Counter / Act
Counter / Act
When life-saving pollution limits are gutted…
When climate progress is reversed and the rule of law abandoned…
When public lands are fast-tracked for extraction…
Earthjustice goes to court.
Industrial smokestacks in the United States. (DKAR Images / Getty Images)
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We defend environmental laws that protect all of us.
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We seize every opportunity to build a better world.
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At every step, we Counter/Act.
Spenser Heaps for Earthjustice
Melissa Lyttle for Earthjustice
Tara Pixley for Earthjustice
Spenser Heaps for Earthjustice
Melissa Lyttle for Earthjustice
Tara Pixley for Earthjustice
Why Now?
The Trump administration is unleashing a wave of anti-environmental policies that threaten our health, safety, and future. Federal agencies are ignoring laws, defying court orders, and even threatening judges — all while the Supreme Court’s conservative majority enables their agenda. Polluters and their allies spent 40 years building to this moment. Now, they’re executing the most aggressive campaign in modern history to dismantle environmental protections and democratic safeguards.
If we don’t act now, we risk losing the foundational laws and institutions that protect our air, water, lands, and communities — possibly forever.
President Donald Trump signs executive actions to support the coal industry at an event in the East Room of the White House on April 8, 2025.
Why Earthjustice?
With over 50 years of experience, Earthjustice is the nation’s leading public-interest environmental law organization.
We’ve represented more than 1,500 clients — always free of charge. We are built to be effective in the face of adversity. And we are ready to meet this moment.
For decades, Earthjustice has worked to protect wildlife, public lands, and air quality in national parks and monuments across the country, such as Wyoming’s Grand Tetons National Park.
Business as usual will not be enough to stop the lawless agenda of the Trump administration, which is why Earthjustice has launched a bold campaign to Counter/Act — a strategic effort to bring the fight, shape the law, and force progress.
Bring the Fight
Filing smart lawsuits remains the first and best way to counter assaults on the environment and preserve essential protections.
A deliberate barrage of federal attacks requires us to be equally relentless in our response. We are growing our bench of expert litigators, policy experts, and communicators so that we can challenge our opponents in Washington at every turn. The fights ahead are not new, but their volume and intensity are unprecedented. Taking the government to court — along with their allies in polluting industries — has never been more important or more labor-intensive.
Counter/Act: Recruit and launch a world-class civil enforcement team
When the federal government shirks its duty to enforce the law, this new team can step in to support communities fighting back in court. “Citizen suits” and other enforcement actions let people directly sue known polluters, secure court orders and financial penalties, and expose what happens when we let industries regulate themselves.
The Trump administration is opening vast swaths of Alaska’s public lands and waters to fossil fuel companies, despite the toll on the region’s wildlife and the impacts to climate. We are meeting them head-on with lawsuits to safeguard the state’s incredible natural resources. Photos: Trans-Alaska Pipeline. (Sarkophoto / Getty Images) Grizzly bear in Alaska. (Paul Souders / Getty Images)
Shape the Law
If left unchecked, this Supreme Court could eviscerate the authority of any future president or Congress to address environmental crises.
It took polluters and their allies 40 years to elect politicians and seat judges friendly to their interests. Now, they are pursuing the most aggressive agenda in modern history to dismantle environmental laws and regulations.
Counter/Act: Expand our Strategic Legal Advocacy team
In 2021, we launched our Strategic Legal Advocacy (SLA) initiative to create a hub of Supreme Court and appellate expertise for environmental litigators. Today, our SLA court-watchers are in demand more than ever — so we need to hire more of them. We are building the capacity to ensure we can deliver free analysis, convenings, and representation for the entire movement. With savvy, well-coordinated legal strategy, we can help preserve vital environmental laws.
In the face of disruptive Supreme Court rulings, such as the Sackett v. EPA decision gutting federal protections for clean water and wetlands, Earthjustice is investing heavily in our Strategic Legal Advocacy team to navigate the changing legal landscape and secure wins in other legal venues, such as lower and state courts. Photos: Justices in the conservative supermajority on the U.S. Supreme Court. (Fred Schilling) Kirti Datla, Strategic Legal Advocacy Director for Earthjustice. (Melissa Lyttle for Earthjustice)
Force Progress
We know that defense will not be enough.
States and cities have the ability to advance environmental progress on their own, and when they do, they can raise the bar for everyone. We are growing our work with clients and partners to create legal and political pressure to keep moving forward, accelerating clean energy, climate resilience, and toxics regulation at the state and local level.
Counter/Act: Grow our state and local policy advocacy capacity
Earthjustice is working with states and cities to promote and defend model legislation on high-impact issues, from congestion pricing to climate superfund laws. We will expand our teams of state and local lobbyists to pass new laws, replicate successes state-by-state, and sow the seeds of future federal policies.
In addition to curtailing oil and gas development and the buildout of fossil fuel infrastructure, Earthjustice works at every level — federal, state, local, and international — to remove barriers to rapid clean energy deployment in wind and solar. Photos: Chemical plants and oil refineries in Texas. (halbergman / Getty Images) Rooftop solar panel installation in Washington State. (Chris Jordan-Bloch / Earthjustice)
Funding Goal
We have the expertise and the resolve to make a difference. What we need now is your support. We have set a goal to raise $150 million in impact-driven investment over the next three years.
$460M
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$150M
$460M
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$150M
Supports hiring 40+ new attorneys and program experts to supercharge:
- Federal litigation teams
- New civil enforcement team to hold polluters accountable
- State-based programs focused on clean energy, climate resilience, and public health
- Bench of appellate and Supreme Court experts
- State, local, and federal lobbying capacity
- Communications capacity across our programs
Join Us
Together, we can protect our vision of a healthy environment for all — and the fair courts, strong laws, and bold policies we need to get there. With everything on the line, there is every reason to Counter/Act.
Earthjustice scored a major clean energy win in Hawaiʻi by representing youth in a historic settlement that recognizes their constitutional right to a stable climate and ensures Hawaiʻi achieves its goals for a carbon-free transit system by 2045.
Header Video: Gaveling the courtroom to order. (Getty Images)