Editor,
Many Vermonters and indeed, Americans all across the country are faced with the reality that if we are going to fight climate change and preserve our planet for future generations we must work on the local and state level. Vermonters have already put in place an important goal of achieving a 90% level of renewable energy usage by 2050 and have instituted many positive changes to try to protect our children and grandchildren from death and destruction from rising CO2 levels, overuse of fossil fuels in private vehicles and other energy production. Vermonters know how to listen to science and to believe its findings.

The time for talk is over. We must act and act now to save our planet and our very future on this planet. There are many, many positive changes on the horizon with the use of solar and wind energy as well as an important emphasis on improving public transportation efforts. It is paramount that we support our elected officials at the local, regional and state levels to work diligently to sustain our planet’s flora and fauna as well as our very humanity. As we continue to desecrate our environment by withdrawing oil, liquid gold, from the earth we are digging our own graves.

Those who are able should give of their time and talent to meet this goal and the rest of us must be ready to sacrifice some of our own personal priorities in order to work for the common good. While corporations and their massive power structure are only interested in promoting the almighty dollar, we as individual tax payers and informed citizens must curb our desires as we think about those who come after us and whether we will leave them with a world in which they will be able to survive and thrive at all.

Many individuals already do not see any positive future for themselves. Note the increase in suicides, drug and alcohol abuse and the lack of meaningful jobs for so many citizens. Overpopulation of the planet also plays a huge role in how our planet is dying. If we don’t practice a more sustainable way of living, here and now, the doomsday scenario may not be that far down the line.

Mary Alice Bisbee
Montpelier, VT