[S]ixteen Vermont towns passed non-binding climate change resolutions on Town Meeting Day, bringing the state total to 55 municipalities. The resolutions call for an end to construction of fossil fuel infrastructure, a commitment to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, and a fair and equitable transition to those standards.
The nonprofit that sponsored the resolutions, 350Vermont, fell short of its goal of having 25 towns pass the measure. The idea was that, when combined with the resolutions passed at last year’s town meetings, a quarter of the state’s 246 municipalities would have adopted the commitment. Results from four towns have yet to come in, but the total for Vermont towns that adopted the resolution will probably remain just over 20 percent.
Though plans were to introduce the measure at 24 town meetings, Jaiel Pulskamp, a field organizer at 350Vermont, said some moderators wouldn’t allow the resolutions to be brought up as “other business” without being on the warning, while in other towns, advocates simply got confused about the process of introducing a resolution.
Despite missing its target, next year, the organization is going to shift its focus away from these resolutions, and instead work on more specific binding ordinances in individual towns.
“We want to work on campaigns for specific projects and towns,” Pulskamp said. “If a town wants to put solar on their school, we’d be helping them build a campaign around that … the solutions exist, we just need to do more educating on the solutions that a lot of people don’t know about.”
The organization is also backing three bills at the Statehouse — H.51, S. 66 and H.175 — that would limit fossil fuel infrastructure projects.
“We really have to keep fossil fuels in the ground,” Pulskamp said. “We can’t continue to build pipelines and frack and pump it out of the ground if we’re going to stop climate change.”
350Vermont has touted the Town Meeting resolutions as being an important first step toward a Green New Deal in Vermont. Though the measures don’t ensure any concrete change, advocates say they move the conversation in the right direction, so that legislators know where Vermonters’ priorities lie.
“Now that 55 towns in Vermont have passed resolutions, it’s time for leadership to take some of these principles and build them out and create a Vermont Green New Deal,” Pulskamp said. “Passing something at that federal level is definitely more difficult, so we should look at the state level and pass our own version, and work to create policies to help that happen.”
The Town Meeting Day resolutions passed in Bradford, Castleton, Chester, Middlebury, Chittenden, Norwich, Shrewsbury, Tinmouth, Woodstock, Charlotte, Hinesburg, Jericho, Reading, Montgomery, and Middlesex. One other as yet unnamed town passed the resolution.
“Just as a pebble thrown into water makes a ripple effect to the shore beyond, we can cause a positive effect in our community that will be felt by communities beyond our boundaries,” said Castleton resident Pat Schroeder during one town meeting. “I support the climate resolution as that pebble. It is a statement of support that we as a community want to be good stewards to our Earth.”
