Category Archives: Environment

Jade Sasser CLIMATE ANXIETY AND THE KID QUESTION and Mark Rank THE RANDOM FACTOR

This edition of Forthright Radio features two university professors whose books were published this month by the University of CA Press.

First, we hear from University of California Riverside’s Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies Professor, Jade Sasser, about her latest book, CLIMATE ANXIETY AND THE KID QUESTION: Deciding Whether to Have Children in an Uncertain Future. Her award-winning 2018 book, On Infertile Ground: Population Control and Women’s Rights in the Era of Climate Change, analyzed the shifting role of environmentalists in shaping activism and international policy advocacy focused on population, reproductive rights, and reproductive justice. In CLIMATE ANXIETY AND THE KID QUESTION, she investigates the impacts of climate change, racial injustice, and other existential threats, on reproductive decisions.

In our second half, we welcome back George Washington University’s Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare, Mark Rank, whose book THE RANDOM FACTOR: How Chance and Luck Profoundly Shape Our Lives and the World Around Us, was published just this week. His research and teaching have focused on poverty, social welfare, economic inequality, and social policy.

Articles pertinent to this edition:

H.R.957 – Protecting Moms and Babies Against Climate Change Act 117th Congress (2021-2022)
H.R. 3302: Protecting Moms and Babies Against Climate Change Act 118th Congress https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/hr3302/summary

‘Children won’t be able to survive’: inter-American court to hear from climate victims https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/22/inter-american-court-climate-hearing-hear-from-victims-barbados

‘I am starting to panic about my child’s future’: climate scientists wary of starting families https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/10/climate-scientists-starting-families-children

The Far Right’s Campaign to Explode the Population https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/28/natalism-conference-austin-00150338

‘The Pressure Is Working’: Biden Weighs Climate Emergency Declaration https://www.commondreams.org/news/climate-change-national-emergency?utm_source=Common+Dreams&utm_campaign=b6968bca63-Top+News%3A+Thu.+4%2F18%2F24+w%2F+fundraiser&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-b6968bca63-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Pediatricians say climate conversations should be part of any doctor’s visit https://grist.org/health/pediatricians-advised-talk-patients-parents-climate-change/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=weekly

GOP State AGs Ask EPA to ‘Eviscerate’ Crucial Environmental Justice Tool https://www.commondreams.org/news/gop-epa-title-vi?utm_source=Common+Dreams&utm_campaign=4bdd8521e2-Top+News%3A+Wed.+4%2F17%2F24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-37878a46b5-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Sterilization Procedures Have Surged Among Young People Following “Dobbs” https://truthout.org/articles/sterilization-procedures-have-surged-among-young-people-post-dobbs/?utm_source=feedotter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FO-04-15-2024&utm_content=httpstruthoutorgarticlessterilizationprocedureshavesurgedamongyoungpeoplepostdobbs&utm_source=Truthout&utm_campaign=e9461d45e9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_04_15_08_50&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbb541a1db-e9461d45e9-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

‘I felt like a freak because I didn’t want children’ https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c72pnllv8nko

‘Catastrophic’: Biden Admin Approves Largest Offshore Oil Export Terminal https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-offshore-oil-terminal?utm_source=Common+Dreams&utm_campaign=1180bb9681-Top+News%3A+Mon.+4%2F15%2F24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-37878a46b5-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Guest column: Global warming presents more danger than guns https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/opinions/guest_columnists/guest-column-global-warming-presents-more-danger-than-guns/article_7f6d09de-f770-11ee-8032-1f184cd657b2.html

Cecil Williams, reverend who turned a church into a safe haven, dies aged 94 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/23/reverend-cecil-williams-san-francisco-california-dies-aged-94

‘A lot would have to go wrong for Biden to lose’: can Allan Lichtman predict the 2024 election? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/26/allan-lichtman-prediction-presidential-election

Josh Berman: FULL CIRCLE

On Wednesday January 17th, 2024 at the Ellen Theater, The Bozeman Film Society, in collaboration with Eagle Mount, presents an outstanding documentary, FULL CIRCLE. It explores the question, “faced with a traumatic injury that renders you permanently disabled; how would you reinvent yourself?”

