How did it begin?
On April 29th, 2019, a town hall meeting was held by Sunrise Movement Burlington in accordance with the national “Road to a Green New Deal Tour”. This action is a culmination of months of organizing and creating strong local foundations and connections with student activists and local networks of climate and social justice activists.
“The line is no longer drawn between those who believe in climate change and those who do not, it is no longer drawn across party lines, or class or race. It is drawn between those who will be affected in their lifetimes and those who will not. Young people feel this urgency so strongly because we can see it right in front of us.”
Personal account of Clarissa, from Vermont Biz
The event began with personal testimonials shared by youth leaders of their experience with the climate crisis. It followed with a presentation of the Green New Deal and featured a conversation with panelists David Zuckerman and Selene Colburn who discussed the federal Green New Deal and subsequently proposed a “Green Mountain Deal”. To provide a better idea of the attendance at the town hall event, joining Lieutenant Governor Davis Zuckerman, Representative Selene Colburn, and Sunrise Burlington members were : UVM Professor of Ecological Economics Josh Farley, 350Vermont, Burlington Progressives, Vermont Youth Lobby, VPIRG, Energy Independent Vermont, Extinction Rebellion, Ben & Jerry’s, the Peace & Justice Center, College Democrats of Vermont, Patagonia Burlington, Seventh Generation, Rights & Democracy, Migrant Justice, and Haley Pero (on behalf of Senator Sanders, representing his support for the Green New Deal and youth movement for climate activism).
The Green New Deal is the only national plan that addresses the impacts of the climate crisis on frontline communities, takes into account economic and racial justice, and works on the timeline and scale of the crisis. The Green New Deal is the only plan that envisions a fair, democratic, and equitable transition to a Green America. This policy would be life changing for all of us — but especially low income workers, indigenous communities, people of color, migrants, the unhoused, the formerly incarcerated, and people with disabilities.”
Maggie Friel, Sunrise Movement Burlington organizer
Today, the Green Mountain New Deal, like the national Green New Deal, is a proposed plan that is still in the works, with many climate activist organizations pushing for its approval at state level, presented and passed in the House and the Senate.
“There is a grand story to be told here about the duty to repair – to repair our relationship with the earth and with one another, to heal the deep wounds dating back to the founding of the country. Because while it is true that climate change is a crisis produced by an excess of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, it is also, in a more profound sense, a crisis produced by an extractive mindset – a way of viewing both the natural world and the majority of its inhabitants as resources to use up and then discard. I call it the “gig and dig” economy and firmly believe that we will not emerge from this crisis without a shift in worldview, a transformation from “gig and dig” to an ethos of care and repair.”
Naomi Klein, The Intercept_
