Report: Global Warming Pollution Drops in Vt

Montpelier, Vermont - March 26, 2008

A new report finds global warming pollution has dropped in Vermont and across New England.

Activists say it's a good sign. They credit lower transportation emissions and people using less heating fuel. It's a trend environmentalists want to see continued. They're asking the state to encourage more public transportation. And they want a voluntary pledge to decrease emissions 25-percent by 2012 made mandatory.

"This is the beginning potentially of a good trend but we're not going to continue to reduce our global warming pollution by hoping it is going to happen or by talking about it happening. We need action," says James Moore of VPIRG.

"Today's youth considers global warming to be the greatest challenge facing our generation-- global warming threatens the economy, environment and general quality of life in Vermont...

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Car Pools Take Off

November 5, 2007

On any given weekday afternoon in Burlington’s Hill Section, a long line of motorists will edge, inch by inch, toward a parking lot exit. Most of those commuters are alone in their cars.

At the shift change at Fletcher Allen Health Care, a more lively procession parallels this paralysis: Dozens of carpoolers swoop through the drop-off and pick-up circle in an impromptu choreography.

Carpoolers share a commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Their concerns are well-founded: A 2005 study by the Montpelier-based Vermont Public Interest Research and Education Fund calculated that the 8 percent of Vermont’s car commuters who travel more than 20 miles to work generate roughly a quarter of the state’s commuting-related carbon dioxide emissions.

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