Malia Armstrong, a Middlebury College student from Seal Beach CA, erects her tent at the climate crisis encampment on the lawn of the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, October 18, 2019. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger 
A coffin and an hourglass make up part of the climate crisis encampment on the lawn of the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, October 18, 2019. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger 
Jake Minter sings at the climate crisis encampment on the lawn of the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, October 18, 2019. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger 
Soren Bay-Hansen, center, and Seb Gorman, both of Montpelier, feed chickens at the climate crisis encampment on the lawn of the Statehouse in Montpelier on Friday, October 18, 2019. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
An almost constant downpour drenched climate protesters Thursday night on the Statehouse lawn, as dozens of youth leaders and adult supporters began a three-day climate encampment.
About 60 protesters crowded into 25 rain-soaked tents for the first night of the demonstration, according to Jennifer Skinder, a mother of three teenagers who is working with Extinction Rebellion the group that sponsored the protest. The group expects more people to join the demonstration Friday and Saturday for planned dinners, workshops and other events.
The encampment, Skinder said, is an escalation of the climate strikes that have been building over the past several weeks. She said that lawmakers aren’t taking Vermont’s goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions seriously, and demonstrators aim to change that.
The protesters have a list of four demands for lawmakers, including being more transparent about the climate emergency, reducing state carbon emissions to net zero by 2025, creating a “Citizens’ Assembly” to oversee the changes, and making sure the transition prioritizes vulnerable people who will be more severely impacted by climate change.
Skinder said she and other climate change activists have written to legislators and testified at the Statehouse, but lawmakers have failed to implement new policies that would reduce carbon emissions.
“As we all know, last legislative season was a disaster for climate change,” Skinder said. “There just was total inaction. And so at this point, we’re saying we don’t trust the government to protect us. And we’re here not asking anymore. We’re demanding.”
The Statehouse lawn, Skinder said, is the center of power in the state. As a parent of three children (all of whom were helping to lead the protest), she thinks it’s time lawmakers take action on climate issues.
“We have a Democratic majority right now,” she said. “We have a lot of power up there. There’s no reason why that shouldn’t be happening.”
Charlie McCaffrey, a freshman at U-32 High School, said he believes lawmakers have taken an approach of “willful ignorance” to climate change, but that as the crisis escalates, they won’t be able to maintain that ignorance. McCaffrey said one day, climate migrants may have to camp out in public spaces, like the Statehouse lawn.
“We’re just showing displacement and what might happen if our government continues to ignore this and do nothing,” McCaffrey said. “We’re here to show what could be our future and what’s already the present.”
A variety of restaurants, faith groups and activist organizations are supporting the protest through the weekend by providing meals and other resources.
Over the course of the three-day demonstration, a slew of workshops are scheduled on subjects like nonviolent action, sustainable agriculture, the Kurdish situation, chicken care, and hope.
McCaffrey said organizers never talked about cancelling the protest because of bad weather. They said it was actually a pretty impressive turnout, even if the weather had been good. Several protesters said it was fitting to have a climate protest in extreme conditions.
“This is what could actually be a better depiction of what we’re working on,” said Mindy Blank, who came to the protest with Extinction Rebellion. “Extreme weather events are what we’re living in.”
Blank said the combined messages of youth leadership, migrant justice, climate justice and regenerative agriculture work together to make this kind of protest so powerful.
“This is an event that brings so many different, crucial aspects together and makes it more visible and amplifies these messages,” she said. “I think there’s nothing more important than being here to support this.”
