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Common Core: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.2, WHST.6-8.4, WHST.6-8.9, RI.6-8.1, RI.6-8.2, RI.6-8.4, RI.6-8.7, W.6-8.2, W.6-8.4, W.6-8.9, SL.6-8.1

NCSS: People, Places, and Environments • Individual Development and Identity • Power, Authority, and Governance • Production, Distribution, and Consumption • Science, Technology, and Society • Civic Ideals and Practices

U.S. NEWS

Fighting For the Planet

The incredible story of how a group of young people in Montana sued their state government over the right to a clean environment—and won!

Question: How is climate change affecting kids and teens in Montana?

Headshot

William Campbell/Getty Images

Rikki Held has endured flooding and drought on her ranch.

In 2007, when Rikki Held was in elementary school, disaster struck her family’s cattle ranch in Broadus, Montana. The river that runs through the ranch dried up. With the water source suddenly gone, the Held family lost both cattle and crops.

Though the river eventually started flowing again, threats to the ranch have only grown in the years since. Held’s family has experienced droughts, floods, and heat waves. Each crisis makes it harder for them to keep the ranch in business.

“It’s stressful,” Held, now 22, said. “That’s my life and my home.”

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Broadus isn’t the only part of Montana facing such disasters. In recent decades, communities throughout the state have experienced more extreme weather—from surging floods and soaring temperatures to reduced snowfall and rampant wildfires. 

Scientists say those changes are due to climate change. But Held and others argue that government officials in Montana have made the situation worse by not doing enough to protect the environment. She is one of 16 young people ages 5 to 22 who recently took their state to court to push it to make more climate-friendly decisions. 

This past August, they won. A judge ruled that Montana’s residents “have a fundamental right to a clean and healthful environment, which includes climate.” 

Experts are calling Held v. State of Montana one of the most important victories ever in the fight against climate change. It shows that kids and teens can successfully challenge their governments to protect the planet. Now the victory is inspiring more young people across the United States to take action to protect their local environments.

“This is one of the strongest court decisions we’ve ever had on climate change,” says Michael Gerrard. He is the director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School in New York. “These young people made a real impact.”

Photo of a group of teens protesting with posters

Courtesy of Our Children’s Trust/Robin Loznak

Some of the young people in the case gather in Helena, Montana, this past summer to drum up support for their cause.

A Warming Planet

While some shifts in Earth’s typical weather conditions occur naturally over long periods of time, many scientists believe human actions are accelerating climate change. People burn fossil fuels—such as coal and oil—to power factories, homes, and cars. When they do, greenhouse gases are released. Those gases, including carbon dioxide, collect in the atmosphere, trapping the sun’s heat close to Earth’s surface.

The more fossil fuels humans burn, the more heat gets trapped. That is raising Earth’s average temperature and pushing the planet’s climate to extremes—making wet areas wetter and dry ones drier. This past summer was hotter than usual for 98 percent of the world’s population, according to a report by the research group Climate Central. There were also record storms, floods, and wildfires across the planet.

In Montana, a state with varying landscapes including prairies and mountain ranges, rapidly melting snow has increased the likelihood of dangerous flooding. Drought has lowered water levels in lakes and rivers. What’s more, warmer average temperatures and decreased rainfall have made the state’s wildfire season two months longer than it was in the 1980s, a climate scientist testified during the trial. 

“This is one of the strongest court decisions we’ve ever had on climate change.”

Several environmental experts argue that a law passed by Montana in 2011 has greatly contributed to the state’s climate-related problems. The law prohibited state agencies from considering climate impacts when deciding whether to approve new energy projects, such as coal mines and power plants. As a result, construction projects have been built with little regard for how they will affect the environment.

Some of the scientists testifying in the case focused on 2019. That year, Montana burned enough fossil fuels to produce 32 million tons of carbon emissions—the sixth highest of any state. (Carbon emissions are the release of carbon dioxide into the air by the burning of certain fuels.) That’s about as much as Ireland, a country with a population five times that of Montana’s 1.1 million people.

