In recent years, climate activists charged with crimes for trying to avert our impending global death via climate change have increasingly turned to the “necessity defense” in court to defend against their charges.

Reed has been held in federal pretrial detention without bail for ten months after a prior high school acquaintance reported him to the police for a different satirical social media post about planning a protest or ‘riot’ at the courthouse that never actually happened.

My maternal grandfather was born in 1914 and served in the Army during World War II. When he returned from the war in 1944, he took a job with the U.S. Postal Service as a “mailman.” He worked as a letter carrier, eventually becoming a supervisor, and was an active member of the Association of Letter Carriers for his entire 30+ year career.