Editor’s note: This commentary is by Steve Gagliardone, of Sharon, who is a member of Two Rivers Action Coalition, a grassroots volunteer organization that is currently working to build political support for legislation that addresses climate change and the aggressive management of carbon in our atmosphere. He is also special educator and member of his local school board.
[I]n his January 2017 inaugural address, Gov. Phil Scott used the word “change” 12 times. 2017 has come and gone, and we are a third of the way into 2018. No change.
Last July, Gov. Scott issued an executive order forming the Vermont Climate Action Commission. The governor tasked his commission with drafting and recommending an “action plan aimed at reaching the State’s renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction goals while driving economic growth. …” This sounded like change.
Last December, his Climate Action Commission delivered. They recommended action steps including advancing modern wood heating, transportation electrification, weatherization and the climate economy. The commission also voted to support a Joint Fiscal Office-led study of market-based and regulatory approaches to address climate change, such as putting a price on carbon pollution. More like it; this felt like change.
In January the governor rejected his own commission’s recommendations including the impartial review of market-based strategies to curb emissions from fossil fuels. The executive order and creation of a commission sounded and felt like change, but they weren’t. No change.
We need our governor to recognize the very plain truth that our state needs to take climate action. And we need that action to take place now. Thirty-five towns passed resolutions on Town Meeting Day recognizing this, and sending a message to the governor and Legislature that it is time to take action. It is time to change. Data from the National Climatic Data Center, a 2012 report titled “When it Rains it Pours” found that heavy downpours or snowstorms that used to happen once every 12 months on average in Vermont now happen every 6½ months on average. Moreover, the biggest storms are getting bigger. The largest annual storms in Vermont now produce 35 percent more precipitation, on average, than they did 65 years ago. Those storms cost lives, they cost our economy, and those most affected are the poorest among us.
I understand that Phil Scott is a pretty good stock car racer, but so far he has not manage to get his state around the first turn when it comes to bringing us into the 21st century.
It is time that the governor takes leadership and furthers the common good of the public that elected him. That public includes my children, and my children’s children. That common good includes clean air and water, but also a healthy local economy and vibrant communities.
When the history books look at this governor’s legacy, is it going to be closer to “Great Scott” or “Lame Duck?”