Letter to the Editor - Young plaintiffs setting example in climate lawsuit

To the editor,

The 16 young Montanans suing to protect their right to a clean and healthful environment might be the world’s last best chance to save the planet from the climate crisis. The Legislature and the executive branches have failed to do their duty, and now it is up to a judge to make them do the right thing for us all.

Montana’s Constitution is unique. In Article II, under the Declaration of Rights, it lists a “right to a clean and healthful environment” first, before all the other rights. Later, Article IX goes beyond that to describe a duty we all share: “The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.”

The 16 young Montanans and their supporters have made a powerful case. The evidence is overwhelming, their cause is just, and the law is clear. Critics of the children’s case argue that the amount of Montana’s greenhouse emissions are too small to matter and that nothing we do will make a difference, but if a Montana judge rules that the state has a duty to maintain and improve the environment for the children, other judges around the world might follow her precedent.

That’s why this case matters.

The right to a clean and healthful environment is implicit in the right to life. The  Montana Constitution only makes explicit what is already a given in every other right. If we all die in a polluted land, the rights to speech, assembly and religion matter little. We all need a healthy environment to live, to enjoy freedom in.

This is just common sense, implicit in every notion of freedom, and judges everywhere could start following what we have made explicit in Montana.

Wade Sikorski

Willard