The 350VT Climate Solutions Resolution will be on Middlebury’s Australian ballot on Tuesday, March 5.
Currently, 37 Vermont towns have passed a version of this resolution and we hope Middlebury will be the next to do so. This will be an opportunity to add our voice to the growing concern about climate change. This is a non-binding resolution encouraging the state of Vermont and the town of Middlebury to pursue efforts to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.
In 2011 the Vermont Department of Public Service established a Comprehensive Energy Plan that set out to power Vermont by 90 percent renewable energy sources by 2050. Vermont is far from meeting this goal. We need to do more at the state and national level to de-carbonize the atmosphere and build momentum toward renewables. 350VT Climate Solutions Resolution is about towns making the commitment to do all they can to move Vermont toward renewable communities.
A recent commentary by Deb Markowitz, former Vermont Secretary of State and Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, reflected on the National Climate Assessment by hundreds of scientists from 13 federal agencies who concluded that the Northeast is heating up faster than any other parts of the contiguous U.S. “The climate assessment warns us that the cost of non-action is high and that we need to act quickly to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions … For Vermont, this means doubling down on our commitment to a clean energy economy — with a particular focus on transitioning our transportation and home heating sectors away from fossil fuels.”
We have only finite resources. Why continue to put them into fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure — a technology that is hazardous to our planet?
Chip and Jack Mayer
Middlebury