Now you too can attend Climate Talk Vermont – Global Ambition, Local Action, VLS’s Earth Day 2016 celebration, thanks to Bob the Green Guy.

Co-sponsored with the Vermont chapter of the Sierra Club, this climate change event kicked off with remarks by Aaron Mair, National President of the Sierra Club. 

The first panel focused on the global dimensions of climate change and featured Jon Erickson, Professor of Ecological Economics and the Interim Dean of the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont; Cynthia Greene, Manager of the Energy and Climate Unit at EPA New England; Aaron Mair; Pam Pearson, founder of the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative; and Tracy Bach, Professor of Law and head of the VLS COP 21 observer delegation.

The second panel focused on Vermont climate change actions and featured Paul Burns, Executive Director of the Vermont Public Research Interest Group; Olivia Campbell Anderson, Executive Director of Renewable Energy Vermont; Chris Cole, Secretary of Transportation, Vermont Agency of Transportation; Andrea Colnes, Executive Director of Energy Action Network; Chris Kilian, Vice President and Director, Conservation Law Foundation Vermont; Chris Recchia, Commissioner, Vermont Department of Public Service; and David Mears, Professor of Law and Director of the Energy and Natural Resources Clinic at VLS. 

The event concluded with remarks by Governor Peter Shumlin.

Happy Earth Day!

›Since the first Earth Day in 1970, when 20 million Americans celebrated it, the day has gone global.  In 1990, 200 million people in 141 countries took part. ›In 2000, more than 4500 organizations in 180 countries marked the 30th Earth Day in their own ways.

Here’s how I spent Earth Day in Qatar last year.

Last year, 1 billion people across the globe feted the 45th Earth Day.

Today, to mark Earth Day 2016, almost 170 countries (up from my Monday post) are sending heads of state and other high-ranking government officials to represent them at UN HQ in New York City to sign the Paris Agreement.  Secretary of State John Kerry will sign for the United States. You may watch the signing ceremony here starting at 9:30am.