Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.) speaking to the crowd at the climate rally Credit: Jeb Wallace-Brodeur
Thousands of protesters converged at the Vermont Statehouse for a spirited rally held Saturday in solidarity with the climate march in Washington, D.C.

Protesters filled the Statehouse lawn to hear speakers from groups around the state rail against the environmental policies of President Donald Trump. Protesters displayed their positions in signs such as “Climate change is real,” “There is no Planet B,” and “Frack you Pruitt,” a reference to Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency chief, Scott Pruitt.

“Donald Trump, take a look at Montpelier,” cried Congressman Peter Welch (D-Vt.) when he took the podium. Clean energy sectors such as solar create jobs, Welch said, saying that Trump’s policies are not only wrong, but are “plain stupid.”

It was Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), though, who got the biggest reaction from the crowd. People pressed forward when he hunched over the podium, and many took cellphone videos of him.

“Our message today is simple and straightforward,” Sanders said. “We will fight Donald Trump, who thinks climate change is a hoax. We will fight the head of the EPA, who is trying to dismantle virtually every environmental regulation that protects our air, our water and our food.” His comments drew raucous cheers.

Sanders added, “We will fight the fossil fuel industry, which is more worried about their short term profits than the future of this planet.”

He called for a transformation of energy systems from fossil fuels to renewables.

A coalition of environmental, faith and activist groups organized the event, which coincided with the climate march in Washington, D.C. There, the Washington Post reported, tens of thousands of people gathered to protest on a sweltering day.


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News editor Matthew Roy has been at Seven Days since 2014. Before that, he was an editor at The Virginian-Pilot.

4 replies on “Protesters Rally at the Statehouse Over Climate Issues”

  1. People will believe anything..instead of looking at the facts.. Globing warming is called “Weather” Mother Nature”..Al Gore has lied from the get go..Now tell me how did all these people get to the State House..let me take a guess, they didn’t walk, didn’t ride a bicycle,didn’t swim, so I’m safe to say they used fossil fuel to get there the same as Welch and Sanders..As for all the bashing talk and signs against PresTrump means liberals!!!!..

  2. Of course climate change is real.
    And of course Bernie Sanders is a fool and a hypocrite.

  3. “Of course climate change is real.
    And of course Bernie Sanders is a fool and a hypocrite.”

    Agreed on both. But not just Bernie. Didn’t our Lt. Governor speak at this gathering? Hypocrisy? He only believes in some science. The fun and politically correct kind, like anthropogenic climate change. He rejects the peer-reviewed science of GMOs and vaccinations. Science is science is science is science. You can’t pick and choose what science to believe in.

  4. How much longer is this absurd notion of “global warming” going to persist? We are entering a grand solar minimum and about to freeze our ssses off, no food either. Look at the loss of the Kansas wheat crop this week alone. These folks are dangerous.

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