing our beaches get washed away; Miami Beach is having to constantly replenish itself. There are grassroots movements in cities all over South Florida, because the state isn't doing anything to address climate change, and that's immoral. It's leaving its citizens out to dry. We can't tell them exactly what to do, and we are simply asking the court to tell them to do their job. What I would like to see them do is enact laws that will either create some sort of carbon tax or carbon fee and dividend that would force these polluting companies to cut back their carbon emissions, or just outright say these types of businesses are no longer allowed to operate, and you have to shift towards sustainable energies. Because then we could, in a timeframe that would be best for our environment, make a real difference. We only have about seven years until it's irreversible, some scientists say; so if they would just do that as quickly as possible, then I think that we have a fighting chance here in Florida, beyond what we're already experiencing and going to experience. 

Along with Reynolds v. The State of Florida, there are a number of other youth-led constitutional climate cases, including the federal case Juliana v. The United States. To what extent do you think these lawsuits are an effective way for young people to provoke action from our government?

I think they're extremely effective. While a lot of cases here in the United States have, unfortunately, faced a lot of political morass, there are cases outside of the United States all over the world that have done tremendously. For example, there was recently a lawsuit in Colombia filed by children, where they were asking their government to protect the Amazon for future generations and to stop deforestation. And they won the lawsuit. The government of Colombia now has the obligation to stop deforestation, and to protect the Amazon more than it already is, and that's just one example of a winning lawsuit with children. Another example is in the Netherlands. They had so many plaintiffs, about 86 plaintiffs of all ages, from youth to the Boomer generation, all of them basically to represent the fact that every single generation needs to and does care about climate change. What they brought to their government and to their courts was the fact that their government was not upholding duties that they had signed onto in the Paris Accords and in the climate C.O.P. [Conference of Parties] agreements, and the courts found that the government was violating those agreements that they had set. This is the very interesting part: they also found that the government was infringing upon their citizens rights to life, water, and property, much like what we're suing for here in the United States. And again, the plaintiffs won that case in the Netherlands. So if other places and other countries all over the world are able to pull through with these different lawsuits, and set forth these different plans to cut back their carbon emissions to protect their local environments, then there's absolutely no reason why we shouldn't be doing that here in the United States. In fact, the United States should be a global leader when it comes to the climate change crisis. We should be the ones taking action, leading the way when it comes to implementing sustainable energies, because we are a world leader, as a country. We need to take responsibility for that. We need to take responsibility for the fact that we are one of the top polluters, and we need to fix that, so that other countries around the world can see us doing that and follow suit. 

You mentioned that you believe the United States should be a leader and innovator in combating climate change around the world, but there are many U.S. politicians and people in power who still deny climate change or refuse to look at the science about it. Recently, during her confirmation hearings, Justice Amy Coney Barrett was asked about her stance on the climate crisis. She responded, "I don't think that my views on global warming or climate change are relevant to the job I would do as a judge." What would you say to Justice Barrett or any other person in a position of power who doesn't see climate change as an urgent threat?

I'd say that they're doing a disservice to their country and their citizens, and that it's completely immoral to say things like that and to believe that. Climate change is going to impact every single aspect of society. It doesn't see blue. It doesn't see red. It's not political. Whether you're on the west coast in California, and you're experiencing wildfires that are exacerbated by increased temperatures; whether you're here in South Florida, experiencing rising seas, or monstrous hurricanes that are again exacerbated by climate change; whether you're in the heartland of America, and you're experiencing decreased crop yields because of increased temperatures, not a single person is going to be able to live their life without seeing some sort of impact from climate change. For them to believe that they shouldn't have an opinion or it doesn't matter for their job is completely wrong, because in one way or another, everyone will be impacted. Climate change shouldn't be a political issue, because it's not in any way political. It's simply science. But politics and special interests have made it a politicized and partisan issue, and that needs to stop. Otherwise, we're not going to have a future here in South Florida, or all of California is going to burn down. 

There are many young people across the country who know that climate change is the most important challenge facing our generation, but don't really know how to get involved. What advice would you give to other young people who don't know where to start?

The youth generation is what gives me the most hope when it comes to solving this climate change crisis. I just want to put that out there. I think that it's so inspiring, seeing so many youth all over the world, hundreds of millions, if not billions, of kids flooding streets demanding climate justice during these climate strikes. We are going to change the world; we are going to be the ones to solve this problem, because we have to and we know that. So, what I would suggest for kids who want to get involved is: obviously, there are little things that you can do around your home with your family, whether it's changing light bulbs, or maybe changing your schedule to bike, or walk, or carpool with friends when coronavirus isn't a concern. Take the little steps in your everyday lives to try to cut back your carbon emissions, whether it's in your house, at your school, anything like that. As I've said, the root of the problem is fossil fuel emissions, so if we can cut that back, then that's the biggest help to our environment that we can make. I would say that the second most helpful thing that we can do to get involved is by reaching out to our local politicians, whether it's by writing them a letter, sending them an email, or calling their office. Set up a meeting with them—over Zoom for now—and ask them what they're doing in their municipality to combat climate change. If they're not doing anything, try to come up with some ideas and work with them on how they could be doing something. If they're already doing things, see how you can help and what you can do. You can get a group of friends together and work on this as well. There's power in numbers; we've seen that, we know it. The more youth voices that we can get behind a cause, the better. So I would suggest reaching out to your local politicians and try to find a way to work with them, because we as youth have a very unique voice when it comes to climate change, or really any social justice issues. We are current and future voters for politicians, and we will make up a vast majority of the population. What's really interesting is that politicians tend to listen to us, and it also kind of looks bad if they don't. What I've seen through my work here in South Florida with the city of South Miami, Miami Dade County as a whole, and Palmetto Bay is that politicians really do tend to listen to kids and like to work with us if you just simply reach out. Use your voice on whatever issues you're passionate about, even if it's not climate change. Simply reaching out is where to start, and then build a relationship and talk about different solutions and ways that you can change things. There's always a pathway there. 

Nicolas Lama is a staff writer at CPR and a first-year in Columbia College studying Economics, Political Science, and East Asian Languages. As a native South Floridian, he is also an environmental activist and works to highlight the threats climate change poses in his own hometown