During this summer of 2021, we are seeing the climate crisis play out in real time and getting frighteningly and increasingly severe. Meanwhile scientists are telling us that the window to take action to avert runaway climate change is closing.  We know Vermonters are committed to a just and climate-resilient future.  It’s time to translate that commitment into bold action. You, as the Vermont Climate Council, have a unique opportunity to develop a Climate Action Plan that will make Vermont the climate justice leader it can be. We are respectfully asking you to be bold in your leadership by developing a Climate Action Plan that includes the following:

1. Is aligned with the Just Transition principles developed by the Council's Just Transitions Subcommittee
2. Counts all greenhouse gas emissions accurately to ensure our actions  are impactful and proportional to the scale of the crisis (including out of state emissions and methane from Hydro-Quebec)
3. Establishes a 10-year mass weatherization program for Vermont’s housing stock, and prioritizes the needs of low-income and BIPOC communities
4. Develops public transportation systems in urban center and along major transportation corridors that meet the needs of rural and low-income populations
5. Provides access and resources to farmers who want to practice regenerative agriculture, prioritizing BIPOC farmers first
6. Takes “Renewable” Natural Gas off the table as a potential solution and incentivizes Just Transition renewable energy solutions like net-metering, community solar, and solar incentives, heat pumps and geothermal technology prioritizing low-income and BIPOC communities
7. Keeps and puts carbon back in the ground by protecting ecosystems, and preventing Vermont State Lands and the Green Mountain National Forest from large-scale logging.
8. Creates a fair and bold funding mechanism for this People’s Climate Action Plan that doesn’t pass on the costs of this transition to future generations 
9. Advises the Legislature to pass the following legislative initiatives in 2022:
   1. Senator Ram’s Environmental Justice bill
   2. Appropriate funding for the Climate Action Plan and any bills that support the implementation of a Just Transition Climate Action Plan
   3. The VT Renews bills addressing food justice, low-income weatherization, and green justice zoness, including the Land Access and Opportunity Act (H.273)