Governor Scott’s blue sky comments late last year about how he believes Vermont is a sort of climate change “Mecca” came to mind when I read about a climate activist group called Protect Our Winters(POW) a national group made up of winter sports enthusiasts, resorts and outdoor gear retailers. The ten-year-old organization based in the Western US has formed a political wing that, according to McClatchey.com, will in 2018, be: “targeting politicians to take seriously the threat of climate change, and working to vote them out of office if they don’t.”

In 2018 POW will be concentrating their effort on gubernatorial and congressional races in the west but they plan to expand educational outreaches in the Eastern states such as Vermont. Organizers note: “[…] places with large snow-sports industries and tourism economies that depend on snow and winter […] have constituencies in those states who really care about climate change and where it is crucial to elect climate-friendly officials.”

Vermont.gov notes the trend toward a snow challenged future: Changes in precipitation patterns and seasonal average temperatures are altering Vermont’s normally snowy winter landscape. In addition to shorter lake ice over and rising minimum temperatures, the number of days each year with snow on the ground is also diminishing. Vermont’s winter sports industry did have a good season in 2017-2018, but they are heavily relying  on costly snow-making equipment  (with the state having subsidized up to $5 million worth of rebates on nearly 2,400 energy-efficient snow guns in 2014) and were very lucky with several well-timed storms.

For voters, concern over the effects of climate change is not a party-line issue. For Protect Our Winters, the good news is that Republican millennials tend to be more worried about a warming planet than other Republicans, and young people in general are more politically engaged than they were in recent elections according to Yale University research scientist Anthony Leiserowitz, who has analyzed public opinion on climate change for a decade.

It’s snow secret: warmer winters, less snow and maybe a little more heat on the way should wake up anyone who has deceived themselves into thinking Vermont can be an environmental “Mecca” magically isolated from climate change challenges.