COMMENTARY: As the planet heats up, there’s opportunity to Keep Vermont Cool
April 14, 2023 | By Lindsey LeFevre
My name is Lindsey and I am a student at the University of Vermont. Now that we’re finally getting some warm weather, I love seeing UVM’s campus filled with students hammocking and enjoying the beautiful outdoors.
While Vermont has a powerful reputation for a healthy, clean environment, there's a dirty secret that’s often kept in hiding. In recent years, Vermont has significantly trailed behind its surrounding neighbors in reducing its carbon emissions and continues to stall when it comes to innovative, cost-effective measures to combat the climate crisis, such as clean renewable energy, heating, weatherization, and electrification. In Quebec, where the temperatures are colder and the population has increased by 22% in the last three decades, emissions have been lowered by 5%. In Maine, with huge rural areas and population growth of 8% since 1990, emissions have dropped by 10%.
Here in Vermont, greenhouse gas emissions have barely budged over the past 30 years. It is abundantly clear that other nearby states have more adequately stood up to the climate challenge, and Vermont has much to improve. These shortcomings and delays come at a cost and will continue to have profound impacts on Vermonters (particularly BIPOC communities, low-income residents, youth, seniors, and those with accessibility barriers), the economy, and the environment. Bills like the Affordable Heat Act, S.5, and other new policies will produce far more new renewable energy built here in Vermont can start to change that.
The contribution of Vermont’s outdoor recreation to gross domestic product was ranked the third highest in 2020, a slight dip from second place in 2019. Studies across the board tell the same story – Vermonters and those visiting our state enjoy the great outdoors and all the activity that comes with it. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this state’s backyard has been a place of respite and mental, emotional, and physical wellness.
To experience a future that includes hiking, biking, skiing, camping, fishing, or simply enjoying Vermont’s natural splendor, it is critical to urge legislators to act on climate right now. We must ensure strong, innovative climate action takes place in this state. With the day-to-day noise throughout policymakers’ lives, the urgency of our changing planet can sometimes get lost. Vermonters must raise their voices and remind them.
Without immediate action, Vermonters will continue to face an onslaught of devastating impacts, including heat waves, floods, drought, species loss, toxic algae blooms, dangerous air pollution, ticks and Lyme disease, tropical storms, and physical and mental health crises, to name a few. These impacts will continue to change, and eventually eliminate, the outdoor activities that define this state. While we cannot solve the climate crisis by ourselves, we must do our part, and cut our own pollution. If we expect other states and nations to cut their pollution, we cannot shirk responsibility for our own.
Climate action is not just a win for recreation, it is a win for equity and the economy. Over the last decade, Vermonters have spent an annual average of nearly $2 billion on 100% imported fossil fuels with 75% of those dollars leaving the state. Inequities are only further exacerbated when it comes to our reliance on dirty energy. Low-income Vermonters spend five times as much of their income on gas and oil as their wealthier neighbors. Pollutants generated from fossil fuel production disproportionately harm fenceline communities, many of which are communities of color.
Renewable energy measures keep more money in Vermont where it belongs, which strengthens the state’s economy and employs Vermonters with higher wages. Median hourly wages for clean energy jobs are roughly $8 higher than the statewide hourly median range. With eco-friendly advancements in the transportation, heating, and electricity sectors, there are more opportunities than ever to transition from dirty to clean, affordable energy methods.
We have what it takes to make this transition – the opportunities, the resources, and the community commitment to protect this Green Mountain State. We can meet the goals of the Global Warming Solutions Act while skiing our favorite slopes and trekking through
our favorite trails.
The fight against climate change has never been more pressing, and there is no better time to take action than right now. Let’s make sure our legislators hear us loud and clear and promise to advance bold, effective climate policy, like the Affordable Heat Act, this session.
The Affordable Heat Act, S.5, has passed the Vermont Senate and is currently under review in the House. Keep Vermont Cool is a campaign advocating for climate action organized by the Vermont Public Interest Research Group.
Lindsey LeFevre is a third-year public heath sciences major at UVM from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.