Editor’s note: This commentary is by Tom Rogers, of Stowe, who works in wildlife conservation.
Recently, my wife and I enjoyed dinner out in downtown Stowe, sitting at the bar due to the bustling Presidents Week crowds. The family at the bar next to us was in town from Boston and told us that this was their third year in a row getting rained out on a ski vacation in Stowe and they would likely not return as a result.
Because of our warmer, rainier winters, that’s one family that will no longer be eating at Vermont’s restaurants, staying in our hotels, buying equipment at our ski shops or lift tickets at our mountain. And I’m sure they were not the only ones in the restaurant that night who will not be back.
Vermont has a natural resource-based tourism economy. People come here to see our forested hillsides come alive with color, photograph a moose, go fishing with a guide, or enjoy our deep winter snows. Climate change threatens every aspect of this tourism economy, from our trout and moose, to the health of our forests, to the reliability of our snowfall.
But we can do something about it. Vermont can be a leader in creative solutions to address climate change. This Town Meeting Day, I urge Vermont residents to support the resolution to encourage the state to meet its target of 90 percent renewable energy by 2050. This resolution has already been passed by 38 towns in the state, and will likely be passed by dozens more on Town Meeting Day.
Renewable energy doesn’t have to mean industrial-scale wind developments on our ridgelines. A wide range of renewable energy options exist, such as geothermal heat pumps, rooftop solar panels, and community-scale wind. Even simply switching from oil to wood heat can reduce a home’s carbon footprint while supporting the job of the logger down the street rather than a dictatorship halfway around the world.
Reaffirming our commitment to renewable energy will also help diversify Vermont’s economy. Epicenters of renewable energy will be economic powerhouses in the 21st century. We can be the Silicon Valley of renewable energy, with an educated workforce that is passionate about the environment. Supporting renewable energy is the first step towards maintaining our economic prosperity and quality of life. I encourage residents to join their fellow Vermonters in supporting this resolution.
