"What the
scientific community is telling us now, is that the Earth is
screaming at us," said the Washington governor. "We
need to stop using fossil fuels. That is the only solution to
this massive assault on humanity." MarjorieCohn Truthout
“Youth Plaintiffs in Court
Against Montana.” June 14,
2023. The potentially far-reaching case is based on the state
constitution, which enshrines the right to a clean and healthful
environment, writes Marjorie Cohn. In a case
that could have far-reaching implications for the struggle
against the climate crisis, the trial in a lawsuit brought by a
group of youth plaintiffs began in Montana on Monday [June 12,
2023]. The first
such case about climate change to go to trial, Held v.
Montana involves the specific impacts the climate crisis
has on young people. This
trial is a bellwether for other cases throughout the United
States. Mat dos Santos, general counsel for Our Children’s Trust, which represents the youth
plaintiffs, said that the lawsuit “is
not just about Montana. It’s really about the climate here in the
United States and around the world.” [This is
just one of a spate of lawsuits underway challenging governments
over their fossil fuel policies that drive climate change,
as The Guardian reports: “‘Game changing’: spate of US lawsuits calls big oil
to account for climate crisis.”] If this
suit is successful, it would be a “watershed moment” that could
lead to a “cascade of legal victories around the country,” dos
Santos added, and would likely have global implications. MORE https://consortiumnews.com/category/commentary/ |