WEBVTT - Suing Your Government with Our Children's Trust 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:02.240 It's hard to feel like the power to make the 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:05.920 difference is in the hands of us when a lot 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:09.080 of the politicians are a lot older, and it's easy 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:11.800 to feel helpless in a situation like that, I think, 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:15.320 and for a while I really did. But that's something 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:19.119 that is so important about this Montana case and the 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:23.400 decision of Judge Seely, because it's the first time in 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:26.400 a really long time I've felt like the power is 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:30.680 transferred back to the youth. And if I consue my government, 0:00:31.200 --> 0:00:36.239 and when so, can anyone ah fucked. 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:44.320 Welcome to Unfucking the Future. I'm Chris Turney. I'm a 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.720 climate scientist, and in my line of work it's easy 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.919 to get depressed by all the horrible news about the environment. 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:53.519 But I still believe and in spite of all that, 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.440 a better future is possible. And that's what this show 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:01.400 is all about, finding positive solutions to unfuck the mess 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.280 we're in. So let's get started. 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:08.240 Fucking the future. 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:15.679 I want to pitch you a movie idea. In rural Montana, 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:19.679 a group of plucky teenagers are worried about the climate crisis. 0:01:20.040 --> 0:01:24.520 They uncover obscure language in the state constitution that requires 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:27.759 the state to protect the environment. So what do they do. 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:32.880 They band together and sue the government. The government fights back, 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:36.480 claiming in court the climate change will actually be good 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:40.680 for Montana when the dust settles. The kids win, and 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:43.120 as a result, they set the scene for ending fossil 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:46.160 fuel production in the state and saving the world from 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:50.960 total climate armageddon. This might sound like a Hollywood fantasy, 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:55.800 and it actually happened. The case was known as helld 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:57.720 versus Montana. 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:00.400 And in Montana today a landmark court decision a judge 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:02.800 siding with a group of young people who accuse the 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:06.440 state of violating their rights by supporting fossil fuels. 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:10.160 That means that Montana must account for the climate impact 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:14.520 of fossil fuel production when releasing permits to developers, and 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.679 in effect, it could end fossil fuel pollution in the 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:21.880 state full stop. And it's all thanks to a group 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:25.679 of plaintiffs ages five to twenty two, who sued the 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:29.720 government for their right to a fair, clean future. Pretty 0:02:29.760 --> 0:02:33.720 damn remarkable. Right today, we'll talk about how it all 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:37.480 happened and how you too can sue your government and 0:02:37.639 --> 0:02:40.679 save the world in the process. To do that, we've 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:44.560 got not one, but two remarkable guests today. The first 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:47.760 is twenty year old Claire Vlasses. She's one of the 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:52.320 plaintiffs in the Montana lawsuit, and she's joined by Nate Bellinger. 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:54.919 He's one of the lawyers who worked on the case. 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:58.280 Both of them are associated with a group called Our 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:02.440 Children's Trust, for world only not for profit law firm 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:05.960 representing young people and their legal right to a future 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:10.320 free from fossil fuel pollution, which brings us back to Claire. 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:14.840 Claire Flashes is among the many plaintiffs working with Our 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:19.079 Children's Trust. Growing up in Bozeman, Montana, She's always been 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:22.960 an outdoors kid. Her upbringing really does sound pretty dreamy. 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.400 I grew up in a little wild cabin next to 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:30.560 a creek. I have a big vegetable garden and raised 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:35.240 sheep and chickens and honey bees surrounded by months. It's beautiful. 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:38.040 It's a really beautiful place to go up. Sometimes I 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.240 would plant lake thousands of kale plants, and I have 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:43.680 to go to the farmer's market and try and sell 0:03:43.720 --> 0:03:44.520 off all of it. 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:48.080 Some kids have a lemonade stand. Growing up, Claire had 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:48.840 a kale stand. 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:51.320 But it worked out really well with my little sister 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:54.440 and I started a farm stand selling our vegetables on 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.280 the side of the road. It kind of moved up 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:01.400 selling at farmers markets to a restaurants, that kind of. 