Photo: Victoria Barrett, a Fellow of the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE), youth representative, and plaintiff in a climate change lawsuit brought by Our Children’s Trust, delivers a key-note address to the General Assembly High-level Thematic Debate on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals | Photo Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Global warming is already disrupting the planet’s weather. Now it is having an impact on the courts, as well, as adults and children around the world try to enlist the judiciary in their efforts to blunt climate change.

In the United States, an environmental law nonprofit is suing the federal government on behalf of 21 young plaintiffs. Individuals in Pakistan and New Zealand have sued to force their governments to take stronger action to fight climate change. A farmer in Peru has sued a giant German energy utility over its part in causing global warming.

And while the arguments can be unconventional and surprising, some of the suits are making progress.