Climate Strike
By: Lucinda Copans
05/14/25
On March 13th, several hundred students from schools around Washington County arrived at the statehouse to protest a bill proposed by Governor Phil Scott that would appeal, or drastically change, one of Vermont's biggest climate laws: the Global Warming Solutions Act, or GWSA. GWSA put target emissions reductions in place for 2030 and 2050 and set up a multi stakeholder climate council.
According to Vermont's official government website, the act was “in response to concerns around Vermont’s changing climate and the magnitude of what must be done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prepare for the impacts of climate change on Vermont’s landscape” (VT Gov).
It also allowed for citizens to hold the state accountable if these standards were not met. Governor Scott's proposed Bill H.289 stands to decrease climate accountability and possibly gut the council itself.
The hours of the protest were filled with passionate speeches from students about current climate issues and the effect on students' future. Layla McCann, a junior at U-32 high school, told the story of why her family left their home in Northern California–to escape the steadily worsening wildfires.
“The air was so full of smoke that the sun never rose.” Layla encourages students to write to governor Phil Scott about the GWSA and Vermont's climate promises, "The governor needs [student] letters pouring into his office.” After the rally, and meeting with local representatives, postcards were handed out so students could do exactly that.
Stories like Layla's are why students are marching and raising their voices to support climate action and climate accountability.
Many people have been affected by the flooding of the past three years. Towns like Waitsfield and Mooretown, plus our native Montpelier, have seen houses condemned, businesses sunk (sometimes literally) and ecosystems forever changed by flooding. In an interview, Candice White, a representative from the transportation committee, commented on the increased severity of weather because of climate change.
“We had flooding in July of 2023. We had flooding in December of 2023. And we had flooding again in July of 2024. And, you know…some of those floods were really quite devastating to my area.” As climate change worsens in Vermont, legislators are pushing for better infrastructure and transportation as well.
Governor Scott has justified the changes to climate response in Vermont, saying that the new bill would be more financially feasible for Vermonters (VT Digger, 2025). Democratic legislators, such as Candice White, are against H.289, which would remove or destabilize the climate council, and use valuable time to formulate a new plan.
GWSA set up a “council that could make good choices for all of Vermont, and it weighed the interests of all these different stakeholders,” says White. “That was a really good policy. [Governor Scott] would like to make changes to, um, to the Climate Council and change some of the goals that the Global Warming Solutions Act put in place…I don't agree with that.”
Some legislators argue that Scott's plan might just be a tactic to bulldoze climate regulations amid a period of political change.