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:05.440 Thing so growing up, But I mean that sounds in 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:10.040 adyllic childhood. What was your first awareness of climate changing? 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:13.320 When did you first become aware that our maybe things 0:04:13.360 --> 0:04:14.720 weren't how they should be. 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:20.000 I think the first time I actually became really aware 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:23.040 of it was when I was in kindergarten. The river 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.400 that flows by my house nearly flooded our house, and 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.960 then the next year it was almost dry, and I 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:33.479 think just seeing that and those changes made it feel 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:35.799 really real. So then when I learned about it in school, 0:04:36.279 --> 0:04:40.200 it just backed up my already existing beliefs about how 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:42.760 climate change can impact everyone. 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:45.800 And I understand you actually took action early on at 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:49.040 middle school. Are you installing solar panels and the roof 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:50.400 of your school? And so I can tell me a 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:50.920 bit about that. 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:55.120 Sure, When I was in middle school, I wanted to 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.240 do something to help the environment, and I had an 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:00.480 independent study class, so I got to pick anything I 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:04.159 wanted to do, and my school was going through a 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:08.320 remodel right then, and I thought it would be appropriate 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:12.400 to include solar panels as part of that design. So 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:17.320 I presented the idea to my principal and he loved 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:20.520 it and took me straight away to a meeting that 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:22.640 day with the architects and contractors. 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.240 Claire was excited to talk of the builders, but in 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.120 that meeting she got her first taste of the dream 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:30.719 killing power of the establishment. 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:36.000 I presented the idea and it was not well received. 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:40.560 It didn't seem feasible to to the you know, the 0:05:41.160 --> 0:05:44.559 real the people who know what they're talking about, because 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.919 solar panels are pretty expensive and it was not in 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:51.839 the budget. So they told me that unless I could 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:56.440 raise hundreds of thousands of dollars that I could, you know, 0:05:56.480 --> 0:05:58.480 maybe find a new independent study project. 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:01.600 The adults assumed this would be the end of a conversation, 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:05.640 no more silly chats with twelve year old about solar panels, 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:08.840 but not for the first time, the underestimated Claire. 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.480 I figured that if cost was the issue, I would 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:14.919 just raise the money myself. A seventh graders like the 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:18.480 perfect person to raise money, because you have no idea 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:21.840 how much one hundred and twenty thousand dollars actually is. 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:27.000 So I figured, you know, it was doable, So yeah, 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:30.680 I went. I started out pretty small, went to local businesses, 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:33.560 set out little jars for people to donate their change. 0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:37.200 Had presented the idea to the school foundation and got 0:06:37.200 --> 0:06:39.839 their support along with some seed money to get started. 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:42.960 I wrote a lot of grants, I gave a lot 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:49.120 of talks, and eventually I met with community members who 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:51.920 are were able to help me get to the finish line. 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:56.280 Okay, that's pretty awesome. Claire had done something nobody had 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.400 thought possible, and now her school was going to be 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:03.719 leading the way towards a clean energy future. Well not 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:08.200 so fast. Claire actually couldn't install all these solar panels 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.600 in her school, and that's because of a shitty little 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:12.680 law in Montana. 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:16.240 There's a cap on how much kill hours of solar 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.200 energy that you can put into the buyback grid. It's 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:23.160 a bit complicated when you when I try to explain it, 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:28.560 but it basically discourages large buildings to put more than 0:07:28.640 --> 0:07:32.280 fifty kilowatts on of solar panel arrays on it. So, 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:34.320 even though that only covered about a quarter of my 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:38.160 school's electricity, that's the month that we. 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:40.400 Did, which meant that even though the school had the 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:44.240 space and the money and the solar panels to cover 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:48.960 their electricity needs completely, they could only get twenty five percent. 