Lead youth plaintiff on 'unbelievable' victory in constitutional climate case against Montana

A group of 16 youth activists just won a landmark climate lawsuit against the state of Montana.

Held v. Montana is the country’s first constitutional climate case. District Court Judge Kathy Seeley ruled that Montana's fossil fuel policies violated a provision in its constitution that guarantees “a clean and healthful environment.”

“It's just kind of unbelievable because we've been working on this for so long,” says 22-year-old Rikki Held, the only plaintiff of legal age at the time of filing the lawsuit. “It happens to be my name, but it’s so much bigger than myself and even us involved in the case because this matters for the whole world, even outside of Montana's borders.”