BURLINGTON — The City of Burlington has joined dozens of other U.S. municipalities in declaring a climate emergency days after thousands gathered in Burlington for the Global Climate Strike.
The declaration also comes weeks after Mayor Miro Weinberger announced a plan to make Burlington a net zero energy city by 2030. The city council voted 11-1 Monday to pass two resolutions which both declare “climate emergencies,” with Kurt Wright, R-Ward 4, voting no.
More than 1,000 local governments in 19 countries have declared climate emergencies, according to the Climate Mobilization, the group which is pushing for climate emergency declarations in its campaign. In the U.S., New York, Austin, San Francisco and New Haven, Connecticut are among the municipalities which have declared climate emergencies.
A climate emergency exists and “threatens our community, state, region, nation, and planet, posing a threat to human health and safety, biodiversity, and our common environment,” one of the resolution states.
Councilor Karen Paul, D-Ward 6, said that humanity was in uncharted territory and had to take transformative action to address the climate crisis. She said she believed Burlington could accomplish the goals working together.
“We need to engage in extraordinary transitions, as the resolution noted, in transportation infrastructure, renewable energy efficiency and electrification technologies,” she said.
Councilor Jack Hanson, P-East District, said he believed the resolution sets up ongoing accountability to ensure the city remains on track.
“What we really need now is to come together around solutions, and to follow through and implement these solutions,” he said.
One of the resolutions encourages all city departments to take steps to help ensure the city reach its net zero goal by 2030, and for city staff to present to city council by January 6, 2020 on how each department will work on these efforts.
The resolution also calls on state and national leaders to declare a climate emergency and enact policies similar to Burlington’s net zero by 2030 efforts.
“The City Council and the City of Burlington call upon all governments and peoples worldwide to initiate a just transition and climate emergency mobilization effort to reverse global heating as quickly as possible,” the resolution stated.
Councilor Max Tracy, P-Ward 2, said the resolution addresses two areas where the city has not been successful on cutting carbon — vehicle transportation and heating and cooling.
“We need to continue to do everything we can to continue to revolutionize our transportation systems to be more walk and bike friendly and to incentivise people to take transit in much greater numbers,” he said.
Wright said he thought many of the goals were laudable, but he thought some were unrealistic. He said he changed his mind at the last minute because he would not be willing to support future actions tied to ensuring the climate goals are met.
“I can not in good conscience vote for something that, I’ve just been told, if I spoke for this I need to stand up and be for this agenda, which is more about bikes and more about what some of us see as creating real problems on the roads and creating gridlock on the roads,” he said.
Burlington became the first city to source all energy from renewable sources in 2014. The net-zero goals means the city will have a carbon-neutral footprint in heating and ground transportation.
The city’s “road-map” to net zero sets four main goals: 40 percent of commercial and 95 percent of household floor space to be heated by electric heat pumps and water heating systems; 40 percent of commercial floor space heated by the district energy system; 80 percent of vehicles on Burlington roads to be electric and decrease annual vehicle travel miles by 15 percent.
The council also passed a resolution proposed by Councilor Perri Freeman, P-Central District.
Freeman’s resolution declared the climate emergency and asked for an analysis of the financial impacts of paying part-time, seasonal or temporary employees, $15, $20 and $25 an hour. The council voted to amend this to analyze the financial impacts of paying a “livable wage” and passed the resolution in an 11-1 vote, with Councilor Kurt Wright, R-Ward 4, voting no.
The city’s livable wage ordinance currently requires city employees and employees of contractors retained by the city to earn a “livable” hourly wage. This is currently $14.44 for employees who receive health insurance and paid time off and $15.83 for employees who do not receive health insurance and paid time off.
Only seasonal employees with less than five years of employment are exempt from the livable wage ordinance, Mayor Miro Weinberger said.
