August 13, 2023 (updated April 30, 2024) — Vermont is green. Not just because it’s home to the Green Mountains, but because it’s the most environmentally friendly state in the nation. Data proves it according to recent Consumer Affairs and WalletHub rankings. Why are these financially-oriented publications so keen to rank states on eco-friendly practices? Because, as WalletHub points out, “Eco-friendliness and personal finances are related.” And, as Consumer Affairs opines, “We're at a critical turning point in climate change. It’s a reality impacting our economy, health and overall quality of life.”
According to Consumer Affairs, Vermont is the greenest state because it:
Generated 99.7% of its energy from renewable resources in 2021, by far the most in the U.S. (Of course, there are claims this percentage is “greenwashing” due to hydropower not being a clean energy source. For more on this Click Here to read Ben Gordesky’s enlightened piece in VT Digger. Though I’ll maintain that if all states had been following Vermont’s leadership by protecting the environment through forward-thinking legislation and policy creation for the past fifty years, we’d be living in a much more environmentally sustainable nation.)
Produced only 0.06 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per capita in 2021, the least in the U.S.
Recorded the second-lowest amount of waste per capita (0.86 tons)
These reports rank states on the environmental sustainability of their cultures and communities, and Vermont comes out on top. According to Jenny Rushlow, dean of the Maverick Lloyd School for the Environment at Vermont Law and Graduate School,
“Our economy is very tied to natural resources, from our seasonal recreation businesses to farming, and there seems to be a prevailing sense that those resources require some protection.”
The reports also consider percentage of waste recycled or composted, air quality, water quality, gasoline consumption per capita, and more. But the questions of why and how Vermont has been able to achieve such extraordinary success remain.
Here are my findings, based on history and lived experience.
When I came to VT back in 1988, I had planned to attend Vermont Law School (VLS). But, a house for sale on the green in South Royalton caught my eye. I couldn’t afford both, so I put down a small down-payment and got a mortgage on the house, deferred my law school start date for a year, and kept on working. I rented some rooms in the house and spent my weekends driving 3 hours each way from my home in New Haven, CT to renovate, remodel, and rent a few more rooms to law students. A year later, in 1989, I matriculated with the Vermont Law School Class of 1992.
In 1988, Vermont was known for many things, but few, if any, were related to environmental sustainability on the national stage with one exception — the Vermont Law School environmental law master’s degree program was in full swing and ranked at the top nationally. Still, the school was a relative unknown institution other than to forward-thinking lawyers and activists who new the environment needed their help. Back then, Vermont was the Green Mountain State known widely for is maple syrup, dairy farms, good downhill skiing, and fall foliage — oh, and there was this exciting company called Ben & Jerry’s that dropped off pints of ice cream seconds for us fledgling law students at a deli in South Royalton. It was an off-beat, progressively-minded ice cream company that seemed to care about the environment, but the broad notion of an eco-friendly state was a long way from reality.
Over the next three years, I went to classes and learned the law. I took not a single environmental law class. But every conversation I had with my peers, every time I went to the landfill on Saturday morning — which evolved into a transfer station and recycling center — every study group meeting, every lunch or dinner with friends, each bicycle ride, hike, run, snowshoe, or cross-country ski inevitably involved some discussion of an environmental issue, a lifestyle change, or some pending legislation to more keenly focus me on the fragility of our natural world.
Whether is was Act 250 or the Clean Water Act, recycling versus re-using, riding a bike or walking versus driving a car and burning fossil fuels, I was inundated with eco-friendly questions, concerns, helpful tips, and advice on how to live my life in greater harmony with the natural world. In short, I became an environmentalist and an environmental crusader by being surrounded by people who cared to protect the environment. I wasn’t an environmental activist joining marches and rallies like many of my classmates, but, quietly, steadily, I changed my ways. My decisions about how to live my life were impacted by the overwhelming majority of my classmates, just as they became more careful about their lifestyles and life choices. It seemed to me to be the Vermont way.
I insulated the attic, then the basement. I installed energy-saving light bulbs. I stopped driving and started bicycling more frequently. I began composting. I began re-using all kinds of things, including items I’d find at the recycling center. Boards for building and re-building. Pieces of sheetrock left behind by others. New skis? Why bother when someone’s second-hand pair would work just as well. Trade and barter became the norm. Using a manual reel-mower to cut my lawn rather than burning gas was another step. Not cutting the back lawn was another. A wildflower garden came next. Encouraging my tenants to keep the heat lower, close their windows in winter, and replacing windows with more energy-efficient glass became the order of the day. I bought a used Honda hybrid sedan. And life went on. I had children who learned how to cut and split firewood on our land. And burn it in a locally-made wood stove. Their friends who visited carried firewood into our house for fun. My kids shopped for used bicycles at the transfer station. Then, LED light bulbs and more insulation. Life went on, and it felt good to be part of a greater movement to protect our natural environment. My law school classmates never knew I’d taken this turn to become a green crusader, but I did, and I liked it. I thank them every day.