It interweaves the stories of two people who not only survived devastating spinal cord injuries, but became inspirations to those who learn of their personal renewal and triumphs. In 2014, 22 year old Trevor Kennison‘s life was forever altered by a broken back. Barry Corbet, an intrepid skier, mountaineer, explorer, filmmaker, and Jackson Hole legend, broke his back in a helicopter crash in 1968. Frustrated by a pre-ADA culture that did not accept or
support the disabled, Barry reinvented himself, becoming a seminal leader in the disability community.
As you will hear in this interview with the film’s director, writer, and cinematographer, Josh Berman, FULL CIRCLE follows Trevor on a path towards post-traumatic growth in parallel with Barry, 50 years later.
Their stories mirror each other, connected through time and space by common locations and motifs; injuries in the Colorado back country, rehab at Denver’s Craig Hospital, fame in Jackson Hole; but also, through their shared resilience and refusal to let their passion for life be limited by their injuries.

FULL CIRCLE is an unblinking examination of the challenges of Spinal Cord Injury, and a celebration of the growth that such tragedy can catalyze.

A guest panel will follow the screening including Adaptive Athletes Drew Asaro, Liz Ann Kudrna, and Beth Barclay Livington.

You can find out more here: https://fullcirclefilm.co/

For more information about the Bozeman Film Society or tickets: https://www.bozemanfilmsociety.org/

Betsy Gaines Quammen TRUE WEST: Myth and Mending on the Far Side of America

We interviewed historian, conservationist, author, Betsy Gaines Quammen, in 2020 when her book, AMERICAN ZION: CLIVEN BUNDY, GOD AND PUBLIC LANDS IN THE WEST was published. https://forthright.media/2020/03/18/betsy-gaines-quammen-american-zion-cliven-bundy-god-public-lands-in-the-west/

Her latest book, TRUE WEST: MYTH AND MENDING ON THE FAR SIDE OF AMERICA, was published this Fall by Torrey House Press. She received a doctorate in Environmental History from Montana State University in 2017, her dissertation focused on Mormon settlement and public land conflicts. She has studied various religious traditions over the years, with particular attention to how cultures view landscape and wildlife. The rural American west, pastoral communities of northern Mongolia, and the grasslands of East Africa have been her main areas of interest. She is the president of the Board of Directors of Wild Earth Guardians.

Although TRUE WEST focuses primarily on the intermountain west, what goes on in this region is having tremendous effect on our national politics and well-being. Just two days ago, the Colorado Supreme Court decided in favor of a suit brought by CO Republican and unaffiliated voters, working with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, CREW, against CO Secretary of State Jena Griswold and Donald J. Trump, taking advantage of a CO law that allows voters to challenge a candidate’s eligibility. In this case the eligibility was challenged under Section 3 of the 14th amendment, claiming that the former president had engaged insurrection , based on his actions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack by his supporters at his urging. As you will hear in this interview with Betsy Gaines Quammen, recorded in the Beyond the Deep End Studio on the Winter Solstice of 2023, extremist organizing in this region over more than a decade contributed to that insurrection. We share it with you now.

Oath Keepers’ son emerges from traumatic childhood to tell his own story in a long shot election bid https://apnews.com/article/oath-keepers-stewart-rhodes-dakota-adams-montana-e0b46f25dfe319afe29617fd7325eb10

How Mike Johnson’s creationist beliefs clash with climate facts: ‘He just wasn’t interested’ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/13/mike-johnson-creationist-beliefs-clash-with-climate-facts

Christian Nationalism May Not Be Serious, but It’s Dangerous https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/01/opinion/christian-nationalism-trump-renew-america.html

What the South’s population boom means for 2030 redistricting https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/20/census-population-estimates-reapportionment-00132620

The Myth of the Cowboy https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/mar/20/myth-of-the-cowboy

Greg King – THE GHOST FOREST: Racists, Radicals, and Real Estate in the California Redwoods

In this edition of Forthright Radio our guest is journalist, author, environmentalist, Greg King. I first became aware of Greg’s work back in the late 1980s, when we who lived in the remnants of the once great redwood biome organized to protect what remained of that ecosystem from voracious predatory capitalists, who proudly vowed to “log to infinity.”

Greg King in All Species Grove 1987 (courtesy of Greg King)

Greg is the fifth generation of his family to live in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties of northern CA, – his ancestors having arrived in the 1860s and owned what was then one of the largest redwood mills, the King-Starrett mill in Monte Rio. The The King Range Mountains were named for his great-great uncle, John King, who lived north of Westport in Mendocino County, due to his hospitality to the government surveyor before his mapping that steep coastal range in the Lost Coast. Long before Greg was born, the last of the great redwood forests in Sonoma County were cut, but there were second growth stands and massive stumps of 20’ or greater diameter which served as his childhood playground. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz in 1985, he joined the staff of the West Sonoma County Paper, now called the Bohemian, where he won his first of two Lincoln Steffens Investigative Journalism Award.

