![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/judge-sides-with-16-activists-in-montana-climate-case/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/130799925_gettyimages-1258644270.jpg&description=Image source, Getty Images A Montana judge has sided with 16 young activists finding that the state violated their right to a "clean and healthful environment", which the state constitution guarantees. The plaintiffs, between ages five and 22, alleged the state's pro-fossil fuel policies contributed to climate change. Similar cases have been brought forward by other youths, but this was the first case to go to trial. The state attorney general plans to appeal the ruling. Image caption, Montana has piercing blue skies that appear bigger and brighter than just about anywhere else in the country. With its tall mountain ranges that open onto vast green fields, it gives 360 degrees of picture-perfect views. "It's wonderful being able to grow up here. And it's such a beautiful place," Rikki Held, the 22-year-old lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, told the BBC earlier this summer. She grew up on a sprawling 7,000-acre ranch in Broadus, Montana. Learning about climate change in school, Held thought it was something that impacted polar bears and ice caps far away from her home. But over the last several years, she says she's seen worsening flash flooding, droughts, and wildfires that have negatively impacted crops and livestock on her family's ranch. Held felt she had no choice but to get involved with climate advocacy groups, like "Our Children's Trust" an Oregon based non-profit, which has sued state governments on behalf of youth in all 50 states. "[The state is] permitting and promoting a fossil-fuel based energy system, and that's contributing to climate change emissions," Held said. "It goes against some of our basic rights that are written in our constitution." Citing a 50-year-old clause in the constitution that guaranteed the "state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations", the lawsuit targeted a 2011 state law that made it illegal for environmental reviews to consider climate impacts whe){kind=link}
A Montana judge has sided with 16 young activists finding that the state violated their right to a “clean and healthful environment”, which the state constitution guarantees.
The plaintiffs, between ages five and 22, alleged the state’s pro-fossil fuel policies contributed to climate change.
Similar cases have been brought forward by other youths, but this was the first case to go to trial.
The state attorney general plans to appeal the ruling.
Montana has piercing blue skies that appear bigger and brighter than just about anywhere else in the country. With its tall mountain ranges that open onto vast green fields, it gives 360 degrees of picture-perfect views.