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In a US-first, a group of sixteen young people took their state’s government to court over the climate crisis. They filed a lawsuit against local officials, whom they accused of violating their constitutional right to a healthy environment – and won.
At Thred, we know young people are the voice of change. That statement continued to ring truer as a group of sixteen young people led America’s first-ever court case over the worsening climate crisis.
Made up of individuals between the ages of 5 to 22, the group accused Montana’s state officials of violating their constitutional rights to exist within a healthy and environmentally safe environment.
Building the case, they pointed to Montana’s 1972 Constitution which explicitly states that current and future citizens have a right to a ‘clean and healthful environment.’ Only Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York have written up this type of environmental protection in their constitutions.
Similar to what’s unfolding across the world, Montana’s air quality has been reduced as a result of increasingly frequent wildfire smoke, winter snowfall and wildlife levels are steadily depleting, and the state has seen a devastating loss of animal species.
The young plaintiffs placed the blame on their state officials, who have failed to curb greenhouse emissions. Instead they have been busy with pursuing new oil, gas and coal ventures.
In a landmark moment for climate law, they have won the case.
Julia Olson, the executive director of Our Children’s Trust and the attorney who represented the group of young people, has called the ruling a ‘huge win for Montana, for youth, for democracy, and for our climate.’
