Not asking for a perfect world – just a livable one
Evalina Sain, an Omaha Central High School student and executive director of Students for Sustainability in Nebraska, speaks at a rally of mostly young people calling for adoption of a Green Amendment in the state. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)
Pure water. Clean air. Healthy soil. A livable environment.
These things should be guaranteed as integral to the well-being of our beautiful state, as a well-functioning government or the Earth spinning on its axis.
Yet for decades, the workings of fossil fuels and carbon emissions have made things like a clean environment precarious. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, climate change has exacerbated the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events to the point at which, in 2024 alone, extreme weather cost Nebraska $2 billion in damages. Climate change is costing Nebraska business.
It's costing us health. It's even costing us lives. And it's making countless Nebraskans wonder: What will happen when the droughts keep killing our crops? When the heat waves keep forcing us indoors? When the summer storms keep destroying our homes?
That's why we and others want the Nebraska Legislature to consider Legislative Resolution 22CA, also known as the Green Amendment. LR 22CA, introduced by State Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln, states that 'all people have a right to a clean and healthy environment' and that 'the state, and each subdivision thereof, shall serve as trustee of the natural resources of Nebraska.'
The Green Amendment would promote policies to stabilize our climate — stability that Nebraska desperately needs. While Nebraska does have some provisions related to the environment in its constitution, there is no outright affirmation of what we all know to be true: that every Nebraskan deserves access to a safe, healthy environment. The Green Amendment would change that.
Additionally, the Green Amendment would unlock actions to protect Nebraska's life-giving natural resources. Three states, New York, Pennsylvania and Montana, have versions of a Green Amendment, and in Montana, a group of young people used this once-symbolic amendment to push for real climate action in their state.
In Held v. State of Montana, 16 young plaintiffs sued the Montana state government over its inaction on climate change, stating that not acting on such a crisis restricted access to a clean environment and was therefore unconstitutional. They won.
This example from Montana shows what a driving force a Green Amendment can be — legally, politically and socially. Just like in Montana, a Green Amendment in Nebraska would allow young Nebraskans to start uniting around climate action.
It would allow us to use the court system to hold corporations and the government accountable for climate action. It would empower Nebraskans of all ages to work with our communities and local governments toward a sustainable future.
In fact, we're already starting. The youth environmental group Omaha Students for Sustainability organized a rally on Feb. 26th, along with organizations like the Nebraska Sierra Club, to show our support for LR 22CA. Dozens of proponents testified at the hearing before the Natural Resources Committee that day, and their testimonies made it clear that the Green Amendment would not only promote climate action, but also would demonstrate how much the government cares about the futures of young Nebraskans.
Forward-thinking legislation is more crucial now than ever, especially with Nebraska's oft-discussed 'brain drain.' The University of Nebraska at Omaha reported that in 2022, roughly 31,600 people 25 years of age and older migrated out of Nebraska. Young people are consistently leaving our state for reasons ranging from a lack of economic opportunity to political discontent.
A Green Amendment would be a major step toward stopping this brain drain. Cementing the legal right to a clean environment would show young Nebraskans that their elected officials, no matter their party, prioritize the future of our state and the people living in it.
I don't think anyone disagrees that all Nebraskans deserve a clean and healthy environment. They may disagree on how to achieve that goal. Not everyone, understandably, thinks it should be up to the government to create a perfect world.
But we're not asking for a perfect world. We're asking for a livable one, and I think the government has a responsibility to provide at least that.
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