THE ENERGY AND RESOURCES GROUP PRESENTS: SPEAKER: Julia Olson Executive Director & Chief Legal Counsel Our Children’s Trust DATE: March 3, 2021 TIME: 4:00-5:30 PM LOCATION: Zoom MEETING ID: 978 9752 3708 NOTE: Participants who are not eligible for a UC Berkeley-provided Zoom account can use a Zoom account provided by their institution, can create a free, consumer Zoom account (at https://zoom.us/freesignup/), or can dial in via the phone. DESCRIPTION:  Julia Olson will discuss constitutional climate lawsuits, focusing on Juliana v. United States, and the important intersection of science and constitutional law. This landmark case was filed in 2015 by twenty-one youth against the U.S. government for its affirmative actions that cause and contribute to the climate crisis and violate the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property. The youth plaintiffs seek a declaration of their constitutional rights and a national, comprehensive, science-based, and just climate recovery plan. Julia will be joined by a plaintiff and they will discuss next steps as they head to the U.S. Supreme Court. BIOGRAPHY: Julia Olson graduated from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, with a J.D. in 1997. For the first part of her 22-year career, Julia represented grassroots conservation groups working to protect the environment, organic agriculture, and human health. After becoming a mother, and realizing the greatest threat to her children and children everywhere was climate change, she focused her work on representing young people and elevating their voices on the issue that will most determine the quality of their lives and the well-being of all future generations. Julia founded Our Children’s Trust in 2010 to lead this strategic legal campaign on behalf of the world’s youth against governments everywhere. Julia leads Juliana v. the United States, the constitutional climate change case brought by 21 youth against the U.S. government for violating their Fifth Amendment rights to life, liberty, property, and public trust resources. Julia and OCT are recipients of the Rose-Walters Prize for Global Environmental Activism. She received the Kerry Rydberg Award for Environmental Activism in 2017 and is a member of Rachel’s Network Circle of Advisors. To rejuvenate, Julia loves being high up in the mountains with her family and her dog or playing tunes on her ukulele with friends.