Something remarkable happened in Montana recently. The U.S.’s first-ever trial in a constitutional climate lawsuit kicked off on a Monday morning in a packed courtroom in Helena. The case, Held v Montana, was brought in 2020 by 16 plaintiffs between the ages of five and 22 from around the state, who allege state officials violated their constitutional right to a healthy environment by enacting pro-fossil fuel policies. The remarkable thing about this trial is not so much the content of the case, it is the plaintiffs…..ages 5 to 22.
In opening statements, Roger Sullivan, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, explained that climate change is fuelling drought, wildfires, extreme heat and other environmental disasters throughout Montana, taking a major toll on the young plaintiffs’ health and well-being. There is a “scientific consensus”, he noted, that these changes can be traced back to the burning of fossil fuels.
He described how some plaintiffs have asthma that has been worsened by abundant wildfire smoke in recent years. Some love to hunt and fish but have seen stocks deteriorate. One plaintiff works as a ski instructor – a job threatened by warm winter temperatures and decreasing snowfall. And others are members of indigenous tribes, whose cultural practices are threatened by climate crisis-linked shifts in weather patterns, he said.
Montana is responsible for more planet-heating pollution than some countries, said Sullivan. Without urgent action, these climate consequences will only get worse. In answer, the state argued that Montana’s emissions are “too minuscule” to make any difference in the climate crisis. “Climate change is a global issue,” Michael Russell, assistant attorney general, said in opening remarks for the state. I assume he thought that was an excuse to do nothing!
Montana’s state’s constitution has, since 1972, guaranteed that the “state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations”. That’s remarkable in-of-itself. As the youngest delegate to the state’s 1972 constitutional convention, Mae Nan Ellingson, the first expert witness who testified on Monday, had a role in crafting that language. “I’m proud of this constitution. I’m particularly proud of the right to a clean and healthful environment,” she said in her testimony. “I’m honored that I’m able to be here and share my thoughts.”
Rikki Held, the 22-year-old named plaintiff in the lawsuit, testified about the impacts the climate crisis has had on her family’s ranch outside Broadus, in the south-east corner of the state. She grew up on the ranch, helping raise livestock and build fences. But she’s seen dramatic changes on the ranch since she was a young child. “Some of the impacts are wildfires, drought, flooding, more extreme weather events such as windstorm and hail, and changes in wildlife behavior,” she said. Drought and decreased snowfall have both threatened the ranch’s water supply, making it harder to provide for her family’s livestock, while smoke from wildfires has made it difficult to work outside. Seeing these changes has also affected her psychological health, Held said. “It’s just stressful ’cause that’s my life and my home is there,” she said with tears in her eyes.
Steven Running, professor emeritus of ecosystem and conservation sciences at the University of Montana, also took the stand, detailing how the climate crisis has contributed to the increasing severity and frequency of disruptive weather events such as extreme heat and drought in Montana, and globally. “I think Montana, and really, everywhere else needs to, as rapidly as possible, quit burning fossil fuels,” said Running, who was a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for which he won the Nobel Peace prize in 2007. “It’s quite straightforward. What has been shown in history over and over and over again is that when a significant social movement is needed, it’s often been started by one or two or three people. That’s why we are all here today.
Grace Gibson-Snyder, a 19-year-old plaintiff from Missoula, Montana, also testified about the ways wildfire smoke has impaired her life. Specifically, she cited her ability to play soccer outdoors in her hometown. She recalled a game during her senior year of high school in 2021, which went on for just 20 min before it was called off due to the smoky conditions. “As we were running, sprinting up and down the field, it just fills your lungs,” she said. Gibson-Snyder said she has long dreamed of raising a family in her “beautiful” home state, but is not sure she can stomach the thought of raising children amid worsening climate breakdown. “I’m not sure if I can morally or ethically have children of my own under these conditions, here in Montana,” she said.
The last witness to testify Monday was 17-year-old plaintiff, Eva, whose home in Livingston, Montana, and is a “two- to-five-minute walk” from her favorite river, the Yellowstone. (Eva’s last name was not mentioned because she is a minor). “I have a lot of really beautiful memories of that place,” she said. But in recent years, the climate crisis has taken a toll on her beloved river. In 2016, a parasite – which experts linked to the crisis – killed off tens of thousands of fish, forcing officials to close the river. And in 2022, the river experienced devastating floods, which inundated many homes and businesses in Eva’s community. “It made me feel very, very scared,” she said.
Eva, who was 14 when the case was filed, said the climate crisis makes her feel her future is “uncertain”. But the lawsuit, she said, is a way of being “heard” even though she’s too young to vote. It is refreshing, remarkable, and extremely significant, that a case like this has finally reached an official level. Greta Thunberg may have started this youth movement, in a worldwide sense, but every group of young people filing a suit like this is a significant step forward. It is their future we are currently destroying.