0:07:49.600 --> 0:07:52.760 It was hard. I raised enough money and then it 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:55.320 had to get split up into other schools. I'm happy 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:59.000 to help everywhere, but it's frustrating that it wasn't. You know, 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:02.400 it wasn't because of me. It was because of my government. 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:09.440 It was an important lesson for Claire. The fossil fuel 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:14.120 industry has built up its power over decades, influencing a 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:18.120 government to enact policies and regulations that protect that power, 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:21.120 which meant that if Claire was going to change the world, 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:24.000 she'd have to stop by changing the laws. 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:28.080 After I finished my solar panel project in middle school, 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:31.520 a lot of doors opened for me in the environmental circles. 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:35.440 So I had an opportunity to help plan the city 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:40.240 of Bozeman sustainability initiatives to help them meet the Paris Accord. 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:43.040 I got to work with a lot of different nonprofits 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:45.080 and beyond boards of certain nonprofits. 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:48.840 And then Claire found out about a group putting together 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.520 a blockbuster lawsuit in her state. 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:56.400 And then when I heard about this case happening in Montana, 0:08:57.480 --> 0:08:59.319 it got kind of passed along to me, and I 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:04.320 am imediately reached out to meet Our Children's Trust to 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:06.000 see if I could be a part of it. 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:10.040 The cases that we work on, including in Montana, they're 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:13.720 constitutional cases, they're not traditional environmental law cases. 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:18.600 That's Nate Ballinger from Our Children's Trust, very law firm 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:22.880 but also an advocacy organization, and they have a fantastic 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:25.320 strategy for deciding which case is to bring. 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:33.000 We are seeking systemic solutions to the climate crisis. So 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:36.120 there are so many fossil fuel projects that are constantly 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.880 being proposed. Sometimes we call it whack a mole. So 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:42.719 what happens is, you know, one route for a pipeline, 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.400 maybe it's blocked and then the pipeline is built somewhere else. 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:52.559 Or a power plant is delayed based on some statutory victory, 0:09:52.800 --> 0:09:54.800 but then you know there's some delay and then it 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.800 ends up being built later on. So there's just so 0:09:57.920 --> 0:10:00.640 many of these projects coming up, and there's so permise 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:03.960 to challenge. We're trying to go after kind of that 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:08.600 broad picture energy policy and planning that governments do and 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:12.440 make sure that when they're doing that, they're taking into 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:16.400 account the need to protect children and their futures and 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:20.760 address the climate crisis, and that means we can't continue 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:22.080 to permit fossil fuels. 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.120 The case Nate was working on in Montana was a 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:29.320 perfect example of his strategy. It wasn't challenging some project 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:32.680 or policy. It was taking on the state government itself, 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:37.040 and it had the potential to be transformative. To give 0:10:37.080 --> 0:10:41.000 you a sense of how transformative, Nate sometimes compares the 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:46.600 case to another US legal battle, Brown versus Board of Education, 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:50.079 which is a pretty lofty comparison. 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:54.120 Brown versus Board of Education obviously was the first time 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:59.120 where the courts declared that segregated school systems was unconstitutional 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:00.000 and cannot continue. 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:00.160 You. 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:06.360 So again, in both situations, too, you have governments, you know, 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:10.720 using the law to effectuate the harms. So in the 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:15.440 segregation context, there were laws that required segregation, and in 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:18.959 the fossil fuel cont contexts and climate context there are 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:24.080 laws promoting fossil fuel. So both instances you have governments 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:28.680 using the laws to affirmatively harm plaintiffs. At its core, 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:32.360 there about protecting the constitutional rights of children and youth. 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:36.800 This connection to Brown versus Board of Education wasn't just 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:41.080 philosophical nat and his team studied the decision and they 0:11:41.160 --> 0:11:42.560 modeled that case after it. 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:45.080 You know, Brown versus Board of Education. 