Text, "Teens and the Environment Throughout History"

Building a Case

After experiencing the effects of climate change firsthand, Held was determined to do something to protect her home. An environmental legal group called Our Children’s Trust gave her a way. The organization was building a case against Montana—and it wanted young people to be involved. After all, the group says, if climate change isn’t slowed, today’s kids and teens will be the ones left dealing with its disastrous effects in the coming decades.

Held joined the case as a plaintiff, along with other young people from across the state. In 2020, the group filed their lawsuit—in Held’s name, because she is the oldest.

Held v. State of Montana focused on language in Montana’s constitution. It guarantees residents “the right to a clean and healthful environment.” It also says the state should maintain and improve the environment “for present and future generations.” Based on that language, the plaintiffs asked the judge to declare the 2011 Montana law unconstitutional.

Photo of a teen at a stand showcasing her art work

Courtesy of WELC/Renata Harrison

Olivia Vesovich (left) and Badge Busse (inset below) testify in court about how climate change has affected them.

Their Day in Court

Headshot

Courtesy of Our Children’s Trust/Robin Loznak

Badge Busse

The trial began on June 12 of this year. Over the following week, several of the young plaintiffs took to the witness stand before a packed courtroom in Helena, Montana’s capital. They gave emotional testimony about how climate change is directly affecting their physical and mental health. 

Badge Busse, 15, spoke about the effect of wildfires on Kalispell, the mountain town where he lives. He often has to stay indoors to avoid damage to his lungs from the smoky air. Not being outdoors takes “a part away from you as a Montanan,” he told the court.

Sariel Sandoval, 20, teared up as she described the impact warming temperatures have had on her Native American culture. A member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, she grew up on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana. Decreased snowfall has lowered water levels in nearby Flathead Lake, affecting her people’s ability to fish for food.

“We can definitely adapt and survive climate change,” Sandoval told the court. “But that doesn’t make it right.”

Health care experts also testified that changes in the environment are especially harmful to young people. Kids and teens, they said, breathe at a faster rate than adults. That means they take in more air—and potentially more pollutants. 

The state, for its part, downplayed its role in climate change, resting its case after one day. Lawyers for the state argued that Montana’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions is small when compared with the rest of the world’s. They said if the law in question were altered or overturned, it would have no significant impact on the planet.

Photo of kids and teens protesting climate change

Janie Osborne/The New York Times/Redux

The plaintiffs report to the courthouse on the first day of the trial.

“We Are Heard!” 

After about eight weeks of deliberation, the judge struck down the law. Going forward, Montana must consider how proposed energy projects could affect the climate before deciding whether to approve them.

What’s more, the judge stated on the court record that climate change harms the physical and mental well-being of young people. That’s huge, Gerrard says, because it could set a precedent for how judges rule on future climate change cases. Courts often consider the rulings of other courts when making decisions.

The decision in Held v. State of Montana could determine how future climate cases are decided.

At least two such cases are likely headed for trial next year: A group of young people in Hawaii is suing the state for not doing enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and other kids and teens across the country have filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. on similar grounds. Both cases are backed by Our Children’s Trust, the same organization that filed the Montana lawsuit. If the 21 young plaintiffs in the federal suit win, that case could establish the right to a clean environment for all Americans.

Back in Montana, lawyers for the state have filed an appeal with the Montana Supreme Court, asking it to hear the case. But the Held v. State of Montana victory has given young people hope. 

Kian Tanner, 18, was a plaintiff from the city of Bigfork. He testified that the state’s increasingly hot summers were interfering with where he feels “most at home”—on the soccer field. Kian cheered when the judge read the ruling.

“This ruling, this case—it is truly historic,” he told reporters. “We are heard!”

YOUR TURN

Sum It Up

Summarize how the plaintiffs in Held v. State of Montana argued their case. In your paragraph, put most of the information in your own words and use quotes to cite plaintiffs’ words or other exact wording from the article.

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