By Guy Page
A committee of the Vermont Climate Council wants state funding to establish a one-year commission to study “if language used in State of Vermont agencies regarding natural resources is inappropriate and/or references eugenics (e.g. low-grade trees, defective trees, working lands).”
The request is part of a $52 million package of funding requests for ‘climate action.’ The council will meet Monday, October 17 to decide which of the requests will go to the Scott administration and the Legislature. Subcommittees were told the money would come from “some of the State’s surplus funds.”
The subcommittees have whittled down their wish lists to the following:
$5.2 million for the Agriculture and Ecosystems Committee for soil quality nutrition and retention, support for Just Transitions committee work, traditional ecological knowledge climate curriculum, town planning to stop forest fragmentation, and funding for a one-year commission and subsequent report that examines if language used in State of Vermont agencies regarding natural resources is inappropriate and/or references eugenics (e.g. low-grade trees, defective trees, working lands), with recommendations for how to make changes to address and resolve harm.
$1.25 million for the Just Transitions Committee for communications, planning, and community engagement, including a $200/day stipend for climate councilors. The Committee’s job is to ensure that Vermont reaches its climate goals with ‘equity.’
$44.5 million for Rural Resilience & Adaptation, including $4 million for regional planning commissions and local municipalities to support climate resilience and energy planning and
Implementation, $20 million for flood resilience, and $20 million for all-hazards resilience. These last two big-ticket items “will not address all needs,” the committee recommendation cautioned.
$550,000 for Science & Data for ongoing work studying the life-cycle of greenhouse gas emissions, paying particular attention to the unseen GHG emissions of low-emissions power generation: “For example, development of emission factors for biofuels in the thermal sector, and electricity generation from nuclear and hydro power, is likely to be a new area of analysis that may require additional resources beyond the existing contract.” Agricultural emissions also need further study.