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:48.720 The Supreme Court decision gets a lot of the attention, 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:53.520 but underlying that decision were trial court decisions from several states, 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:56.600 and we went back and we read through those trial 0:11:56.640 --> 0:12:01.120 court decisions. We looked at the evidence presented in trial courts, 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.120 and a lot of that evidence is the same type 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:07.800 of evidence that we ended up presenting in our trial. 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:11.840 And so, for example, in Brown versus Board of Education, 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:17.040 they presented evidence about the psychological harms to children from 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:21.840 going to segregated schools, and in the Montana trial, we 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:26.400 presented evidence both from the plaintiffs themselves but also through 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:31.080 a psychiatrist about the harms to children from having to 0:12:31.160 --> 0:12:34.600 live with climate disasters and having to live where your 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:40.120 government is affirmatively promoting fossil fuels. We looked to constitutional precedent, 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:44.440 including the segregation context, to figure out how to build 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:47.160 the constitutional cases, what type of evidence we need to 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:50.679 present at trial, and looking to the segregation cases has 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:51.720 certainly been a part of that. 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:55.640 In June twenty twenty three, our Children's Trust made their 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:56.559 case to the court. 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:07.280 We're fucking the future. Weird fucking the future. 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:13.720 This was the first ever constitutional climate trial in US history, 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:18.200 and as part of that trial, we had twelve of 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:22.559 the sixteen plaintiffs testify, and we also had ten experts 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:25.479 testifying court, which is really really incredible. 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:29.959 Wow wow, now, Claire, you must were you nervous testifying? 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:32.000 What was it like being up there on the stand? 0:13:32.240 --> 0:13:35.920 Oh my gosh. Yeah, I mean I was nervous because 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.320 I knew how many people were listening and how important 0:13:38.360 --> 0:13:43.920 it was. But I also wasn't nervous because or at 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:47.439 least not too nervous because I knew everything. I mean, 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:48.640 it's just the truth, right. 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:52.240 Claire drew support from her fellow plaintiffs. They were kids 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:55.880 from across Montana and they all had a shared passion 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:56.720 for the environment. 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.719 Everyone is so incredible. I got to know everyone at 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:04.200 trial very well, and yeah, everyone has really incredible stories. 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:06.200 One that stood out to me was the story of 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:11.319 sorry El. She's Native American and her indigenous community relies 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:15.079 a lot on oral traditions and storytelling, and a lot 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:17.720 of big ones are related to when snow falls and 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:22.200 stuff like that, and when there's less and less snow 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.400 falling that oral tradition can become lost. 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:28.320 I want to pause on that because this was an 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:31.760 interesting point made in the trial, and it brings us 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:34.320 to a segment we like to call what the fuck 0:14:34.360 --> 0:14:35.360 are you talking about? 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:39.000 What the fuck are you talking about? 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:47.280 Soil? Sandoval is a young woman who identifies as Salish 0:14:47.720 --> 0:14:51.120 for Silish of indigenous peoples in North America who share 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:56.160 a common language Slish. When soil testified in the case, 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:59.880 she reminded the corp but the term also literally means 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:04.960 flesh and land. In other words, the Salish peoples and 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:09.840 their cultures are tied to the landscapes around them. For example, 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:13.600 Sorrel says. But the creation stories how people tell can 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:16.280 only be told when there is snow on the ground. 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:19.040 Here's a clip of us speaking about it. 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.320 We have creation stories, coyote stories that are told during 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:25.680 the winter when snow is on the ground. And because 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:28.480 of climate change, that time that snow is on the 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:32.200 ground has become much much smaller, like a smaller interval, 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:34.920 So it's become harder and harder to tell these stories. 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:37.840 But it's really important because these stories they tell us 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.880 who we are as Salish people, and they tell us 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:44.640 our morals and our history and how we came upon 0:15:44.680 --> 0:15:47.480 this land, and so being able to share that with 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:51.640 our community, with our children is very important, and not 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:54.560 being able to do that every year is really really hard. 0:15:56.280 --> 0:15:59.720 When I talked with Sabrina Albert about cultural arraga because 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:03.720 of obal heating, this is precisely what she was talking about. 