WEST BRATTLEBORO — As I drove up Putney Road through the rain recently, I passed a woman pushing a shopping cart, full of rain-soaked bedding.
Over the days since, I have wondered how she fared. In Brattleboro, the flood was particularly disruptive to people living in tents and mobile homes, exacerbating our housing injustices and underscoring the need for decent stable housing for all Vermonters.
The flood also underscored the need for climate action.
We have just experienced Vermont's worst climate-related disaster since the flood of 1927, nearly 100 years ago. We need to stay safe, pitch in with relief and reconstruction, and address the root causes of the catastrophe.
Meeting post-flood with fellow Vermonters in Barre, Brattleboro, Montpelier, and beyond, I'm hearing renewed concerns about the climate crisis. The smoky haze, the hot humid air, and the increased number of tick bites were already getting to many of us.
But the flooding took the concerns to a new level, sounding the alarm once again about our climate.
So what can we do?
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In Vermont, transportation, heating, and cooling together make up three quarters of our greenhouse gas emissions. These are the sectors that drive climate change the most, and Vermont should focus our attention there first.
For transportation, swapping out cars and trucks for electric vehicles is not enough. We need to ensure easy access to charging stations and make it easier to walk, bike, and take public transit to meet our needs. We can build new housing near public transportation or within walking distance of jobs, stores, and community centers.
For heating and cooling buildings, we can weatherize them with better insulation and support the installation of heat pumps and more efficient wood stoves.
As Vermont implements the Affordable Heat Act, we must keep an eye on the Public Utility Commission, making sure its policies actually lower emissions - and do so in a way that is affordable for low-income and middle-class Vermonters.
We must stand up to the self-serving fossil-fuel industry lobby.
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During my U.S. Senate campaign, I called for a transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030. This is ambitious, necessary, and possible. A renewable energy standard in Vermont can do that here - while boosting solar, wind, and battery storage with good union jobs - and move us away from natural gas and commercial biofuel.
In light of the tremendous damage from the recent floods, big oil should pay.
Last year, the largest oil companies raked in over $200 billion in profits while Vermonters paid bank-breaking prices at the pump. Exxon has known about climate change for half a century and worked to keep the science from the public - much as the tobacco companies suppressed data about smoking.
Big oil should clean up the mess it has created, foot the bill for the damages we are seeing, and help us make the changes we need, like construction that protects against future floods and heat pumps and insulation for our homes.
Vermont is becoming warmer and wetter. We may not be able to stop the floods. But we can make a difference, helping save middle class and low-income families money, while making our communities stronger and doing our part to tackle the drivers of the climate emergency.
Isaac Evans-Frantz is the executive director of Action Corps, a national nonpartisan organization that works with Congress in support of U.S. policies to save lives around the world. In his personal capacity, he is a member of the executive committee of the Sierra Club Vermont Chapter. He is also the founding chair of the Vermont Democratic Party's LGBTQI+ caucus and was the first student voting member of the Vermont State Board of Education.
This Voices Viewpoint was submitted to The Commons.