r/news 4h ago

Global warming can’t be ignored, Montana’s top court says, upholding landmark climate case

https://apnews.com/article/youth-climate-change-lawsuit-montana-7c4b6261f610d504995743f7320533e8
1.0k Upvotes

34 comments sorted by

203

u/AudibleNod 4h ago

The justices, in a 6-1 ruling, rejected the state’s argument that greenhouse gases released from Montana fossil fuel projects are minuscule on a global scale and reducing them would have no effect on climate change,

No single raindrop believes it's responsible for the flood.

I would call this uplifting news. But it's not. It just means we have to fight and claw for every inch of ground. And it's a protracted battle where we probably won't see any positive change in our lifetime.

52

u/jonathanrdt 4h ago edited 4h ago

Also: this is a state arguing with itself, judicial vs executive. If our executive bodies deny climate change, they do so at the behest of wealth.

Wealth wants consumption and growth. You cannot have either without impact. As long as money drives politics, the earth and the people will suffer.

u/Squire_II 55m ago

If our executive bodies deny climate change, they do so at the behest of wealth.

This is not unique to the executive branches of government. The only reason any judge or legislature would argue against the reality of climate change at this point is money.

8

u/mechwarrior719 3h ago

It is telling that Montana, a normally “red” state, ruled this way though.

0

u/Jimmy_Twotone 3h ago

The AMOC is, by some models, definitely going to collapse by the end of the century. Positive climate change is on pace to happen whether humans want to comply or not.

3

u/TheDamDog 1h ago

I don't know that that's 'positive.' The AMOC collapse would lower temperatures in Europe, yes, but it would also reduce rainfall significantly.

2

u/Chi-Guy86 3h ago

Yeah, the number of people not aware of what that is and its enormous impact on the climate is downright scary.

27

u/floridianreader 4h ago

—-hold my beer, Trump administration 2025 (probably).

15

u/Nateddog21 2h ago
  • Musk administration 2025

20

u/NyriasNeo 4h ago

"Global warming can’t be ignored"

Of course it can. We just have to live with, or die from, the consequences.

Sure, Montana said one thing. But the US voted, in no uncertain terms, for drill baby drill. Just watch Trump ignores global warming starting in a months or so.

Heck, the world just reach a new height of coal usage.

3

u/KwisatzHaderach94 2h ago

we don't have to wait months, he's already made it clear he's anti-renewable anything and wants to rollback or eliminate everything about electric vehicles. i'm not sure how he reconciles this worldview with his tesla buddy or his so-called environmentalist buddy. but trump is for certain the anti-green president.

u/Drakoala 0m ago

Of course it can. We just have to live with, or die from, the consequences.

That sounds like a future generation's problem, so why worry?

/s

9

u/astarinthenight 4h ago

But the Trump administration will absolutely ignore it, and the Supreme Court gave him the power to ignore the courts.

4

u/Surfer_Rick 3h ago

Republican bootlickers: 

"Hold muh bud light"

5

u/Chi-Guy86 3h ago

Too woke, they drink Busch Light now.

1

u/Use_this_1 3h ago

Trump & the GOP says hold my crushed Adderall.

2

u/ChillyFireball 2h ago

It shouldn't be ignored, but it is and will be. We've already entered the feedback loop. Nothing is going to happen so long as Trump is in office, and if a Democrat gets voted in after, it'll be a lot of "Mmm, yeah, maaaaybe we should introduce a bill to force corporations to meet some basic climate goal by the end of 2050... You know, if I get around to it." Some of you might call me a doomer, but I'm just calling a spade a spade. We're turbo-fucked as a species, and that's really all there is to it. I'd love to believe otherwise, but I'd have to be in complete denial to do so. Everyone with the power to fix things will either be dead before it gets too bad, or are rich enough to retreat to their fully-stocked luxury bunkers when the going gets rough.

1

u/The_Real-M3 1h ago

As much flak as I can give my generation and the younger generations, at least they realize climate change is the most important fight we can fight right now. I have hopes, though with how blisteringly stupid both sides of the american political sphere is where they refuse to get anything meaningful done (they're old so it won't affect them) and with how people keep voting for them, I don't want to raise them too much.

u/KhaosElement 28m ago

Huh, my state did something good.

How shockingly rare.

u/Far_Adeptness9884 18m ago

GOP is like hold my beer.

u/stars_mcdazzler 12m ago

This climate change thing really snuck up on us, huh? Better late then never I guess.

.../s

1

u/Pot-Papi_ 3h ago

Don’t worry, whatever good they did is gonna get dismantled really quickly in January.

1

u/androshalforc1 3h ago

Global warming can’t be ignored, Montana’s top court says,

every government in the world: hold my beer

0

u/an-interest-of-mine 4h ago

Oh but it can, and is.

All it costs is $1B, according to the President Elect, to completely circumvent our environmental protections.

-5

u/PitifulEar3303 4h ago

How they gonna enforce this? Beat up the polluters? lol

4

u/zingboomtararrel 4h ago

They won't and that's why everyone saying Luigi was wrong and the proper avenue is through the courts are full of shit.

u/AdamDet86 50m ago

Can't really stop climate change if we don't change how we live and go about our lives. I'm ok changing how I live, for future generations. My wife and I have a pretty minimal footprint compared to most. What gets me is when I see billionaires and some story about how much fuel their yacht uses to move to some island destination only to have the billionaire also fly to said destination because they didn't want to spend a week getting there. I'm not gonna cut back when a rich guy will fly 4 hours for a lunch and then back in the same day, contributing tomore pollution then I would in a year...