It’s a busy time for Maya Williams—balancing midterms at UC Berkeley, trips to Point Reyes, lab work, and two lawsuits against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Williams grew up in southern California, where she grew up visiting the beach, local parks, and playing soccer. Now, she’s a sophomore studying environmental sciences at Berkeley. And she’s part of a growing cohort of young people across the United States litigating the federal government, arguing that agencies have violated their constitutional rights by failing to fight climate change. For Williams, her wildfire-worsened asthma has made soccer harder over the years.
Alongside 17 other young people, she first sued the government as part of Genesis v. EPA, supported by the public-interest legal nonprofit Our Children’s Trust, in December 2023. (Palo Alto high schooler Avroh Shah, winner of the 2025 Bay Nature “Young Leader” Local Hero Award, is a plaintiff in Genesis as well.) The suit argued President Biden’s EPA wasn’t doing enough to fight climate change and protect kids. Two weeks ago, Williams and 17 young people sued again in Venner v. EPA, following the EPA’s landmark decision to walk back its finding that greenhouse gases harm human health.
Venner v. EPA now awaits a response from the defendants—President Trump’s EPA. Meanwhile, Williams heads to San Francisco on Thursday morning, when Genesis will be heard in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Bay Nature sat down with Williams to talk about how she got here, what suing the feds has taught her about climate action, and how you keep going when the news makes you want to scream.
BN: Do you have a favorite California plant, animal, or fungi?
Williams: I really love California poppies. My mom’s favorite color is orange. So whenever I see them, they remind me of her.
What has climate change looked like, growing up in California?
I grew up experiencing a lot of impacts from the climate crisis without realizing they were impacts from the climate crisis until I was in high school. In middle school, I remember there was one wildfire season… I would go to school, and the sky would be bright orange, and there would be ash on the gym floor, and we wouldn’t be allowed to be outside for two, three weeks at a time.
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It was right after that that I was diagnosed with asthma. When I was younger, my younger brother was also diagnosed with leukemia at eight months old. That was also another thing that had never even occurred to me could be related to the climate crisis. I am very aware of the fact that I live in California, I live in the United States—and if it’s this bad here, I can’t even imagine how bad some of the climate impacts are in other places around the world.
When did you start putting the pieces together in high school?
In my freshman year of high school, I had an incredible freshman seminar teacher—shoutout to her—Miss Bautista. She had us do a civic action project. It wasn’t until I started reading about [climate change] in my freshman year of high school that I realized how much of a monumental problem it was.
Growing up, you are always told by your parents, like, “Oh my gosh, you’re gonna have such an incredible life. Your future is so bright.” And not to say that that’s not true, but I think that it just kind of completely changed the way that I think about my future. It’s something that we have to actively fight for in order to make it a reality.
So what led you to join Genesis B. v. EPA?
I was very focused on my individual impact, and I very quickly realized that that was not really going anywhere. Beyond just the different impacts that [children] face, our voices have historically been suppressed and not listened to. And I think that’s what pushed me to take action at a federal level.
What’s so unique about Genesis is it’s a legal action that the government is legally required to respond to. They don’t have a choice to just look the other way and pretend that we’re not there.
Tell me more about Venner v. EPA.
[The EPA] made the case that there’s no scientific basis for regulating greenhouse gasses, which we know is absolutely not true, but also, they’ve painted this narrative that they have the option of regulating greenhouse gas emissions. And I don’t think [the EPA has] the option. I think they have the obligation to do it.
What have you learned about what climate action takes from suing the federal government twice?
We are going up against politicians that have continuously prioritized big corporations over the wellbeing of their constituents. When I first became involved, I perceived the issue to be that these people didn’t comprehend that the climate crisis was an issue. As I’ve become more involved, I’ve realized it’s not that they don’t realize it’s an issue. It’s that they don’t care.
That has definitely been a hard truth to accept, but also liberating in the sense that I don’t feel I have to convince those people to join us anymore. So I’ve pivoted more to how do we build a coalition of people that maybe historically haven’t been as interested in the climate crisis.
How has your understanding of climate action or the work you’re doing changed in the last two years, especially as the Trump administration has taken charge? Because Genesis v. EPA was a Biden administration lawsuit. And now you’re suing the Trump administration’s EPA.
We have seen this anti-climate rhetoric become more intense the past two years. I don’t think that it’s something that was not there under the Biden administration. Trump is a little bit more direct about it.
It’s hard just existing in this state of the world right now. You literally cannot even open the news anymore without wanting to scream. At the same time, I’ve come to realize that that’s exactly how they want you to feel. They want you to feel as if you don’t have power. What they’re scared of is as soon as we realize that that’s not true, that really kind of threatens the foundation of what they’ve built their whole movement around. We can’t lose sight of the fact that we still have so much to fight for.
I’ve definitely found myself leaning more on my community. I’ve also made an active effort to center joy in climate spaces as well. People feel guilty for feeling joy in times like these, and so I think letting go of that guilt, allowing yourself to experience joy while still making a commitment to taking action, is really important in these times.
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What have you learned from the process of Genesis over the last year? Especially as it goes to hearing next week.
Our case has been dismissed twice and is now in the court of appeals, and we have yet to even think about having the option to go to trial, and so I have definitely learned to be more patient. But I think the reason that the EPA has dedicated so much time and resources to blocking this case is that they know that at the end of the day, if Genesis v. EPA or Venner v. EPA were to go to trial, and we had a judge rule in our favor, that would fundamentally change the way that they have to go about regulating fossil fuel emissions.
It is definitely frustrating to see the pace at which our government is moving when I know that we do have so much at stake. That’s where I’ve tried to supplement the work that’s being done in the lawsuits with community organizing as well. Because I think if Genesis was the only thing that I was doing, I would probably lose my mind a little bit.
What does joy look like for you in your climate action right now?
Building those communities. Even as you’re tackling the most pressing issues that are facing society, it’s being able to have that light-hearted energy and joke around with your friends and play music and be dancing. Also… just making sure that you’re taking care of yourself, that you’re not working yourself to the point of burnout. Knowing that even if you take a step back, there’s going to be a lot of other people that are still carrying that work and that will be waiting for you when you’re ready to come back.
How do you feel adults are dealing with climate change?
I would just urge adults to make space for young people. In making it a multi-generational movement, that’s a stronger movement.
