Category: VERMONT_MN

Vermont is experiencing firsthand the far-reaching impacts of climate change and the global nature crisis. Winter temperatures are rising and snowfall totals are dropping, while many species of wildlife are shifting their ranges farther to the north and higher in elevation if they can, or are threatened with extinction if they cannot.

Does Vermont’s Global Warming Solutions Act leave enough room for the state Climate Council to treat climate resilience with the same urgency as emissions reductions? With the deadline for the Climate Action Plan fast approaching, the council is debating that question.

A wind developer wants to put a single turbine atop Grandpa’s Knob and share the profits with surrounding towns that might be affected.

Vermont’s road to reduced greenhouse gas emissions will likely require converting tens of thousands of drivers to electric vehicles this decade.

That’s according to a recent report by Vermont’s Energy Action Network that modeled a technically feasible scenario for achieving the state’s legally mandated climate goals, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030.

Transportation was projected to provide the largest share of the state’s reductions this decade, with electrification playing the biggest role in that category.

As Vermont races toward its self-imposed deadline to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, there’s an urgent push to get more people out of their cars and on public transit.

“The built environment is responsible for nearly 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions,” said Rob Conboy, founder and CEO of Glavel(link is external). “There is the energy we use to heat and cool buildings, which most people understand, but the materials used in construction also have a big impact.”

A light, reddish soil covered the pastures that Stephen Leslie and his wife, Kerry Gawalt, found at Cedar Mountain Farm when they arrived in 1999

The Vermont Land Trust has received $6 million to help diversify farm ownership, boost economic viability of farming and fight the effects of climate change on Vermont farms.The gift from the High Meadows Fund was announced Thursday in a hybrid virtual and in-person event at the Clemmons Family Farm in Charlotte. The event focused heavily on the $2 million portion that will go toward a land sovereignty fund designed and governed by people who are Black, Indigenous and people of color.

Leading up to the pandemic, the Vermont Youth Lobby was staging big demonstrations — even holding a Youth Congress at the Statehouse — to call for adults to take bold action on climate change. Now, as the state prepares its first ever Climate Action Plan, a new generation of leaders is ready to re-launch their movement.

A recent piece by anti-renewable energy crusader Annette Smith asks, “Is Electrifying Everything a Climate Solution?” For those of us concerned about the changing climate’s increasing number of floods, wildfires, hurricanes and record-breaking temperatures the answer is YES!