To the editor:
Congratulations and many thanks to all those who voted yes on the Climate Action resolution at Town Meetings in Manchester, Dorset, Weston, Peru, Shaftsbury, Arlington and Bennington. Thirty-five Vermont towns passed the resolution for 90 percent renewable energy by 2050 to push the state legislature to take faster action on climate change. Thank you to the select boards in those towns for warning the resolution on the ballot; let's keep up the momentum and attend your town energy committee meetings, speak up to get solar on rooftops and weatherization in our buildings. It takes a village!
Here is an excerpt from my speech, one of many, that was delivered on Town Meeting Day.
"I teach children . These children will inherit a planet very different to the one we have known. Children all over the world have already witnessed unprecedented damage from hurricanes, record level flooding, wildfires, sea level rise, drought, and other extreme weather events. Our children have done nothing to deserve this. It is our generation and generations before us that are responsible and we need to act NOW to halt the escalation of global warming. There is so much we can do - buy electric cars; walk and bike; use public transport; support farm to table and buy local ; install solar, cold heat pumps and battery storage to make us more independent from the grid; recycle, reuse, resist plastics."
This is a transition period, when everyone will do what they can within their means, but we need incentives and support from local and state government.
Anne D'Olivo,
Earth Matters, 350VT Manchester
