Editor’s note: This commentary is by Dan Quinlan, of Burlington, who is the chair of the Vermont Climate and Health Alliance.
[L]et’s get the first hard truth out of the way. Climate change is literally an existential threat to humanity. (Warning: If you don’t believe that, the rest of this is definitely not going to elevate your mood.)
The news coming out of Montpelier as I write this in mid-March is that we can expect basically none of the climate change and clean energy bills put forward in 2019 to go anywhere. Sure, the administration’s proposed budget throws a few new bucks into our weatherization program. And a few bucks will go toward getting some more electric vehicles on the road.
Hard truth number two. If that’s all we do, that’s like taking on a raging fire in a high-rise apartment with a few squirt guns. As a nation and as a state, we have been kicking this can down the road since the mid-’80s when James Hanson first testified before Congress. It is staggering to think that Vermont will choose to continue on that path in 2019 despite the fact that every day the news is filled with clear proof that Hanson was right.
Now a bunch of hard truths. Solving this will require more spending — a lot more spending. Solving this will mean that people change how they do lots of things. Solving this will mean putting solar and wind farms in places where we will see them. Solving this will mean electric vehicles everywhere. Solving this will mean that upper- and middle-class people will pay higher taxes and fees to protect and maintain the infrastructure our society relies on. Solving this will mean finally brushing aside misinformation campaigns designed to protect the fossil fuel industry. Solving this will mean lots of hard compromise. All that and more is the price we should have the guts to start paying now so that our kids and grandkids have a shot at living prosperous lives.
Our legislators say voters need to speak up. Voters say they don’t know what to do. Voters say political leaders need to step up. Senior people in state government (current and former) say we’re not ready for big ideas. Many people say Vermont is too small to go it alone. Etc. Etc. Etc. To be honest, we’re all waiting for somebody else to do something.
So. Leaders need to lead. Voters need to pay attention. Those who’ve retired need to check in, not check out. The Gund Institute, the Rubenstein School, the Larner College of Medicine, and more parts of UVM need to focus some resources on what we should do here at home. The rest of us need to start talking to the hard-working legislators and advocates who are trying figure out what makes sense for Vermont.
One step anybody can take right now – look into one (or more) of the three legislative debates that are still on the table for 2019: weatherization funding, the Global Warming Solutions Act, and how we will spend the money coming to Vermont from Volkswagen (for the “clean diesel” emissions scandal). Read, talk to your friends, call the advocacy groups. Look for a VPR or NPR podcast. See what California and other leading states have done. Etc. Etc. Etc. Then decide what you think is sensible.
As President Lincoln taught us, in a democracy common sense takes us a helluva long way when people focus on facts and reason … Then, call your legislators and talk to them. If you don’t get through, leave a message.
Total of your time to do this for one of the three debates? All in, maybe eight hours? Maybe 16? About the same as a day or weekend spent fishing, hiking, gardening, golfing, shopping, playing Angry Birds, brewing beer, watching the Red Sox, or doing whatever it is that puts a smile on your face.
There are many big problems and we need legislators to keep working on all of them. But, are we really going to choose to ignore the biggest one of all? The laws of nature are immutable. Society as we know it will be shattered by carbon pollution, and it will have hit the tipping point on our watch. That is not exaggeration and overreach — it is a rational view of science and of reality as it is playing out before our eyes. Not engaging is a choice. It means protecting our kids isn’t worth our time and our money. That’s the hardest truth of all.
Vermont’s kids and this country need Vermont to again be a beacon of hope and imagination. In that vein, I’ll close with a one idea for the 2020 session that would help. For reasons I won’t try to argue here, I believe full legalization of pot is a bad idea. However, I would gladly support legalization if we spend the resulting tax revenue on driving our carbon footprint down. That will make a lot of people happy, in the short term and the long term.
