Commencement 2025: Honorary Degree Lecture
May 16 @ 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm EDT
Julia Olson, co-executive director and chief legal counsel for Our Children’s Trust, will present, “Children’s Climate Rights: Foundation of Democracy.”
Olson founded Our Children’s Trust in 2010 to empower young people to secure their climate rights, protect their futures, and save our planet. In August 2023, they made history with Held v. State of Montana, the first children’s constitutional climate trial resulting in a landmark win for youth. In June 2024, with Navahine v. Hawai‘i Department of Transportation, Our Children’s Trust achieved the first settlement agreement of a youth-led constitutional climate case directed at stopping pollution from a transportation system.
Today, Olson directs the organization’s cutting-edge legal strategy and serves as lead counsel on its federal cases, Juliana v. United States and Genesis v. EPA. Olson has received numerous awards, including the Kerry Rydberg Award for Environmental Activism (2017), Rose-Walters Prize for Global Activism (2018), Katharine & George Alexander Law Prize (2022), and Berkeley Law’s Environmental Leadership Award (2024). In 2023, TIME100Climate called her one of the world’s most influential leaders driving climate action. Olson received her JD from University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, and her BA from University of Colorado.
This event will also be available to stream virtually. The link will posted on this page prior to the lecture.
We look forward to seeing you!
