Editor’s note: This commentary is by Phil Pouech, who has lived in Hinesburg for more than 30 years. He is presently vice chair of the Hinesburg Selectboard. Phil has been working in the renewable energy field for 11 years and is director of operations for AllEarth Renewables located in Williston.
[C]hange can be frightening but it should not stop us from taking the necessary actions to protect Vermont’s future.
Our climate is undergoing frightening changes right now. The majority of us agree, left unchecked, this change will be devastating for future generations. Fortunately, Vermonters also agreed to face this issue when we developed goals to achieve 90 percent renewable energy by 2050. We should be proud that Vermonters are willing to take bold action when faced with daunting challenge. Vermont’s future and climate change will be less frightening now that we agree to take action.
But, as we’ve see, people can get cold feet when they see change in action. This is very evident by the alarming backpedaling around renewable energy policies. People become afraid of wind turbines in their viewshed. Others get afraid seeing solar along our roads or fallow farm fields. It is a big change when people, who have never had to live with the visible impacts of our fossil fuel economy, now face the fact that our energy choices do impact our world. This change can frighten people who believe forests, hills and farmlands will forever remain unchanged. That is just not reality. Our world and state have continuously undergone significant and historic changes. Reality is wind power is a critical part of the solution for a renewable future. Keeping wind local is necessarily efficient and cost effective. Reality is solar uses only a small portion of our unproductive open fields. Local solar generation allows landowners to continue to keep their land productive while generating much needed income. Both wind and solar generate local clean renewable energy.
Critical decisions must weigh public good against local impact. We can’t let our energy future be left solely up to local governments or a few outspoken individuals.
I have a different perspective on these changes. I embrace moving to a renewable energy future as an action we must take. This change has been coming since the 1970s when geopolitical instability revealed fossil fuels are finite. Gas lines showed that our over-reliance on finite fossil fuels results in great political and economic upheavals. We also now know that fossil fuels are directly responsible for climate change. This fact puts added urgency to our need for renewable energy.
I’ve personally witnessed the economic benefits of renewable energy. I’ve been fortunate to use solar to generate my household electricity. This action puts money back into my community rather than sending it to out-of-state companies or unfriendly foreign governments. I’ve been employed in Vermont’s manufacturing industry for 30 years. For the last 11, my work has been manufacturing renewable energy products. While many of Vermont’s manufacturing jobs have downsized or moved out of state, local renewable energy jobs have increased. Renewable energy generates good local jobs that keep our businesses and communities prosperous.
Finally, I have the perspective of being on my town’s Selectboard. Selectboard work is all about local focus and control. I understand that every community and selectboard prefers to make every issue local in order to maintain control. We need to understand there are some decisions that should not be decided locally. If the location of power distribution wires were left to local control, we would never have built the electrical distribution infrastructure that benefits everyone. Realistically, who would agree to large power lines in their town’s viewshed? Critical decisions must weigh public good against local impact. We can’t let our energy future be left solely up to local governments or a few outspoken individuals. Saying no to change and leaving the problem for others is a really frightening future.
Vermont has an excellent plan for addressing our reliance on fossil fuels and climate change. This plan faces the fact that fossil fuels will not sustain our future. This plan will reduce our carbon footprint doing our moral duty to reduce the impacts of climate change. This plan keeps more energy dollars in our local economy. This plan keeps thousands of Vermonters employed in strong worthwhile jobs and this plan allows Vermonters to utilize their land for productive outcomes. This issue cannot be left up to the opinion of individuals or each town’s local leaders. We need to act as a society, accept change is coming, and with eyes wide open, realize a renewable energy is our best future. Let’s not be frightened of change.
