Welcome to this special edition of Ecotones. We continue our coverage on this fourth day of the historic Held v State of Montana proceedings, sharing this audio daily digest from June 15, 2023. In this edition, we feature three witnesses, but not in the order in which they actually testified on Thursday June 15th. Testifying first was youth plaintiff, Kian Tanner, followed by Montana Environmental Information Center Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs, Anne Hedges, and then youth plaintiff, Claire Vlases.

Our digest begins instead with Bozeman youth plaintiff, Claire Vlases. We include the link to our October, 2018 interview with Claire when she was a Bozeman High School sophomore. http://kgvm.org/show/claire-vlases-solar-makes-sense/ http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-claire-vlases-testimony-6-15-23/

Next is testimony from Anne Hedges, who is the Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs at the Montana Environmental Information Center, including cross examination by Defense Attorney for the State of Montana, Bain Johnson (apology if his name is misspelled). http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-anne-hedges-testimony-6-15-23/

Youth plaintiff, Kian Tanner is the final witness we feature in this digest. http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-kian-tanner-testimony-6-15-23/

Due to radio broadcast time restraints, we were not able to include the testimony of the final witness on June 15, 2023, Peter Erickson, a climate change policy researcher for the Stockholm Environment Institute in Seattle, Washington. He provided expert testimony on Montana’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions – via fossil fuel consumption, extraction, and infrastructure that the state of Montana permits – and how these emissions are both nationally and globally significant. “We are at a decision point about taking action on climate change,” Mr. Erickson said. “The world community has decided we must. Montana continues to issue fossil fuel permits.” http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-peter-erickson-testimony-6-15-23/

We will include audio of his testimony, as well as those of others we could not previously share, in later programs.

Meet the kids behind the historic Montana climate trial https://www.eenews.net/articles/meet-the-kids-behind-the-historic-montana-climate-trial/

Experts in Youth Climate Trial Say Montana’s Legislative and Executive Branches Favor Fossil Fuel Industry https://flatheadbeacon.com/2023/06/16/experts-in-youth-climate-trial-say-montanas-legislative-and-executive-branches-favor-fossil-fuel-industry/

Indigenous experiences headline third day of Held v. Montana trial https://montanafreepress.org/2023/06/15/indigenous-experiences-headline-third-day-of-held-v-montana-trial/

Young People in Historic Climate Trial Rest Their Case https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/young-people-in-historic-climate-trial-rest-their-case/