'Green Amendment' discussion rises in Tallahassee

(WCTV)
Published: Apr. 22, 2019 at 11:01 PM EDT
Email This Link
Share on Pinterest
Share on LinkedIn
By: Katie Kaplan | WCTV Eyewitness News

April 22, 2019

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) -- On Monday, the spotlight was on Mother Earth. People around the world celebrated Earth Day, including at Temple Israel in Tallahassee. The main focus of the event included a lecture on a 'Green Amendment.'

"Our environment continues to be polluted," said environmental lawyer and author Maya Van Rossum. "It's a provision that recognizes the right to clean air and clean water and a healthy environment as an inalienable right."

Van Rossum was the keynote speaker and wrote a book called, 'The Green Amendment,' which details the movement. She said she wants to make a clean and healthy environment a Constitutional right in every state across the U.S.

Currently, Montana and Pennsylvania are the only states which enforce the right. She said there is no Green Amendment proposal in Florida and that she hoped to inspire the people of Tallahassee.

Van Rossum said it should be a protected right, similar to human, civil and political rights, and that a Green Amendment would change the Legislature from management-based to preventative.

"There is no overarching Constitutional obligation to focus lawmakers on preventing pollution and degradation," she said.