Montana has constitutional right to a clean environment. Could other states guarantee it too?


** News of the world environment
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NEWSLETTER | AUGUST 25, 2023
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** Climate Rights
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MICA KANTOR IS a long-distance runner. At 15 years old, he enjoys unplugging from his phone while he runs outdoors. But as wildfires have become more frequent in recent years, smoky days have increasingly limited his ability to train outside. That makes him “feel trapped,” he said recently in a Montana state courtroom, “like I can’t get my mind off of things.”

Sariel Sandoval, 20, a member of the Bitterroot Salish, Upper Pend d’Oreille, and Diné tribes, grew up picking huckleberries with her family and listening to coyote stories. Some tales, which have been passed down through generations, are told only when there is snow on the ground. “One day we’re not going to have any snow on the ground,” she testified in court. “What happens to those stories?”

Olivia Vesovich, a 20-year-old artist, says her allergies have become more and more painful in recent years, even swelling her eyes shut at times. On top of that, wildfire smoke has been triggering her asthma. “I feel like I can’t breathe, and that’s a terrifying feeling,” she said.

Kantor, Sandoval, and Vesovich are among a group of 16 young people, ages 5 to 22, who sued Montana in 2020 for contributing to the climate crisis. All three took to the witness stand this summer in Held v. Montana ([link removed]) , laying bare, in sometimes emotional testimony, the ways in which climate change has impacted their physical, mental, and cultural health. In August, the district court judge ruled in their favor ([link removed]) in a landmark win for the climate movement.

The lawsuit was highly anticipated in climate circles. It was the first youth-led climate case to go to trial in the United States. It was also the first constitutional climate case to go to trial in the country, meaning the legal argument for this case rested on inalienable rights bestowed to all Montanans in the state constitution.

“There’s never been a trial like this in our history,” said one of the lead attorneys in the case, Nate Bellinger, of Our Children’s Trust ([link removed]) , the nonprofit law firm representing the plaintiffs. There are, however, sure to be more: Youth plaintiffs across the country are gearing up to fight for their climate rights in several other cases.

Journal Managing Editor Zoe Loftus-Farren writes about this ground-breaking climate case and how it is centered around a relatively unique constitutional protection — a “green amendment” that guarantees the right “to a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations” in our Autumn 2023 print issue. “The growing movement to pass green amendments like this in other states around the country... could be a game changer in the fight for climate action,” she writes.


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Photo by UN Women / Amanda Voisard ([link removed])


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As you may know, in June, National Geographic laid off all of its staff writers. Next year, the historic magazine will no longer be sold on newsstands in the US. This is all to deliver more profits into the pockets of the Walt Disney Corporation, which acquired the magazine in 2019.

Earth Island Journal is not immune to the challenges of running a newsroom in the twenty-first century. Reporting on environmental movements around the world is costly and time-consuming. But we are still here because of you. Funding from our readers is key to our news gathering. Your contribution supports the future of investigative reporting on climate change, land and wildlife conservation, and environmental justice issues worldwide.

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Brian Calvert, Zoe Loftus-Farren, and Maureen Nandini Mitra
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** Toxic Trash ([link removed])
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Neighbors to one of California’s biggest hazardous waste recyclers say they’re unfairly exposed to pollution, but can California afford to lose one of the few facilities that still takes in some of the millions of tons of toxic waste it produces every year? (
CalMatters ([link removed]) )


** Space Junk ([link removed])
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While on the subject of trash — on Wednesday, as part of the new race to space, India became the fourth country to successfully land a craft on the moon. Among the many issues associated with the recent rush to colonize the moon here’s one more: The surface of the moon could start to get littered with our junk. (Vox ([link removed]) )


** Legal Acrobatics ([link removed])
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This one is a head-scratcher: In a recent ruling, a Trump-appointed judge equated anti-abortion activists to wildlife lovers, writing that medical providers challenging abortion care suffer “aesthetic injury from the destruction of unborn life” similar to the pain animal lovers suffer when a development project threatens wildlife. (Politico ([link removed]) )


** America's Bees ([link removed])
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“The problem of bees in America is not a question of peace with the environment. It’s not really even a matter of conservation, per se.” Instead, it is a “quagmire linked to antiquity and the modern world” and the shortcomings of American commerce. (The Ringer ([link removed]) )


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