I know many people are saying, “I will vote for Phil Scott because he has done a good job handling coronavirus.” And he has. I am grateful to live in the state with the lowest rate of COVID-19 infection.
But meanwhile, a fifth of Vermont adults are struggling to pay ordinary expenses because of the pandemic, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Wages are nearly 17 percent below the national average. Opioid addiction is ravaging our communities. Health care costs are through the roof. Climate change threatens our vital tourism and agriculture industries. People of color in Vermont are disproportionately imprisoned and unjustly targeted by police.
Gov. Phil Scott has vetoed paid family leave and an increased minimum wage, both measures that would have made Vermont more affordable for struggling families and put more money into people's pockets to bolster the economy.
He has no plans to make health care more affordable. He has said that he supports action to reduce Vermont's reliance on fossil fuels and prepare us for the worsening climate crisis, but he has not made any effort to achieve our state's climate goals and recently vetoed the Global Warming Solutions Act.
“'Black Lives Matter' is the baseline,” says Amber Arnold, cofounder of SUSU Healing Collective. “We more than matter. How do we make sure our people are not just surviving but thriving?” With that goal in mind, SUSU Healing Collective started a GoFundMe campaign at the end of May to...
This April 22nd, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, join me in calling for action on climate justice and a Green New Deal! “Earth Day?” you say. “Climate justice? I'm too busy sewing masks, making sure my family has food, putting myself on the line in an essential job,
I love Brattleboro. I love its down-to-earth-ness coupled with its flair for creativity. I love that I can walk to the co-op, to the library, to the hardware store, and to the woods. I love that we have curbside compost. I love that we come up with compassionate, practical programs like the recently announced day-work program. At the same time, the Brattleboro we have is not the ideal Brattleboro. We struggle with homelessness and addiction. We struggle to retain and...
Friday, April 5 We gathered on the Middlebury Green, in Vermont, in the Abenaki land of Ndakinna. Each of us arrived in the middle of our own personal story, a piece of the greater story of humans in relation to the Earth. As we gathered, our stories began to intertwine. In the opening ceremony, we honored our power to shape the story that is still unfolding. Bill McKibben spoke the last few words. “We're all going to have to go...
When I was a kid in Vermont, I ran around in the woods all the time, and I'd never seen a tick. When I was a kid, it didn't rain after every snowstorm. Have you forgotten already how different it was back then, when I was a kid? I'm not even 30 years old. When I was a kid, I read all the time. Fantastical adventure stories where the protagonists saved the world from certain destruction - a destruction brought...
In a conversation about politics, a liberal acquaintance recently said to me that we can't do anything right now; we just have to wait for a more favorable political climate and then try to make change. I was flabbergasted. Waiting is exactly what we shouldn't do. Now more than ever, people want change, and we're working to make it happen. I recently joined 350 Brattleboro, the local branch of the climate-change-fighting organization 350.org. We are collecting signatures to put a...