Too Young to Vote. Old Enough to Sue: New Documentary Follows Wisconsin Youth Fighting for Their Future
WHEN Justice goes inside a youth-led legal climate challenge through the stories of an eight-year-old with respiratory issues, Indigenous water protectors, a teenager whose family fled a climate-linked disaster, and the attorneys working to give them their day in court.
What happens when children believe the adults responsible for protecting their future aren’t listening?
Climate on Trial, a new short documentary produced by WHEN Justice, takes viewers inside the lives of Wisconsin youth who have turned to the courts to defend their right to a livable future.
The film follows 6 of the 15 young plaintiffs at the center of Dunn v. Wisconsin Public Service Commission, a constitutional climate lawsuit challenging Wisconsin laws that, according to the plaintiffs, prohibit regulators from considering air pollution when permitting fossil fuel projects and restrict consideration of renewable energy alternatives.
Represented by Our Children’s Trust and Midwest Environmental Advocates, the young plaintiffs are currently appealing a circuit court’s spring 2026 dismissal of their case.
“I enjoy protecting my home, America... but I also don't want to do this. I want the leaders to be leading.”
Beyond following the ongoing litigation, the documentary captures a generation confronting a fundamental contradiction: they are too young to vote, yet they are already living with the consequences of decisions made by their governments. So they’re choosing to stand up for themselves, and for the places and futures they hope to protect.
“I enjoy protecting my home, America,” says Caroline, an eight-year-old plaintiff who keeps an inhaler nearby due to worsening air quality. “But I also don't want to do this. I want the leaders to be leading.”
Alongside Caroline, the film features the case’s named plaintiff Kaarina Dunn, an 18-year-old whose family faced the aftermath of a massive rockslide near their home following increasingly volatile weather conditions. It also features Indigenous siblings describing how climate change is affecting their relationship with the land and their ability to carry cultural traditions forward.
As a nonprofit working to bring more people and capital behind the case, WHEN’s team set out to experience the stories firsthand – traveling across Wisconsin, visiting plaintiffs at home, and spending time with attorneys at work. Cameras captured the preparation of the appeal, conversations about what was at stake, and the next steps to keep the case moving through Wisconsin’s courts.
"When you meet these kids, you're filled with the hope that change is possible and the world we live in now might not be the world they have to inherit,” remarks Erica Matson, the film’s Director and WHEN’s VP of Production. “They're proud to be from Wisconsin, they love the outdoors and they're not afraid to take on adults and industry on a massive and public stage.”
Just days after the youth plaintiffs filed their appeal in June, WHEN launched a public crowdfunding campaign to help fund what comes next. The hope is that the documentary will not only amplify their story, but give those moved by it a tangible way to stand behind them.
“When you meet these kids, you're filled with the hope that change is possible and the world we live in now might not be the world they have to inherit.”
For journalists, the documentary offers access to a story that extends well beyond the courtroom: Who are the children willing to sue their own state over climate change, and what has happened in their lives to bring them there?
The film also captures the urgency felt by the plaintiffs and their attorneys, who argue that fossil fuel infrastructure approved and built today can remain in operation for decades.
“These kids can't vote, so they can't influence politics the way adults can,” Nate Bellinger, lead attorney for the plaintiffs and Our Children’s Trust’s Supervising Senior Staff Attorney, says in the film. “Fundamentally, these kids are suing not because there's animosity towards their state. It's because they love their state.”
WHEN Justice is making the documentary available to journalists interested in exploring the human stories behind one of Wisconsin’s most consequential youth-led climate cases.