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 recorded and are archiving the audio to preserve the record to inform and allow listeners to hear for themselves what transpired.

In this edition we share the unedited recording of the testimony of Dr. Cathy Whitlock from the morning of the second day of the trial (6-13-23). Dr. Whitlock is a Regents Professor Emeritus in Earth Sciences at Montana State University and a Fellow of the Montana Institute on Ecosystems. She is nationally and internationally recognized for her research and leadership activities in the field of climate and environmental change. She is also an author of the Greater Yellowstone Climate Assessment (2021) and Montana Climate Assessment (2017), which describe the impacts of past and future climate change in the region.  In 2018, she became the first person from a Montana university to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

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.”