Investigating Louisiana-Pacific’s “logging to infinity” in his neighborhood led him to the Maxxam Corporation’s hostile takeover, financed by junk bonds, of Humboldt County’s Pacific Lumber Company and the ensuing accelerated destruction of the last intact, ancient redwood groves in private hands to pay off the debt. Exploring these untouched forests with the largest, oldest trees on the planet inspired a reverence and awe unlike anything he had ever experienced. The rest, as they say, is history.

In his book, THE GHOST FOREST: Racists, Radicals, and Real Estate in the California Redwoods, he describes how he left his home and promising career to devote his life to identifying and protecting those few remaining giants and the biome centered on them. He is credited with mapping the remaining groves, including The Headwaters Forest, as well as pioneering tree sitting to prevent logging of redwoods in Humboldt County.

Greg King on traverse during a tree-sit in the middle of 1,000 acre All Species Grove, September 1987. Note sleeping platform on the tree in the background, tied under the lowest branch 150′ above the forest floor. (photo by Mary Beth Nearing, courtesy of Greg King)

What might have been merely a memoir became a shocking exposé of the all too successful efforts of financiers and industrialists via their creation of the Save the Redwoods League in 1917, to subvert the growing desire of the public to protect and preserve the remaining redwoods, by promoting instead small “beauty strips” along roadways to hide devastating clearcuts. As one of the first to delve into The League’s archives at U. C. Berkeley’s Bancroft Library, Greg followed the history back to the federal acts of the 19th century, that allowed well organized land fraud syndicates to place what had been 2 million acres of undisturbed ancient forests into private corporate hands. His research led him to the connections between the Save the Redwood League creators and the so-called “scientific racism” eugenics movement, which was so helpful to the Nazis in Germany, and which still plagues our nation even today.
We spoke with Greg King on October 18, 2023 via Skype.

In 1996 more than 8,000 people protested ancient redwood logging at the Pacific Lumber log deck along Yager Creek, in Humboldt County. More than 1,000 were arrested. It remains the largest single-day arrest number for an environmental protest in U.S. history. photo by Greg King

Articles pertinent to this interview:

America’s oldest example of greenwashing sacrificed California redwoods (Excerpt from THE GHOST FOREST) https://calmatters.org/commentary/2023/09/greenwashing-sacrificed-california-redwoods/

There Has Never Been A ‘Timber War’ https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1070&context=hjsr

A Car Bomb Nearly Kiilled Eco-Activist Judi Bari – and Yet the Feds Blamed Her (Excerpt from THE GHOST FOREST) https://www.thedailybeast.com/judi-bari-was-nearly-murdered-by-a-car-bomb-and-yet-the-feds-blamed-her

California’s Collusion with a Texas Timber Company Let Ancient Redwoods be Clearcut (Excerpt from THE GHOST FOREST) http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/185783

Can We Save the Redwoods by Helping Them Move? https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/25/magazine/redwoods-assisted-migration.html

Molly Conners: Butcher’s Crossing

On Wed., October 25, The Bozeman Film Society will be screening Butcher’s Crossing, which was filmed in just 19 days entirely in Montana, mostly on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. Glacier National Park and Nevada City in Madison County were also locations. We spoke with producer, Molly Conners, about Butcher’s Crossing and producing it here in Montana.

Molly Conners is founder and CEO of Phiphen, an independently owned film, television, and digital media company focused on producing creative, smart productions for a global audience. Her films have been Emmy nominated, and she has produced or executive produced 35 feature films over the last 15 years that have earned a total of 4 Academy Awards and 11 Academy Award nominations. Some of Molly’s notable credits include the 2014 Academy Award-winner BIRDMAN, the 2009 Academy Award-nominated FROZEN RIVER, as well as the films: KILLER JOE, THE IMMIGRANT, JOE, and RULES DON’T APPLY.

Her latest film, Butcher’s Creek, is based on the seminal 1960 novel of the same name by John Edward Williams, with a screenplay co-written by director, Gabe Polsky. An epic frontier adventure, Butcher’s Crossing, is a riveting commentary on human nature, ambition, masculinity, and man’s relationship to his natural environment. Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage stars in this tragedy about the last of the buffalo hunters in the Old West. Young greenhorn, Will Andrews, played by Fred Hechinger, has left his undergraduate life at Harvard to find adventure in the wild west. He teams up with Cage’s character, buffalo hunter, Miller, a taciturn frontiersman offering a hunt of an unprecedented number of buffalo for their pelts in a secluded valley in the Colorado Rockies. Their crew must survive an arduous journey, where the harsh elements will test everyone’s resolve, leaving their sanity on a knife’s edge.

