Fundamental Rights to a Clean, Safe, and Healthy Environment: The Case for Green Amendments

This program, presented by Maya K. van Rossum and Mel Martin, introduces an emerging intersection of environmental and constitutional law that proves promising in the field of public interest environmental law and advocacy: fundamental environmental rights. Green Amendments, as they've been termed, are self-executing, enforceable provisions added to the bill of rights section of a constitution that recognize and protect the rights of all people, including future generations, to clean water, clean air, a stable climate and a healthy environment. Learn how strict scrutiny of government actions on environmental matters has developed in three states with Green Amendments (Pennsylvania, Montana, and New York), and how such fundamental rights can be enacted in other states to address and prevent environmental destruction.

Learning Objectives:

1. Discuss the limits of the current legal framework in environmental protection

2. Review the purpose, scope, and necessary criteria of a Green Amendment

3. Discuss points and counterpoints regarding Green Amendments

4. Analyze the jurisprudence of Green Amendments thus far, to prepare for future applications

5. Identify and account for factors that will affect the implementation and use of a Green Amendment, depending on your state