Montana’s Supreme Court has upheld a landmark climate ruling that said the state was violating residents’ constitutional right to a clean environment.

Summary

Montana’s Supreme Court upheld a landmark climate ruling, affirming that the state violated its constitutional duty to protect a clean environment by permitting fossil fuel projects without considering climate impacts.

The 6-1 decision supports a 2020 lawsuit by 16 young Montanans, who argued climate change harms their lives through worsening wildfires, drought, and environmental degradation.

The court rejected the state’s claims about its minimal global impact, calling such reasoning flawed.

Montana must now assess greenhouse gas emissions for future permits, despite Republican criticism of judicial overreach and potential economic fallout.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
      14·
      4 days ago

      Did you ever see the Jim Henson TV series Dinosaurs? It was mostly dismissed at the time as a silly sitcom and a Simpsons ripoff, but the whole thing had a major ecological message: We are destroying ourselves with our own foolishness due to corporate greed and indifference to what was happening to the environment. The main character was a “tree pusher,” a dinosaur who was partially responsible for pushing all the trees down in the forest so the wood could be harvested, mostly for cheap consumer products.

      The series ends with the dinosaurs going extinct. Was it the meteor? No, the series began with the meteor being avoided. The series ended, and sorry for the 1990s spoilers, when corporations did multiple things to cause a cascading effect which eventually results in an ice age. The final scene is the Sinclair family freezing to death, watching a news broadcaster tell them that everyone’s going to die.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changing_Nature

      No one took notice, apparently. No one that needed to anyway.

      • socphoenix@midwest.social
        3·
        4 days ago

        My parents liked that show, and they still don’t believe in global warming. I think the only thing they remember was the line “we need another Timmy!”

        They’ve also told me they don’t want socialized healthcare/any reform because they fully believe others not receiving care is necessary for them to receive good care so…you know they aren’t exactly individuals concerned about anyone but themselves at this exact second.

  • treadfulEnglish
    20·
    5 days ago

    Montana has a great constitution. Really a remarkable document of compromise in all the best ways of the word. I feel like it might shift if a convention is called within the next decade, though.