We spoke with Molly Conners on October 13, 2023 via Skype.

Nikki Reisch CIEL & Climate Crisis Lawsuits

As each month breaks historic records for the hottest ever recorded, we realize that hot though they have been, they may very well be the coolest we’ll ever experience in the future. As wild fires, smoke and floods devastate huge swathes of the globe, one asks what can be done? While many dither (or worse), young people take action. Through their courage and determination, with their adult allies, they demand their rights to a livable future in courts around the world.

On September 27, 2023 in Strasbourg, France, The hearing of 6 Portuguese youth plaintiffs in the historic lawsuit, Duarte Agostinho v. Portugal and 32 Others, took place at the European Court of Human Rights.

The plaintiffs want governments to set and meet science-based targets for cutting carbon emissions in the 33 countries: all EU member states, plus Norway, Switzerland, Russia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

The fact that the European Court of Human Rights elevated this case to its Grand Chamber demonstrates how seriously the Court takes allegations that the inadequate climate policies of these 33 States breach their legal obligation to prevent climate-related harm.

Among the third party interveners in Aghostino was the Center for International Environmental Law. We invited Nikki Reisch, the Director of the Climate & Energy Program, at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) to be our guest on Forthright Radio. At CIEL, Nikki works at the intersection of human rights and the environment, overseeing research, analysis, legal and policy advocacy related to climate change, its causes, consequences, and responses to it.

Prior to joining CIEL, Nikki Reisch was the Legal Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, and a Supervising Attorney in the Global Justice Clinic at NYU School of Law. She was also an Adjunct Professor in the Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic at CUNY School of Law. Her work focused on human rights and environmental harms related to a range of domestic and international issues, including open-pit mining, surveillance of human rights defenders, immigration enforcement, torture, and arbitrary detention.

Her engagement in climate justice began with her five-year tenure as the Africa Program Manager at the Bank Information Center, where she worked to curb development finance for fossil fuels and supported front-line communities challenging extractive industry projects. In her subsequent position as the Policy Advisor on Forests and Climate Change at Rainforest Foundation UK, Nikki co-founded a global coalition tracking reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation in the UNFCCC negotiations and pursued transnational advocacy with partners in the Congo Basin to mitigate the human rights risks posed by climate change and policy responses to it.

She has litigated before domestic and international courts, appeared before UN treaty bodies and the accountability mechanisms of international financial institutions, and co-authored amicus briefs in several human rights cases. She is co-editor with Philip Alston of Tax, Inequality, and Human Rights (Oxford University Press, 2019) and has published other articles and reports on human rights and environmental matters.

In our far ranging conversation, which was recorded on October 3, 2023 via Skype, she told us “Sometimes when politics break down — as they have despite decades of climate negotiations — the law can break through.”

To find out more about the 6 Portuguese Youth Plaintiffs https://youth4climatejustice.org/media/

Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) http://www.ciel.org

In our conversation, Nikki referred to the European Court of Human Rights decisions as binding on the “Member States of the EU.” She actually meant The Council of Europe (46 member states, including the 27 EU states).

See also this blog by Corina Heri, a postdoctoral researcher at The University of Zurich, who was at the Agostinho hearing and followed the two other climate cases heard before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights earlier this year (Klimaseniorinnen v. Switzerland and Carême v. France), laying out the state of play and some of the arguments presented in court. https://verfassungsblog.de/act-three-for-climate-litigation-in-strasbourg/#:~:text=While%20KlimaSeniorinnen%20also%20made%20procedural,the%20prohibitions%20of%20torture%20and

The Sabin Center at Columbia Law School maintains a database of global climate cases https://climatecasechart.com/us-climate-change-litigation/, and co-published the 2023 Global Climate Litigation Report with UNEP. https://www.unep.org/resources/report/global-climate-litigation-report-2023-status-review.