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:08.920 Indigenous communities risk losing a crucial part of their identity 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:13.560 as the environment random changes. So that's what the fuck 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:14.480 we're talking about. 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:18.520 What the fuck are you're talking about? 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:25.160 Okay, back to Claren Nate. After youth plaintiffs presented their 0:16:25.200 --> 0:16:27.920 case to the court, it was a stage turn and 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:29.800 their approach was pretty shocking. 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:30.920 You know. 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:37.760 One surprise, I guess you could say, came towards the 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.520 end of our case. So the way the trial work is, 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:44.720 we presented our case for one week, the plaintiffs and 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:48.480 our experts testified, and then the State of Montana had 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.120 an opportunity to present their case and they were given 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:54.720 a week also to present their case, and they ended 0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:59.040 up taking about two hours to present their case, and 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:02.560 so we were a little bit surprised by how brief 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:08.760 their case was and they had basically no expert testimony 0:17:08.760 --> 0:17:11.520 to contradict any of our scientists or any of our 0:17:11.520 --> 0:17:16.960 experts that testified. They didn't question any of our plaintiff's testimony. 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:21.600 And the fact that the State of Montana didn't dispute 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:25.640 any of our testimony was a little bit of a surprise, 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:29.800 but I think it also underscores the strength of that testimony. 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:33.199 At this point in time, twenty twenty three, in the 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:36.160 midst of a climate crisis that gets worse every year, 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.280 there is no justification for fossil fuels any longer. 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:40.840 You know. 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:44.440 The state had an opportunity to present evidence in terms 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:47.160 of why it matters, why it matters for their economy, 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:49.560 why it matters for their citizens, and they had no 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:50.719 evidence to present. 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:58.520 Maybe the state didn't really take the lawsuit seriously. Maybe 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:01.760 they assumed that there was no way the kids could win. Well, 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:03.800 if that, well, it's the case. They were in for 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:08.080 a rude awakening. In August twenty twenty three, the Judge 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:08.959 Mato ruling. 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:11.639 I'm Kylie Gibson, our top stories We come on the 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:12.600 air live at five. 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:16.879 Montana judge sided with young environmental activists on Monday, and 0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:19.600 first of its kind climate change trial. 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:21.960 Judge Kathy Seeley handed down her decision. 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:22.880 They won. 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:25.639 For those of you just rejoining us, we've been exploring 0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:29.400 the landmark court case in Montana where young climate activists 0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:33.560 challenged the state's promotion of fossil fuels and won. It 0:18:33.680 --> 0:18:35.560 was a historic legal victory. 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:40.320 This decision that we secured in August was the first 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:46.159 time in our nation's history where courts have reviewed the 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:52.119 constitutionality of government laws and conduct that promote fossil fuels, 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:57.600 and after conducting that review, determined that they were unconstitutional, 0:18:57.760 --> 0:19:01.000 that it's unconstitutional for the state of mind Montana to 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:04.720 have laws on the book that promote fossil fuels, prohibit 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:08.360 the state from considering the impacts of fossil fuels, and 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:12.520 declared that those fossil fuel policies and conduct is violating 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:16.159 the constitutional rights of Montana's youth. We've never had a 0:19:16.200 --> 0:19:19.040 decision like that in our nation's history, so it's a 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:20.280 really landmark decision. 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:22.680 Wow. So just to be clear, that's the first time 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:25.960 that the US has actually upheld a constitutional right to 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:36.000 be protected from climate change, that's right. Yeah, So what 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:39.120 does that mean for Montana moving forward? I mean, how 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:41.760 will the state have to change how it does business. 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:44.359 Yeah, well, there's a few things that it means, and 0:19:44.800 --> 0:19:50.080 the court's August order really spelled out what is unconstitutional. 