Let’s Ask for the Climate Solutions We Need by Marisa D. Keller and Roger White
How many of us have heard the phrase, You won’t get what you need if you don’t ask for it? Vermonters need climate solutions that keep energy dollars in our local economies, improve our quality of life and resilience to disasters, safeguard our health and the health of our ecosystems, and reduce carbon emissions. The good news: such solutions do exist! But when it comes to large institutions like governments that are slow to change, sometimes it’s necessary to ask loudly and repeatedly for the solutions we need. That’s why you’ll find us gathering at the Statehouse on February 11 with 350Vermont and a host of other climate and social justice groups.
Many of our elected senators and representatives share our sense of urgency; they have told us they want to enact real solutions to the climate crisis in Vermont. But the legislative process makes people-oriented, forward-thinking solutions difficult to achieve:
Utility and fossil-fuel lobbyists are in the Statehouse every day. We see the results of their presence in bills like the Affordable Heating Act, which currently has a special provision that allows “renewable” natural gas (RNG) to earn clean heat credits even if it never actually arrives in Vermont.
Government agencies may have a short-sighted analysis of what constitutes the “public good.” The Public Utilities Commission has refused solar projects on aesthetic grounds while approving RNG contracts that support fossil-fuel infrastructure and don’t demonstrably lower our energy bills.
The urgent need for climate solutions makes it tempting to overlook the fine print. Rushing to embrace biofuels and RNG means we keep sending our energy dollars out of state and burning polluting carbon-based fuels instead of investing in conservation, resiliency, and clean local energy. Increased biofuel production causes tropical deforestation and puts pressure on our food system while still contributing carbon emissions and particulate pollution—not a win for climate.
Our legislators need to hear from us. They work incredibly hard on an impossibly short timeline to try to pass laws for us, and they can’t do it alone. We will not get the real climate solutions we’re hoping for unless we show up and make sure our concerns are heard. We want:
A significant increase in low- and no-emissions community energy projects, like community solar and geothermal networks, for clean, healthy, local power and more resilient communities.
Ratepayer protection, to keep electricity bills affordable for low- and middle-income Vermonters and make sure everyone is able to switch to real clean energy.
Increased investment in weatherization and energy conservation to lower people’s energy bills and improve their quality of life while reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.
No new fuels like biofuels that create new harms by replacing fossil fuels with ineffective and problematic alternatives.
Equitable solutions that fairly distribute the benefits and costs of our transition to clean energy, protecting working people, families, and the most vulnerable Vermonters.
The world we want to see is built on the voices, choices, and needs of everyday people. Will you choose to bring your voice to the Statehouse on February 11 and speak up for the clean, just, and resilient future we need?
To RSVP to the march and rally and for more details about the event, visit 350vermont.org/events.
Marisa D. Keller (Montpelier) and Roger White (Middlebury) are volunteers with 350Vermont, a people-powered and people-led climate justice movement in Vermont for a just, thriving world.
You can watch the March & Rally for Energy Justice in full here.