The Grantham Institute at The London School of Economics also has an overview of global trends in climate change litigation https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/publication/global-trends-in-climate-change-litigation-2023-snapshot/

Girl, 11, among six young people taking on 32 nations in historic climate case https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/sep/27/girl-11-among-six-young-people-taking-on-32-nations-in-historic-climate-case

Youth vs Europe: ‘Unprecedented’ climate trial unfolds at rights court https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/youth-vs-europe-unprecedented-climate-trial-kick-off-rights-court-2023-09-27/

Stop locking young people out of legal process in climate cases, say experts https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/26/stop-locking-young-people-out-of-legal-process-in-climate-cases-say-experts

I Study Climate Change. The Data Is Telling Us Something New. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/13/opinion/climate-change-excessive-heat-2023.html

‘We Come Here Seeking Urgent Help’: Vulnerable Islands Want Climate Pollution Covered by Ocean Treaty https://www.commondreams.org/news/ocean-climate-pollution-hearing

Small island nations take high-emitting countries to court to protect the ocean https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/sep/10/small-island-nations-take-high-emitting-countries-to-court-to-protect-the-ocean

California Sues Giant Oil Companies, Citing Decades of Deception https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/15/business/california-oil-lawsuit-newsom.html

At least 20 California public university board members linked to fossil fuels https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/04/california-public-universities-fossil-fuels-csu

California to require big firms to reveal carbon emissions in first law of its kind https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/09/california-carbon-emissions-law

Is California’s Climate Lawsuit against Big Oil a Gamechanger? https://tomdispatch.com/getting-mad-and-getting-even/

The hottest summer in human history – a visual timeline https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2023/sep/29/the-hottest-summer-in-human-history-a-visual-timeline

Climate crisis is ‘not gender neutral’: UN calls for more policy focus on women https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/oct/10/climate-crisis-is-not-gender-neutral-un-calls-for-more-policy-focus-on-women

If You Want Our Countries to Address Climate Change, First Pause Our Debts https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/08/opinion/climate-change-africa-debt.htm

State appeals youth climate trial decision https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/environment/state-appeals-youth-climate-trial-decision/article_90e4b322-616d-11ee-a853-6bbb771957b3.html

“This Fight Isn’t Over” – Three Tribes File New Lawsuit Challenging Thacker Pass Lithium Mine https://www.rsic.org/thackerpass-newlawsuit/

Held v MT, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Green Amendments for the Generations

The week beginning August 14th, 2023 has been historic for first rulings and actions for the environment and democracy. That morning, MT District Court Judge, Kathy Seeley, rendered her masterful 103 page closely reasoned and well cited verdict in the case of Held v MT, ruling that the 16 youth plaintiffs’ constitutional rights under the Montana State Constitution were being violated by the Montana government’s laws and practices, including amendments to the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) that specifically prohibited consideration of climate change in the granting of permits by the Dept of Environmental Quality.

We spoke with Anne Hedges of the MT Environmental Information Center https://meic.org/, who testified in the case, as well as Claire Vlases, one of the youth Plaintiffs who testified.

Claire Vlases testifies as Judge Kathy Seeley listens intently

Then, on August 17, in The United States District Court for the District of Montana, Federal Judge Donald Molloy, rendered his judgment in favor of The Alliance for the Wild Rockies & Native Ecosystems Council suit against the US Forest Service, to protect the dwindling remnant grizzly bears population and to stop the Black Ram massive old growth logging project in its tracks. https://allianceforthewildrockies.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/093-ORDER-Granting-MSJ-2023-08-17.pdf This is historic, because it’s the first time in the Federal Courts that climate change was cited in a ruling. We spoke with Mike Garrity of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies https://allianceforthewildrockies.org/ about that decision.

An update on the case from April 30, 2024:

Alliance stops 100 miles of roads and 5,000 acres of clearcuts on Montana’s public lands https://dailymontanan.com/2024/04/30/alliance-stops-100-miles-of-roads-and-5000-acres-of-clearcuts-on-montanas-public-lands/

Then, on Sunday, August 20th, Ecuador became the first country in history to restrict fossil fuel extraction through the citizen referendum process. Nearly 60% of Ecuadorian voters backed a binding referendum opposing oil exploration in Block 43, a section of Yasuní National Park, the most biodiverse area of the imperiled Amazon rainforest, which is home to uncontacted Indigenous tribes, as well as hundreds of bird species and more than 1,000 tree species.

Finally, we spoke with Maya van Rossum, founder of Green Amendments for the Generations http://www.ForTheGenerations.org about her decades long efforts to secure Green Amendments in state constitutions nationwide. According to van Rossum, currently only 3 states benefit from Green Amendment constitutional environmental rights — Montana, Pennsylvania and New York. In addition to leading the effort that secured New York’s Green Amendment just over 2 years ago, and being responsible for the litigation that brought strength to Pennsylvania’s amendment, van Rossum is working to pass Green Amendments in 15 other states with more getting in contact since hearing about the Held victory.

