VPIRG Co-Hosts Climate Webinar with Bernie Sanders

On Wednesday, February 8th, VPIRG and a host of other Vermont environmental organizations co-hosted a webinar featuring Senator Bernie Sanders. The webinar, titled “Moving Forward on Climate without DC,” attracted nearly 1,000 viewers across the state and around the country.

Senator Sanders reiterated the importance of climate action, and emphasized the role that states like Vermont must play during this period of inaction from the federal government. Following Sen. Sanders, State Senator Christopher Bray spoke about legislative action happening now on the state level. Bray specifically discussed a bill he introduced in the State Senate to turn Vermont’s renewable energy goals into state law.

After State Senator Bray, Johanna Miller of Vermont Natural Resources Council and James Haslam of Rights and Democracy spoke about the need for grassroots action, and offered opportunities for Vermonters to get involved.

VPIRG’s Executive Director Paul Burns was the final speaker and reiterated the theme of the night: “If there is to be resistance and if there is to be real progress in this country in the next few years, and I think that there will be, then we must recognize there is only a small handful of states who are in a position to really lead. And Vermont is one of those. We’re in a pivotal place in history right now and people across the country are looking to places like Vermont.  People are counting on us to act and we have a responsibility to do so.”

Miller, Bray, and Burns then took live questions from webinar viewers to close out the event.

The view the entire webinar online, follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9i6YgykxzY

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