The rule of law, reasonableness, and kindness are prerequisites for successfully protecting nature and ensuring that a nature-preserving lifestyle and climate-friendly choices become part of voluntary dignity. Such an attitude could be improved, among other things, by using clear and beautiful Estonian language. Discussions about nature conservation and combating climate change are often conducted in an off-putting bureaucratic manner, using incomprehensible terminology in Estonian.
Freedom of speech, freedom of enterprise, and property rights are constitutional freedoms essential for innovation, which fosters a better and more environmentally friendly life. Without inventing and applying new technologies, protecting nature or rectifying past mistakes as swiftly as necessary is impossible.
There have been suggestions that the Constitution can be violated for a worthy cause or that entrepreneurs bear some collective guilt, justifying depriving them of their constitutional rights. Fortunately, as long as independent institutions dedicated to protecting fundamental rights are operational, this is not possible.
Significantly undermining investment security would yield no positive outcomes. The innovation necessary for the green transition would stagnate, and businesses would relocate to regions that, unfortunately, pay little attention to environmental and climate concerns. This would result in increased unemployment and other social problems in the affected areas.
Placing people in hopeless situations and pushing them into poverty leads to strong societal protests. It is wiser to support a shift in public beliefs, fostering a love for nature and resistance to climate damage as widely accepted, natural attitudes. Ideas rooted in coercion and punishment generally work against achieving these goals.
According to Grete Arro, a researcher at the Institute of Educational Sciences at Tallinn University, environmentally friendly behaviour has decreased in recent years (see the study). Whether this decline is due to the replacement of dignified freedom of choice with blame, coercion, and fear, sparking protest, is unclear, but it is possible. In some countries, violent and disruptive actions by climate protesters have provoked widespread public discontent. On the other hand, social anthropologist Aet Annist has suggested that actions like throwing soup or glueing themselves to highways have made some people more aware of climate issues.
The Chancellor of Justice's role is to protect constitutional values, including the environment, and the rule of law, which includes the principle that individual rights can only be restricted by clear and specific laws, allowing individuals sufficient time to adjust their activities. The rule of law does not threaten environmental protection, even though it may initially appear so.
Read the Chancellor of Justice's address to the Riigikogu on April 19, 2023, "Climate Protection and Restrictions on Fundamental Rights," along with the subsequent Q&A session and Riigikogu members' opinions in the official transcript.
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