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:54.320 And one thing that the Court made clear is that today, 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:57.840 right now, at the current levels of greenhouse gas emissions 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:00.679 and the atmosphere and the current levels of fossil fuel 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:06.120 extraction and production in Montana, that is unconstitutional. So what 0:20:06.160 --> 0:20:09.840 that means is the state not only can't continue to 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:14.199 exacerbate their harms by further promoting fossil fuels, but they 0:20:14.240 --> 0:20:18.040 actually need to start to transition away from fossil fuels 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:22.320 and eventually decarbonize their entire energy system. And we had 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:25.680 evidence at trial about how Montana can do that. By 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:28.199 twenty thirty five at the earliest, and no later than 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:30.560 twenty fifty, they can get one hundred percent of their 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:34.280 energy from renewable energy sources. So that's really the end 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:34.800 goal here. 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:38.240 It's an ambitious goal, but of a moment it seems 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:42.640 totally possible. The bigger question now is whether our Children's 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:46.240 Trust can compete this success. The hope is to win 0:20:46.320 --> 0:20:48.960 more court cases like Visa in other states. 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:52.760 It was the first trial, the first win, but we 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:57.000 think there will be more. We're constantly working on new cases. 0:20:57.160 --> 0:21:01.360 There's our federal case Juliana the United States, which has 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:06.200 a long procedural history, but the current status is we're 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:08.679 back on track and hoping to have a trial there 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:10.520 in twenty twenty four sometime. 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:16.680 That case Nate is talking about, Juliana Versity United States. 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:20.560 It's a big deal because it's not just taking on 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:23.880 the state, it's taking on the federal government. 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:27.800 The main difference from the Juliana case is that case 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:32.920 is based on the Federal Constitution, and so there are 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:36.399 claims in Juliana under the Fifth Amendment, which protects the 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:40.640 right to life, liberty, and property, and to ego protection 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:41.280 of law. 0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:44.560 If you'd like to learn more about it, Netflix has 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:50.080 an incredible documentary called You Feegov. It's an emotional rollercoaster. 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:52.000 Here's a clip from Betrayer. 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:57.400 It's all been a matter of choices, and our feelings 0:21:57.440 --> 0:22:04.520 of despair and dread and anxiety is all because of 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:08.199 choices that we had no participation in. 0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:12.960 And so it's based on the Federal Constitution, and it 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:18.320 goes after the federal government's policy of promoting fossil fuels 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:21.840 for at least the last fifty years, and we have 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:26.080 evidence in that case that the government has known of 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:30.159 the dangers of fossil fuels since the nineteen sixties and 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:33.480 they were warning about the catastrophic harms it would result 0:22:33.520 --> 0:22:37.280 if we continue to this fossil fuel energy system. And 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:41.960 we've built this incredible record of how every government administration 0:22:42.119 --> 0:22:48.080 since then has continued to promote fossil fuels and increase emissions. 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:51.240 And we're hoping that we'll get to trial sometime the 0:22:51.240 --> 0:22:51.720 next year. 0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:54.640 I think one thing that really struck me watching the movie. 0:22:55.359 --> 0:22:58.040 I think it's one of the plaintiffs, Nick Venner. Towards 0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:00.679 the end of the film, the team will sitting together 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:03.280 and these reflecting on though we're still in not yet 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:07.200 at court, but maybe the path we've chidden will help 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:10.480 others even if the worst does come to pass. 0:23:10.600 --> 0:23:13.640 We can be the foundations for a lot of other 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:16.639 legal cases, and more importantly, we can show how the 0:23:16.680 --> 0:23:19.400 current system is broken and the possible ways can be proved. 0:23:19.400 --> 0:23:21.080 It can be a beacon of hope to others. 0:23:21.359 --> 0:23:25.240 The stories of Juliana versus US and Hell versus Montana 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:29.760 are so inspiring. These young people from across the US 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:34.040 are standing up against their government and winning. They're taking 0:23:34.080 --> 0:23:37.480 the lead on climate action instead of waiting for lawmakers 0:23:37.520 --> 0:23:40.680 to act, although it doesn't mean that those lawmakers are 0:23:40.720 --> 0:23:41.399 off the hook. 0:23:42.000 --> 0:23:46.440 So again, it speaks to that systemic solutions to climate 0:23:46.520 --> 0:23:50.000 change that we need. We need all three branches of government, 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:52.920 and we need all levels of government too. We need 0:23:52.920 --> 0:23:55.040 the federal government, we need the states, and we need 0:23:55.080 --> 0:23:57.760 local governments all working together on this. 0:23:59.280 --> 0:24:02.560 And I to stand correct, the federal government's really fighting 0:24:02.600 --> 0:24:05.920 this case. That's just surprised me because the Biden administration 0:24:06.640 --> 0:24:10.040 seems to be so much more climate friendly than previous administrations. 0:24:11.040 --> 0:24:13.760 Why doesn't the government want this to go to trial. 0:24:14.480 --> 0:24:18.240