Climate-Change Campaigners Eye State Constitutional Amendment

Connecticut environmentalists are waging a years-long quest to convince voters to pass an ERA — and not your mother’s ERA.

The ERA in question is not the Equal Rights Amendment, which Connecticut ratified in 1972. The new one is called the Environmental Rights Amendment. Activists are trying to get the state legislature to pass the proposed amendment so it can then appear on a general election ballot, then become part of Connecticut’s constitution and guide how the state makes future law that impacts our air and water.

The proposed new ERA states:

Each person of the state of Connecticut shall have an individual right to clean and healthy air, water, soil and environment; a stable climate; and self-sustaining ecosystems; for the benefit of public health, safety and the general welfare. The state shall not infringe upon these rights. The state shall protect these rights equitably for all people regardless of race, ethnicity, tribal membership status, gender, socioeconomics or geography. The state, municipalities, and any political subdivision thereof, shall serve as trustee of the natural resources of Connecticut, among them being its waters, air, flora, fauna, soils, and climate; and shall conserve, protect, and maintain these resources for the benefit of all people, including present and future generations. The rights stated in this section are inherent, inalienable, and indefeasible, are among those rights reserved to the people, and are equivalent with all other inalienable rights. The provisions of this amendment are self-executing.

Kimberly Stoner, who recently retired after working 35 years as a scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, is among the activists organizing support for the ERA, through groups including CTNOFA.

The group pitched the proposal to Democrats and Republicans alike this past legislative session at a hearing before the Environment Committee.

“It’s hard to take a public stand against the right of the people to clean and healthy air, water, soil, and environment,” Stoner said during a conversation about the campaign, on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven” program. ​“I intend to talk to Republicans as well as Democrats and anyone else.”

Environmentalists are pitching similar proposals in states across the country. Montana and Pennsylvania passed versions of this ERA back in the 1970s; in August a group of young people prevailed in a lawsuit based on that amendment that overturned Montana laws that prevented permitting agencies from considering climate impacts of fossil fuel projects. 

That court victory has energized ​“green amendment” campaigners in states like Connecticut.

The Environment Committee did not take a vote following this year’s hearing on the Connecticut ERA. So activists will return next session, seeking another hearing there as well as one before the General Elections & Administration Committee.

Stoner said people who want to get involved can click on this site to sign a petition and/or register for an upcoming activist training session.

Click on the above video for the full conversation with the Kimberly Stoner on WNHH FM’s Dateline New Haven about the Environmental Rights Amendment, as well as about the work habits of ants and bees. Click here to subscribe or here to listen to other episodes of Dateline New Haven.