Now, multiply this by 1,500 people. 1,500 lawyers trained at Vermont Law and Graduate School. 1,500 green crusaders populating a small state. 1,500 legislators, policy makers, counselors, legal advisors, and state and local elected officials, board, and committee members. Plenty of non-profit leaders, police commissioners, school principals, and school board trustees. Oh, and three Vermont Supreme Court justices (five if you count two honorary degrees) to throw into the mix today. This potent group of like-minded, ethical people in positions to influence legislation, policy, and people were the juice that powered the state at many levels. They were change makers and influencers. And influence they did. To the point, some thirty years later, of making Vermont the nation’s #1 greenest state and an environmental powerhouse we now know as the state’s claim to fame.
The nation and the world look to Vermont to lead the way with environmental policy and thinking, and passing legislation that keeps the state green. Vermont Law and Graduate School is the thought leader that powers so much of this. VLGS changed my life, and it’s changing yours, wherever you are, whether you know it or not. This little law and graduate school, independent of any larger school or university, has made a bold and innovative long-term push to change the direction of the world, and it’s succeeding. Case in point? Take a look at Vermont, where the most vigorous and effective sustainability practices have been implemented thanks to VLGS grads. And they’re still at it, now more than fifty years since the school’s founding in 1972. If Vermont has something to celebrate, it’s Vermont Law and Graduate School faculty, alumni, and students for making it what it is today — U.S. News weighs in here.
But let’s not stop at the state level. VLGS has about 9,000 graduates in all walks of life and professional (ad)ventures. About 160 of them have worked at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). And that doesn’t include numerous student interns. Close to thirty VLGS alumni work at the Department of Justice. More than twenty work for the U.S. military. They’re in positions to influence people and policy. From the World Wildlife Fund to the Organic Farm Foundation, The Nature Conservancy to the Audubon Society, the National Resources Defense Counsel, timber management operations, private and corporate legal practices, land trusts nationwide, legal consultancies, and all the way back around to its own Environmental Advocacy & Environmental Justice Clinics and Environmental Law Center, VLGS law and graduate school faculty, students, and alumni have been spreading their messages and words of environmental advocacy for more than four decades. The impact has been extraordinary.
U.S. News & World Report has ranked little VLGS #1 in the nation in environmental law twenty times in the past thirty-two years, and has voted it into the top 5 in all thirty-two of those years. Currently tied for #4, it remains ahead of behemoths like Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Georgetown, and Stanford. These are huge, highly-endowed institutions that have plenty of money to develop environmental law programs. Yet, VLGS remains among the top, despite being independent of a large umbrella institution. Or, perhaps, being small and nimble is what caring about the environment is all about. As the planet changes, we need to change, and that’s what a place like VLGS can do. It’s the little law and graduate school that keeps on chugging, keeps on churning out ethical lawyers dedicated to the public interest, even when they’re working in private practice or serving as corporate counsel.
As a friend of mine once told me, “The world doesn’t need more lawyers, it needs more good lawyers.” That public interest cause is reflected in the school’s motto, “lex pro urbe et orbe” or “law for the community and the world”. With the fighting swan as the school’s mascot, knowing the Trumpeter Swan had been hunted to near-extinction for food and feathers by European settlers in Canada and the lower 48 states, this striking bird is a powerful symbol of what long-term restoration and conservation efforts can do. In fifty years, the swan has now made a comeback thanks to environmental advocates who have championed habitat restoration and reintroduction efforts. Today, swans number in the many thousands in populations around Canada and the United States where they had disappeared altogether. 1,500 of these magnificent birds will make for a self-sustaining population. About the same number as VLGS alumni who live in Vermont.
Now, we need Vermont Law and Graduate School more than ever as we face massive environmental hurdles. Here’s what Consumer Affairs has to say:
There are two ways to reverse the trend of climate change and its impact on our world with swift, large-scale moves. The first is broad governmental policy and regulatory action at the federal, state, and local levels to change our behavior and mitigate our impact on the world. The second is changed business practices to create more sustainable markets and reduced consumption of pretty much everything, especially energy produced by fossil fuels. In both cases, VLGS alumni are working hard to effect change. And let’s not forget the faculty who teach them. It’s the little school that could, and did, and continues to do, leading the way to educate leaders intent upon saving the world without help from a deep-pocketed college or university.
VLGS sits proudly along the banks of the White River, with the first LEED Silver Certified building in Vermont and EV charging stations at the ready. It beckons new generations of students who want to learn law and policy to make our world a better place — in the great Vermont tradition. When you meet a VLGS grad, thank them. Tip your hat, shake their hand, and recognize them for the work they’ve done and continue to do. Offer them your words of encouragement and support. And listen. Please listen. It just might save our lives.
Dave Celone is vice president of alumni relations and development at Vermont Law and Graduate School from which he graduated in 1992.
From the November, 2023 post: The rains are back today in Vermont. The flood waters are cresting again. There has to be a way to reverse these alarming trends. Large-scale change is what we need. Policymakers and business leaders must act to help us find a better future. As WalletHub recognizes:
“Last year, the U.S. experienced 18 weather and climate disasters that did $1 billion or more in damage each, with the total damage from all events adding up to $165 billion. While some disasters are unavoidable, others are exacerbated by humans. For example, one big factor in the high amount of hurricanes in recent years has been unusually warm Atlantic waters. It’s possible that living more sustainably and using greener energy sources could prevent us from having quite as bad hurricane seasons in the future – and saving a lot of money in repairs as a result.”
If you don’t believe what you see out your window, believe the economists, believe the data, and believe the ever-increasing cost that climate disasters have on your savings account. It’s past time to change our unsustainable ways.