by Gaylord Livingston
Alison Despathy has it right: Vermont has been trapped. Not by ice, not by storms, not even by the natural cold that shapes who we are — but by the kind of law that looks good on paper and bleeds us dry in practice. The Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA), rammed through in 2020 against the governor’s veto, is less about saving the planet and more about chaining Vermonters to an endless cycle of costs, lawsuits, and empty promises.
The Illusion of Leadership
Vermont accounts for a sliver of national emissions. In fact, we are already among the lowest energy consumers in the country, with high reliance on renewables. Our energy use is survival: heat, food, transportation. Yet the GWSA treats us as if Montpelier could change the global thermostat by decree. Instead of steady progress through weatherization, efficiency upgrades, and community resilience — things Vermonters have done quietly for decades — we are handed “targets” that could only be met through massive new spending and punitive measures. The illusion is leadership. The reality is financial self-sabotage.
Bureaucracy Over Basics
Since the law passed, hundreds of millions have gone to consultants, studies, lawsuits, and endless modeling. Vermonters don’t live in models. Vermonters live in drafty houses, drive old trucks to work, and patch roofs after storms. Imagine those dollars instead going into culverts that keep our roads open, home solar and efficient heating systems that actually lower bills, or weatherization that makes a home warmer today, not in a hypothetical emissions graph. Instead, we have built a bureaucracy that consumes our money and congratulates itself for producing another report.
The Legal Bear Trap
Worse, the GWSA turned Vermont into a perpetual defendant. Anyone can sue the state for failing to meet the impossible goals. That’s not a climate plan, it’s an annuity for lawyers and out-of-state nonprofits. The Conservation Law Foundation helped write this trap and now cashes in on the privilege of suing taxpayers with our own money. They lost one round, but with requirements written to be impossible, they will be back — and eventually, they will win. When that happens, the court will mandate “action” no matter the cost, practicality, or damage to our people. That isn’t democracy. That’s coercion.
Liberty, Not Performance
Vermonters are not indifferent to the environment. We live in it. We walk our woods, drink our rivers, and heat our homes in some of the harshest winters in the country. We know conservation because we practice it daily. What we reject is ideology that demands public performance while ignoring results. Liberty means choosing policies that balance environment, economy, and people. The GWSA confuses liberty with coercion and has turned freedom of choice into mandatory sacrifice with no measurable benefit.
A Way Out
Repealing the GWSA is not anti-environment. It is pro-Vermont. We can return to what has worked: weatherization, efficiency, diversified energy sources, and resilience projects that keep families and communities safe. We can prioritize affordability, reliability, and sustainability without handing our state treasury to lawyers and NGOs. We can step out of the climate trap by remembering the obvious: Vermont will not save the world by punishing its own people. But we can preserve Vermont by taking care of one another and managing our resources with honesty and restraint.