It is worth quoting the relevant parts of the Montana State Constitution, upon which Judge Seeley based her verdict.

Article II, Bill of Rights, Section 3, Inalienable Rights:

All persons are born free and have certain inalienable rights. They include the right to a clean and healthful environment and the rights of pursuing life’s basic necessities, enjoying and defending their lives and liberties, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and seeking their safety, health and happiness in all lawful ways. In enjoying these rights, all persons recognize corresponding responsibilities.

Article 9, Environment & Natural Resources, Section 1. Protection and improvement.

(1) The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.
(2) The legislature shall provide for the administration and enforcement of this duty.
(3) The legislature shall provide adequate remedies for the protection of the environmental life support system from degradation and provide adequate remedies to prevent unreasonable depletion and degradation of natural resources.

I recorded the entire proceedings and produced Daily Audio Digests. After the trial, I produced archived editions of each witness’s testimony, as well as closing arguments. Unlike the trial transcript, from which the plaintiffs’ witnesses’ pre-rebuttal testimony was stricken, in these archived recordings of their testimony is intact. Here are the links to those recordings in the order in which they occurred:

Mae Nan Ellingson http://kgvm.org/show/held-mae-nan-ellingson-testimony-6-12-23/

Ricki Held http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-ricki-held-testimony-6-12-23/

Dr. Steven Running http://kgvm.org/show/held-dr-steve-running-testimony-6-12-23/

Grace Gibson-Snyder http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-grace-testimony/

Eva http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-eva-testimony-6-12-23/

Dr. Cathy Whitlock http://kgvm.org/show/held-dr-cathy-whitlock-testimony-6-13-23/

Mica http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-mica-testimony-6-13-23/

Dr. Daniel Fagre http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-dr-dan-fagre-6-13-23/

Badger Busse http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-badge-testimony-6-13-23/

Dr. Lori Byron http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-dr-lori-byron-testimony-6-13-23/

Dr. Shane Doyle http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-shane-doyle-testimony-6-14-23/

Michael Durglo, Jr. http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-michael-durglo-jr/

Sariel Sandoval http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-sariel-sandoval-testimony-6-14-23/

Taleah Hernández http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-taleah-hernandez-testimony-6-14-23/

Georgianna Fischer http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-georgianna-fischer-testimony-6-14-23/

Kian Tanner http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-kian-tanner-testimony-6-15-23/

Anne Hedges http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-anne-hedges-testimony-6-15-23/

Claire Vlases http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-claire-vlases-testimony-6-15-23/

Peter Erickson http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-peter-erickson-testimony-6-15-23/

Mark Jacobson http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-mark-jacobson-testimony-6-16-23/

Olivia V. http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-olivia-v-testimony-6-16-23/

Dr. Lise Van Susteren http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-lise-van-susteren-testimony-6-16-23/

Lander Busse http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-lander-busse-testimony-6-16-23/

Christopher Dorrington & Sonja Nowakowski http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-day-6-christopher-dorrington-sonja-nowakowski/

Sonja Nowakowski & Dr. Terry Anderson https://forthright.media/2023/06/20/held-v-state-of-montana-day-6-part-2-cross-examination-of-sonja-nowakowski-final-witness-dr-terry-anderson/

Closing Arguments https://forthright.media/2023/06/21/held-v-state-of-montana-day-7-closing-arguments/

Here are links to the Daily Audio Digests

Day 1 https://forthright.media/2023/06/13/held-v-state-of-montana-day-1-daily-digest/

Day 2 https://forthright.media/2023/06/14/held-v-state-of-montana-day-2-daily-digest/

Day 3 https://forthright.media/2023/06/15/held-v-state-of-montana-day-3-daily-digest/

Day 4 https://forthright.media/2023/06/16/held-v-state-of-montana-day-4-daily-audio-digest/

Day 4 https://forthright.media/2023/06/18/held-v-state-of-montana-day-4-daily-digest-peter-erickson/

Day 5 https://forthright.media/2023/06/17/held-v-state-of-montana-day-5-daily-digest-dr-lise-van-susteren-lander-busse/

Day 5 https://forthright.media/2023/06/18/held-v-state-of-montana-day-5-daily-digest-dr-mark-jacobson/

Day 6 https://forthright.media/2023/06/20/held-v-state-of-montana-day-6-daily-digest-christopher-dorrington-sonja-nowakowski/

Day 6 https://forthright.media/2023/06/20/held-v-state-of-montana-day-6-part-2-cross-examination-of-sonja-nowakowski-final-witness-dr-terry-anderson/

Held v State of Montana Claire Vlases & Georgi Fischer Testimony

Since the historic Held v. State of Montana trial began on June 12, 2023, in the Lewis and Clark County District Court in Helena, MT, Judge Kathy Seeley presiding, we have recorded and archived the audio testimony to preserve the record to inform our listeners, and allow you to hear for yourselves what transpired.

