Speaking toward the future, there’s no one more impacted by the issues of the day than the young people among us. From curriculum to climate change, the younger you are the longer you’ll have to live with the decisions made today. And in Montana, youth engagement in political action becoming a force to reckon with.
In March 2020, a group of 16 students filed a constitutional climate lawsuit against the state. It claims that the state’s energy policy violates its own constitutional rights, specifically, “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.”
Read more about the case from this article out of Helena.
And more recently, a group of middle and high school students found themselves at the Montana capital contributing to the legislative process through testimony. At question was a bill proposing to restrict science education to legislatively defined ‘scientific fact’ that is ‘observable and repeatable’. The students gave legislators a crash course in the language of science from theories to laws and the scientific process humanity uses to prove which information is most reliable. Get the full story from Montana Free Press.
