Fact Sheet
Green Amendment Fact Sheet
July 27, 2021
Issue Area
Green Amendment
Overview
Support for environmental rights amendments continues to gain momentum across the country as many states pursue constitutional amendments ensuring the right to a clean and healthy environment. States vary on where in the constitution the amendments are proposed. Many states are following the lead of Montana and Pennsylvania by placing the language in the Bill of Rights, and are including other elements that meet the definition of a “Green Amendment.”
Green Amendments are a type of environmental rights amendment that liken rights to clean air and water to rights to free speech and religious expression. They serve to emphasize environmental health and safety as part of basic civil liberties. The term “Green Amendment” was coined and defined by lawyer and environmentalist Maya K. van Rossum, who, joined by seven towns, led a legal victory against fracking using Pennsylvania’s long-ignored amendment. In the wake of this victory, van Rossum founded the Green Amendments For The Generations organization and movement.
Key Facts
Green Amendments establish a constitutional mandate recognizing a healthy environment as an inherent, indefeasible, generational legal right of all citizens.
Passing a Green Amendment in every state across the nation can serve as an invaluable tool for communities facing disproportionate environmental burdens.
Green Amendments provide a backstop that can be used by community, public, government and even business interests to provide a check on government authority that overreaches and fails to protect environmental rights.
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