Impacts of Climate Change on Vermont: the Next 30 Years

Want to know what Vermont will look like in 30 years? Our member Vermont Public Radio would like to show you. Yes, radio you can watch, thanks to our friends at Vermont PBS. Their new video “Impacts of Climate Change on Vermont” offers a clear-eyed and hopeful look at the decades to come as we adapt to a wetter state.

Climate and Clean Energy are at the top of VBSR’s policy agenda and alongside our allies in the #ActOnClimateVT Coalition* we are aligned with Gillian Galford of the #VermontClimateAsessment when she says “If there’s anywhere that’s really good at watching out for our neighbors and doing the best thing for our communities, I think it’s Vermont.”

Scientists say if we want to know what Vermont will look like in 30 years, the best clues we have lie in the recent past. And fifty-eight percent of Vermonters surveyed expect climate change will have a “major” impact on life in the state, over the next 30 years. That’s according to a recent VPR-Vermont PBS poll.

Drought, extreme precipitation, less snow and longer growing seasons — these are just some of the ways Vermont has already seen its climate change. And that change is happening faster here than the rest of the world, on average.

Watch the video to learn more about what the state might look in 2050 and follow VBSR on our social channels to keep up with our ongoing policy work in this area and others.

 

*
CLF – Conservation Law Foundation, Vermont
VPIRG – Vermont Public Interest Research Group
VNRC – Vermont Natural Resources Council
TNC – The Nature Conservancy in Vermont
And others