Wearing life jackets and carrying reams of plastic, environmental activists marched up the Statehouse steps Wednesday to demand the passage of environmental legislation during a protest sponsored by 350Vermont.
The protest, dubbed an “SOS” rally by the climate campaign group, was marked by chanting and speakers, as well as a public art display that used moving signs and tarps to simulate waves rising over the Capitol, symbolizing the dire impacts of climate change.
Among the speakers was Jasmine Gruen, a junior at U-32 Middle and High School, who spoke about the urgency of addressing climate change for today’s youth and the fears of aging in a world that shares no resemblance with the present day.
“I’m afraid that I won’t be able to raise my children the way my parents raised me,” Gruen said. “When I have kids, it will be so hard for them to connect with anything natural because the natural world will (have) lost its essence. Even a lack of snow this winter is an example of how that’s already happened. Our seasons are losing their shimmer. The Earth is losing its magic.”
350Vermont is asking policymakers to prioritize the voices of communities most impacted by climate change, make resources equally accessible and increase in-state production of renewable energy.
Protesters urged lawmakers to pass legislation that they said would reduce corporate pollution and make the state more environmentally sustainable. Among the bills they said the Legislature should prioritize were S.148, which would establish an environmental justice policy; S.234, which would make adjustments to Act 250, the state’s sweeping land-use law; and S.264, which would modify the renewable energy standard.
They also expressed support for weatherization efforts and the “development of a robust public transportation system, starting with electric public and school buses, fare free transit and extended hours, and transportation management.”
Protesters expressed opposition to bills they decried as “false energy solutions” — including S.233, which asks the Public Utility Commission to adopt a clean heat standard for heating fuel.
Andrea Stander, a 350Vermont board member, said she hoped lawmakers would make policy decisions that reflect the experiences of their most impacted constituents — and would ensure that Vermonters who are low-income or Black, Indigenous or people of color “have greater agency over their lives.”
Liz Medina, the executive director of the Vermont State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, said climate change solutions must not be “funded on the back of the working class.”
Several attendees said they felt frustrated by what they described as a lack of action in the Legislature.
“(I’m) just a little bit discouraged because Vermont has been priding itself on being a real leader of these things, and I’m not seeing the leadership and the forward thinking that I think we’re capable of,” Lorna Kay-Peal of Burlington said.
As the protest was winding down, youth attendees were encouraged to deliver handmade Valentines to Statehouse leaders promoting the passage of several climate change-focused policies.
