Eva v Goliath: the 20-year-old climate activist taking on Trump and the fossil fuel industry

Key points

• Eva Lighthiser was at a dorm party on her Colorado college campus last month when she had to call it an early night.
• “I said, ‘Hey, I’ve got to go to bed, I’m flying out to Portland tomorrow,’ and then of course follow-up questions get raised,” she said.
• “I’m like, ‘Well, it’s a lot to explain.’” When the 20-year-old climate activist isn’t deciding her major – she is leaning toward environmental studies – she is preparing testimony for her lawsuit against the US president, Lighthiser v Trump.
• She and 22 other young Americans are accusing the US federal government of violating their constitutional rights by passing executive orders boosting planet-warming fossil fuels.
• Even though the ninth circuit court dismissed Lighthiser v Trump in the fall, Lighthiser and her fellow plaintiffs went to Portland, Oregon, in April to urge the court to reconsider.