Issue Position: Environmental Justice & Climate Change

Issue Position

Vermont can lead the country in addressing climate change as our nation's experiment station for policies and initiatives that have the potential to be scaled up and out. Furthermore, renewable energy is Vermont's success story. We have over 16,000 jobs supported by renewable energy and Rutland City has been named the Solar Capital of New England. We have charted a course to 90 percent renewable energy by 2050 and we need to stay that course. This includes the energy we use to drive our cars and heat our homes, where we will seek to help Vermonters move away from volatile, costly fuel sources over time and toward energy independence.
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The first bill I introduced as a young legislator was a Green Jobs Collaborative, knowing that would be the future for the next generation. That work has continued to today, as I lead a collective of stakeholders across the state to develop the state's first environmental justice policy to create equity in our environmental planning and responses. The future is here and the time to act on climate change is now. 2019 was the warmest year ever recorded, marking a continued rise in unpredictable and extreme weather events. As experienced during Irene, these disasters cost us precious lives and significant resources. We need leadership that will take responsibility for our continued prosperity, not mortgage our future by failing to take bold action.

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