In this special Ecotones edition of Forthright Radio, we share the testimony of our own Bozeman youth plaintiffs, Claire Vlases and Georgianna “Georgi” Fischer.

For the first time in the United States, youth plaintiffs were able to present their case in a court of law, that their inalienable constitutional rights under Article II Section 3 of the Montana State Constitution “to a clean and healthful environment and the rights of pursuing life’s basic necessities, enjoying and defending their lives and liberties, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and seeking their safety, health and happiness in all lawful ways.” ….. were being denied and violated by the policies and actions of their government. Further, that The State was in violation of their responsibilities as required under Article IX, Environment and Natural Resources, Section 1. Protection and Improvement that “The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations. Section 2. The legislature shall provide for the administration and enforcement of this duty. and Section 3. The legislature shall provide adequate remedies for the protection of the environmental life support system from degradation and provide adequate remedies to prevent unreasonable depletion and degradation of natural resources.”

Furthermore, the Montana State Constitution includes under Article II Declaration of Rights: Section 15. “Rights of persons not adults. The rights of persons under 18 years of age shall include, but not be limited to, all the fundamental rights of this Article unless specifically precluded by laws which enhance the protection of such persons.” It is said that it is the only state constitution to specify this, and the youth plaintiffs in Held v State of Montana are holding the state to the letter of this supreme law of the state of Montana.

In this special Ecotones edition of Forthright Radio, we bring you the testimony of two of the youth plaintiffs from Bozeman, MT, Claire Vlases and Georgianna “Georgi” Fischer. Although they and the other 14 youth plaintiffs are the first to have their case heard in the United States, they are by no means alone in their efforts. There are at least five other youth led climate change suits.

In the matter of Juliana v United States, filed by 21 young Americans in 2015, in the US District Court in Oregon, asserting that the federal government’s fossil fuel energy system and its affirmative actions that cause climate change violate their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property, as well as their rights to essential public trust resources like air and water. It had seemed that the legal maneuvers by the administrations of Barack Obama and Donald Trump had succeeded in blocking their efforts. However on June 1, 2023, Federal Judge Ann Aiken, of the US District Court in Oregon, granted their motion to amend their complaint, putting their case back on track to trial, where evidence of the government’s conduct will be heard in open court.

These 21 youth plaintiffs are seeking a judicial declaration that the US fossil fuel energy system is unconstitutional, and violates their fundamental right to a safe climate. According to ourchildrenstrust.org’s website, “A victory in their case would mean that U.S. climate and energy policy – whether executive or legislative in nature, and regardless of political majority or party – would need to adhere to the court’s declaratory judgment, protecting the rights of our nation’s children and ending the physical and mental harm they have experienced due to the actions of their own government.”

However on June 22, 2023, The Department of Justice of the Biden Administration filed yet another motion to dismiss Juliana v. United States, one day after receiving an online petition signed by more than 255 organizations and over 50,000 individuals delivered by the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition, urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to end opposition to the Juliana case proceeding to trial, and only two days after the plaintiffs rested their case in Held v. State of Montana, which now awaits the decision of Judge Cathy Seeley.

Meanwhile, the 14 youth plaintiffs in Navahine F. v Hawaii Department of Transportation, whose case was filed in June of 2022, succeeded on April 6, 2023 when the Environmental Court of First Circuit in Honolulu denied the State’s motion to dismiss. They are awaiting a trial date to be determined, after their motion to maintain their September, 2023 trial date was denied, when Judge Crabtree granted the State’s motion to continue the trial date to give the State more time to prepare their defense.

‘I cried like 10 times’: Bozeman plaintiffs reflect on youth climate trial https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/environment/i-cried-like-10-times-bozeman-plaintiffs-reflect-on-youth-climate-trial/article_bbdb990a-11dc-11ee-aa76-a7baaf9171d7.html

Claire Vlases – Solar Makes Sense http://kgvm.org/show/claire-vlases-solar-makes-sense/

‘Nothing Short of Outrageous’: Attorneys for Youth Climate Plaintiffs Blast Biden DOJ https://www.commondreams.org/news/doj-dismiss-juliana-climate

Held v State of Montana Opening & Closing Arguments

Since the historic Held v. State of Montana trial began on June 12, 2023, in the Lewis and Clark County District Court in Helena, MT, Judge Kathy Seeley presiding, we have been recording and archiving the audio to preserve the record, to inform and allow listeners to hear for what transpired.

