Artwork: Jessica Holmes, Photo: Provided by Subject

Jayden Foytlin is part of Teen Vogue’s 21 Under 21 class of 2018, which spotlights extraordinary young women, girls, and femmes making waves in their industries or passions of choice.

“It seems natural to me to want to protect our Mother Earth,” 15-year-old Jayden Foytlin says. “I live in south Louisiana, where we lose a football field’s worth of wetlands every hour, partially due to rising sea levels. Those wetlands soak up water and decrease the chances of flooding in our communities. My own home has flooded two times in the last two years.”

Jayden, an indigenous and Cajun teen, is one of 21 young people currently suing the president and the federal government of the United States in defense of the environment. Their constitutional climate lawsuit aims to hold the government accountable for furthering the effects of climate change, calling for a federal Climate Recovery Plan in line with both the best-available science and climate justice. The government, they say in the suit, has “violated the youngest generation’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, as well as failed to protect essential public trust resources.”

Jayden has been a part of the complaint since it began, when she was 12, because she sees the global issue as “not only the greatest threat to where I live, but of this time.”

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon in 2015, with support from the nonprofit organization Our Children’s Trust. Since then, Jayden and the other teens involved have received major pushback from climate change deniers, the fossil fuel industry, and especially from the Trump administration, whose lawyers have attempted to stop the suit from going to trial on numerous occasions with their “drastic and extraordinary” petition, arguing that the case should be dismissed. At the end of October, Juliana v. U.S. was put on hold by Chief Justice John Roberts after the federal government made an additional request, and as a result, is expected to continue into 2019.

“People think that because I am under the voting age, I must be brainwashed or something. That is just an attempt to invalidate my voice and concerns,” Jayden says. “I handle that by connecting with my co-plaintiffs in the case, to talk and get support. But the thing is, I know what I know. Once you experience these disasters and look at the data, I know that my age doesn’t discredit science.”

“Small actions lead to big actions,” Jayden continues, noting how proud she is to call for change with so many other “amazing” young people who share her concerns and care for the earth. “If you have a passion, look for other people in your community that do, too. Although it may not always be easy, all it takes is courage and teamwork to turn a small act into a big difference.”