[T]wo dozen Vermont towns will consider a non-binding climate change resolution on Town Meeting Day.
If the resolution, up for consideration in at least 24 towns, passes in all of them, a quarter of the state will have supported the call to halt the construction of fossil fuel infrastructure, commit to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, and ensure that transition is fair and equitable.
350Vermont, a nonprofit based in Burlington, has been organizing the push that they see as a next step toward a Green New Deal for Vermont. Last year, the resolution was addressed at 39 Town Meetings, passing in all 39, according to Jaiel Pulskamp, a field organizer for 350Vermont.
Though the resolution is non-binding, she said it still accomplishes two major goals: raising awareness about climate change, and sending a message to legislators that their residents consider the issue important.
“After the selection of Trump, we realized a lot wasn’t going to get done at the federal level to combat climate change, and we needed to look at local solutions,” Pulskamp said. “This is a way to get people to start talking about climate change, to get them canvassing, petitioning and talking to their neighbors about climate change and the solutions that exist and what could happen in Vermont to combat it.”
But not every town gets as far as a vote. Last year, in Rupert, an advocate collected the required signatures for the resolution, but the town’s selectboard rejected it before Town Meeting — something the Vermont Supreme Court ruled selectboards have the power to do.
Pulskamp said this is something they’ve encountered this year as well, with opponents concerned that the item is too controversial, or simply not relevant to town business.
Towns also have the option to add their own more specific measures on to the three broad goals outlined in the baseline resolution — something Pulskamp said many municipalities have been doing.
The successes, she said, have been far from nominal. In Plainfield and Marshfield, which passed the resolution last year, the community met to brainstorm 45 ideas the towns could implement to combat climate change, ultimately whittling the list down to one concrete plan: putting solar energy on top of the towns’ shared school building, something they recently got a community development grant to do.
Similar commitment to renewable energy policies has been happening in Brattleboro and Montpelier, Pulskamp said.
“The advisory resolution has been used for a very long time, basically since the founding of Vermont, to bring up these kinds of issues,” Pulskamp said. “It’s a good tool to educate community members, and we wanted to allow for that. When it’s a binding resolution, there’s more pushback, and we wanted it to have enough wiggle room to allow for discussions to take place.”
The organization’s goal was to pass the resolution in 25 percent of Vermont towns — something they’re poised to do, but getting people aware of the issue was just their first step. The next step, Pulskamp said, is to work with towns to develop specific resolutions that are binding, through items that may require funding, like changing zoning laws or building renewable energy sources.
Of the 24 towns expected to vote, 11 have the action on the Town Meeting Warning, including Bradford, Castleton, Chester, Hartland, Middlebury, Middlesex, Chittenden, Norwich, Shrewsbury, Tinmouth and Woodstock. The rest, including Charlotte, Barnet, Hardwick, Hinesburg, Hyde Park, Jericho, Reading, Salisbury, Stannard, Underhill, Townshend, Weathersfield and Westminster, are expected to hear the resolution during “other business.”
