This commentary is by Dan Castrigano, an educator and climate activist who lives in Burlington.
Last month, I applied to serve on the Burlington Airport Commission to help the city of Burlington do two things:
1. To measure all emissions from the airport and include them in Burlington’s Net Zero Energy Roadmap.
2. To cap and reduce flights because of the climate emergency.
It didn’t work. At the time of voting for the appointment, I received four votes. I needed six votes to be appointed to the commission.
Councilors Bergman (P), Hightower (P), Magee (P) and Dieng (I) voted for me. Democrats Mayor Weinberger and Councilors Shannon, Carpenter, Paul, Traverse and Barlow did not.
It wasn’t the first time somebody was rejected from the role who applied because of the climate emergency. On Aug. 15, 2022, Pike Porter applied for the airport commission for climate reasons. The Democrats also voted him down.
We must rapidly slash emissions from aviation. Mayor Weinberger and Councilors Shannon, Carpenter, Paul, Traverse and Barlow are negligent in their duty to act on the climate emergency. This is infuriating and unacceptable.
The problem with Burlington International Airport is that there is no plan. Burlington, the owner and operator of the airport, does not have a plan. South Burlington, where the airport is located, does not have a plan, even though we tried to get that city to include aviation emissions in its just-approved Climate Action Plan. Even Vermont does not include any emissions from aviation in the 2021 Vermont Climate Assessment.
Let’s step back for a moment.
The city of Burlington declared a climate emergency on Sept. 23, 2019. As of this writing, that was 1,128 days ago.
Since then, the climate emergency has worsened. We’ve recently seen massive flooding in Nigeria, intense hurricanes in the Gulf South, and a precipitous collapse of wildlife populations. These are but a few of the climate catastrophes that daily make headlines.
Vermont is not immune to the effects of the climate emergency. Vermont has warmed by 3°F since 1970, and Burlington is now a sizzling 4.5°F hotter than it was just 52 years ago. The climate emergency is also ravaging what makes Vermont so special, including winter sports, maple syrup, moose and Lake Champlain.
How urgent is the situation? The secretary-general of the United Nations called the climate emergency a “Code Red for Humanity” after reading the IPCC Working Group 1 Report in August 2021.
He issued that press release 441 days ago.
Now, back to Burlington and the Democrats.
After I was voted down for my appointment, Mayor Weinberger commented on the airport, stating, “It’s already one of the greener airports in the country, but it is engaged in planning to make it even more so.” Calling an airport “green” because some of its ground fleet is electric or the electricity used is renewable is like calling a coal-fired power plant “green” because the coal arrived on an electric truck. It’s absolute nonsense.
Aside from greenwashing, Democratic city councilors engaged in various forms of climate denial in response to my stated goals of serving on the airport commission. This is not hard climate denial (i.e., climate change is not real), but the more insidious soft climate denial that is pervasive in the
mainstream today. In particular, city councilors engaged in whataboutism, techno-optimism, and “but what about the economy?”
Whataboutism shifts the responsibility to other individuals and entities, particularly emissions from other airports or ground transportation.
Techno-optimism places an inordinate amount of hope in the fact that technology will save us. It will not. Regarding BETA Technologies, please watch this video on why electric flight is not a viable option. (Hint: The batteries are too heavy.)
“But What About the Economy?” has been used against social movements for centuries. Slaveowners used it against abolitionists fighting against slavery. Industrial capitalists cited the economy to keep 9-year-olds working in coal mines and factories. Misogynists used the argument for decades to exclude women from male-dominated industries and keep them at home.
And now it’s used to block necessary climate action.
Let me be clear in stating that my stance on aviation emissions and the climate emergency is not my opinion. It is what scientists of the world are telling us we must do in order to maintain a habitable planet.
It really is that simple. We have to cap and reduce flights at Burlington International Airport because we have to stop burning fossil fuels.
And we can follow a courageous example from across the pond. In June, the Dutch government decided to cap flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport starting in 2024. This represents a 12% cut from pre-pandemic levels.
I want to thank Councilors Bergman, Hightower, Magee and Dieng for voting for me for the airport commission.
Conversely, Mayor Weinberger and Democratic city councilors are failing to act with the necessary speed and courage to do what must be done.
This is negligence.
If you’d like to get in touch, I’ll be sunbathing this afternoon at North Beach in the 70-degree weather. On Nov. 6.
