After their state-wide resolution was widely approved on March 6 the 350VT central committee endorsed an advisory resolution in Brattleboro. Brattleboro residents should be aware and encourage the selectboard to put implement the popular environmental measure. That is, to make the 350 resolution real by enacting the local follow-up:
Whereas we have a moral duty to reduce the various pollutants that cause untold harm to people all over the world,
Whereas our town, our country and the world are threatened by and climate disruption and the use of fossil fuels,
Whereas our Town Plan recommends the use of renewable energy,
Whereas Green Mountain Power Corporation operates a program called Cow Power for developing investments in renewable electrical energy sources that can help us divest from fossil fuels at an additional cost of approximately twelve dollars per person per year for electricity used in town buildings,
Therefore we the town meeting members advise the selectboard and town manager to purchase all the town buildings’ electricity from renewable sources such as Cow Power. We further recommend that people of Brattleboro also should choose such electricity.
On March 24 the Brattleboro Town Meeting Representatives vote overwhelmingly to approve a shortened version of the advisory. It advises the town manager to purchase all electricity for the town’s buildings from Cow Power, a program of Green Mountain Power (GMP) which arranges electricity generation from renewable sources like hydro-power and methane generation from manure on dairy farms.
See https://greenmountainpower.com/learn/understanding-power/ (toward the bottom of the page)
The advisory measure was researched by the local group Brattleboro Common Sense and is the first and very quick official action to build momentum on the broad statewide environmental resolution of 350.org that was approved just weeks earlier. It is a specific implementation of the second term of the broad state resolution, which recommends investment in renewable energy.
Renewable source electricity (RSE) is also about developing renewable energy infrastructure and new revenue sources for farmers. Green Mountain Power invests through GMP in new sources. Most RSE in Vermont is generated from manure. Hence the name “Cow Power”. Brattleboro will get its electricity from its solar array and from the Green Mountain Power “Cow Power” sources. By its Cow Power program GMP will also invest in new renewable sources of electricity to accommodate demand.
The advisory has, then, four main points:
- powering Brattleboro buildings on renewable source electricity
- promoting renewable source electricity for residential use
- developing renewable infrastructure
- revenue for farmers
The advisory addresses energy in residences as an official policy statement: sound environmental policy is not only for governments and government buildings. It’s for the people too. Brattleboro residents who have accounts with GMP can easily arrange for a portion or all of their electricity to come from Cow Power at a cost of four cents per kilowatt. Many people in Brattleboro already get their electricity through Cow Power. Let’s make the 350VT resolution real. Let’s stand for renewable energy at the selectboard meeting this Tuesday at 6:15.
Energy, Plants, and Animals
The only issues that matter, in terms of being a hero to future generations, are energy and taking care of plants and animals.
The time for energy wishy-washy-ness was in 1930. By the 70’s we knew we needed to change our ways. 2017 was a supposed line in the sand to do something dramatic, and the world didn’t do it. We’re in the “yes, all of this should have been done years ago” era. We’re approaching the “radical action required” era, too.
Brattleboro town has been pretty good on these issues over the years, but homeowners and especially landlords haven’t done as much – maybe the cost of an improvement for tenants interferes with the bigger goal of increasing renewable energy everywhere? I can certainly see how someone might not want to invest in solar panels or a wood stove so someone else could save money – but remember it isn’t about money. It’s about life on planet earth. It seems like if you can afford a second, third, or fourth income property, you could afford to make them efficient structures, for the good of everyone, not just tenants. It’s a choice.
I’d like to see more programs for poorer folks to benefit from energy upgrades and electric vehicles. Not only would this help with energy goals, it would put more money in people’s pockets. Compassion!