Vermont IPL Prez Speaks Out on Climate Change Legislation

Vermont Interfaith Power and Light's own Sam Swanson has his say in a Burlington Free Press editorial excerpted below:

The development of the climate change legislation, H.520, and the governor's commitment to take administrative action to implement some of the bill's provisions is an important start. But the current impasse -- the passage of H.520 by the Legislature and the subsequent June 6 veto by Gov. Jim Douglas -- leaves too little accomplished and too much undone. Vermont needs effective action now. Vermont Interfaith Power and Light is a statewide organization of faith communities that are working together to tackle the challenge of climate change by reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change is a crisis:Its consequences are both global and local, and are potentially catastrophic.Its effects will hurt most those people who can least afford the damage it will cause. Everyone contributes to this crisis, but no one is responsible, which makes it difficult to organize and carry out an effective response.Growing evidence shows that we have limited time to mitigate the human-caused contributions to climate change before the processes become irreversible. This is for us a moral issue. Our faith calls us beyond a concern for ourselves, our state or our nation, to embrace responsibility for all forms of life and the planet that sustains them. We need a Vermont program that will reduce carbon emissions by reducing waste in the use of fossil fuels burned to heat buildings, operate facilities of all kinds, and transport people and goods. Investing in efficiency eliminates the wasteful use of fossil fuels, which produces unnecessary carbon emissions.

Interfaith Power and Light is a religious response to global warming with chapters in 22 states and Greater Washington, D.C. Scroll down for links to the national organization and your local chapter.