For the first time in the United States, youth plaintiffs were able to present their case in a court of law, that the state of Montana was denying them their inalienable constitutional rights under Article II Section 3 of the Montana State Constitution

“to a clean and healthful environment and the rights of pursuing life’s basic necessities, enjoying and defending their lives and liberties, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and seeking their safety, health and happiness in all lawful ways.” ….. were being denied and violated by the policies and actions of their government.

Further, that The State was in violation of their responsibilities as required under Article IX, Environment and Natural Resources, Section 1. Protection and Improvement that “The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations. Section 2. The legislature shall provide for the administration and enforcement of this duty. and Section 3. The legislature shall provide adequate remedies for the protection of the environmental life support system from degradation and provide adequate remedies to prevent unreasonable depletion and degradation of natural resources. ”

In this edition of Ecotones, we share the opening arguments given in Held v State of Montana on Monday, June 12, 2023, as well as the closing arguments from Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Here is a list of the unedited testimonies of witnesses in this trial in chronological order of their appearance:

Mae Nan Ellingson http://kgvm.org/show/held-mae-nan-ellingson-testimony-6-12-23/

Ricki Held http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-ricki-held-testimony-6-12-23/

Dr. Steven Running http://kgvm.org/show/held-dr-steve-running-testimony-6-12-23/

Grace Gibson-Snyder http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-grace-testimony/

Eva http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-eva-testimony-6-12-23/

Dr. Cathy Whitlock http://kgvm.org/show/held-dr-cathy-whitlock-testimony-6-13-23/

Mica http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-mica-testimony-6-13-23/

Dr. Daniel Fagre http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-dr-dan-fagre-6-13-23/

Badger Busse http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-badge-testimony-6-13-23/

Dr. Lori Byron http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-dr-lori-byron-testimony-6-13-23/

Dr. Shane Doyle http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-shane-doyle-testimony-6-14-23/

Michael Durglo, Jr. http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-michael-durglo-jr/

Sariel Sandoval http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-sariel-sandoval-testimony-6-14-23/

Taleah Hernández http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-taleah-hernandez-testimony-6-14-23/

Georgianna Fischer http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-georgianna-fischer-testimony-6-14-23/

Kian Tanner http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-kian-tanner-testimony-6-15-23/

Anne Hedges http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-anne-hedges-testimony-6-15-23/

Claire Vlases http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-claire-vlases-testimony-6-15-23/

Peter Erickson http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-peter-erickson-testimony-6-15-23/

Mark Jacobson http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-mark-jacobson-testimony-6-16-23/

Olivia V. http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-olivia-v-testimony-6-16-23/

Dr. Lise Van Susteren http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-lise-van-susteren-testimony-6-16-23/

Lander Busse http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-lander-busse-testimony-6-16-23/

Christopher Dorrington & Sonja Nowakowski http://kgvm.org/show/held-v-state-of-montana-day-6-christopher-dorrington-sonja-nowakowski/

Sonja Nowakowski & Dr. Terry Anderson https://forthright.media/2023/06/20/held-v-state-of-montana-day-6-part-2-cross-examination-of-sonja-nowakowski-final-witness-dr-terry-anderson/

Held v State of Montana Day 7 Closing Arguments

This special edition of Ecotones is the final daily audio digest of the historic Held v State of Montana trial.

On the final day of this trial, one day before the summer solstice, on June 20, 2023, closing arguments were given before Judge Kathy Seeley, presiding judge of the Lewis and Clark District Court in Helena, MT.

Our Children’s Trust Senior Staff Attorney, Nate Bellinger, delivered the plaintiffs’ closing arguments, followed by Montana Assistant Attorney General, Michael Russell, delivering closing arguments for the State.

Judge Kathy Seeley presides as plaintiffs’ attorney, Nate Bellinger, delivers closing arguments.

Before these remarks, plaintiffs’ attorney Philip Gregory, offered further information attacking the credibility of the State’s lone outside expert witness, economist Dr. Terry Anderson, submitting a report documenting errors of his sources and information, and asking the court to take judicial notice, which the court granted. The audio of this portion of the proceedings, which came before the closing arguments was problematic, and our best efforts only made marginal improvements, so we have put this portion at the end of this recording after the closing arguments.