Johanna Henjes, left, and Emma Townsend display flyers in opposition to expansion of Burlington’s McNeil power plant. Photo courtesy of Grace Palmer

Anna Hoppe is a student at the University of Vermont working with the Underground Workshop, a network of student journalists partnering with Community News Service.

College students in Burlington are working to build community and tackle the climate crisis on a local scale.

The Climate Action Collective (CAC) is a group for Burlington-area college students facilitated by 350Vermont, a local branch of 350.org, an international climate advocacy organization. It includes students from St. Michael’s College, the University of Vermont and Champlain College. These students describe themselves as an “action-oriented,” grassroots organization focusing on local environmental justice issues.

Josie Daigle, a CAC member and junior at UVM studying Geography and Environmental Studies, described the power of an intercollegiate activism group.

“College students are the largest voting power in Burlington as a city,” Daigle said. “By having a group that’s kind of united on climate issues, we’re able to make a pretty big difference … but we often get ignored by politicians because we leave so quickly.”

The members of the CAC are trying to make sure that students’ voices don’t get ignored. While they only launched in September, they have already worked to prevent the expansion of the McNeil wood-burning power plant in Burlington, a major source of carbon emissions in Vermont, and to encourage students to vote on Town Meeting Day. They have also started to advocate for state-level change by planning meetings with legislators and writing a letter to the editor in VTDigger about a wildlife policy bill (S.258).

Ashley Winter, one of the three founding members of the CAC and a junior at UVM studying Environmental Studies, shared that creating the group was the “most valuable experience” throughout her time at college.

“I have built really incredible networks through the Climate Action Collective and through 350 Vermont, connecting with environmental professionals like lawyers and city engineers,” Winter said. 

These networks were a key part of the CAC’s advocacy work against the expansion of McNeil as they met with and wrote to city councilors. Winter emphasized that networking is “really powerful” for students looking to get a job in an environmental field because different opportunities could end up leading to jobs.

Emma Townsend, a first-year at UVM studying Environmental Studies and Political Science, also emphasized how the CAC has allowed her to build more connections and learn more about local politics.

“It’s really integrated me into the Burlington community,” said Townsend, who is from upstate New York.

The community that they have built within the CAC has also provided a space for them to process their frustrations and fears and build hope.

“When we hear a lot of negative news in environmental classes, it often seems like there is no solution,” Johanna Henjes, a sophomore at UVM studying Environmental Studies, said. “So this group has kind of given me an outlet for finding solutions.”

College helped Grace Palmer, another CAC founder and a senior at St. Michael’s College, realize how big the issue of climate change is. Her classes and peers helped her realize that it is one of her generation’s biggest challenges.

“I’ve found [the CAC] to be a way to channel all of that frustration and all of that climate anxiety into feeling like … I’m doing something,” Palmer said.

The CAC isn’t just an outlet for frustration: it also helps members build hope and community.

“We’re friends, we laugh in our meetings and we’re talking about all of our lives, and it’s so important that we have these connections,” Winter said. “Environmental stuff is so heavy, and you can’t take it on alone.”

Working with a larger group of people is key for them, but so is fighting smaller-scale, local issues such as the McNeil plant expansion.

“When we were working on our McNeil campaign, seeing students who were not a part of our group show up to what we were doing and care about it was so impactful for me,” Henjes said. “[It was] so rewarding because we did all this work, and we were not sure if it was going to pay off.”

While Henjes found the McNeil campaign to be rewarding, it was also frustrating to see the expansion pass. 

“But at the same time, being involved with [the CAC] has led me to be less frustrated because we are making a difference no matter how big or small,” Henjes said.

Winter shared that the McNeil campaign is representative of one of their larger frustrations with the state. 

“When you think of Vermont, you think it’s the green state, you think of (Sen.) Bernie (Sanders), think of how progressive it’s supposed to be, when really Vermont is really lacking in comparison to the rest of New England on climate policy and, like just overall advancements,” Winter said.

The Climate Action Collective and members of other organizations gather on the steps of the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier. Photo courtesy of Grace Palmer

At the same time as they’re trying to push Vermont forward, the CAC is also trying to be creative and try out new activism strategies. Their youth can be an advantage.

“The exciting thing about being a little naive and being young and having all of this excitement and energy is sometimes we don’t know the proper channels [for advocacy], or sometimes we get to pretend that we don’t know what those are,” Palmer said. “So we get to be really creative with how we want to address any kind of issue.”

For example, when CAC was working on their McNeil, 350 Vermont asked them to change one Burlington city counselor’s mind. They suggested doing a phone banking campaign to pressure her to change her vote. 

“We were like, wait, no, let’s just get 45 college students in one room with her today,” Palmer said. 

Even though the CAC is confident in trying new ways to advocate, some of their members still feel a little uncertain with the title of activist.

When they went to a meeting at St. Michael’s College to meet with the Sunrise Movement, a national youth climate activist organization, they were introduced as “youth climate activists,” Townsend said.

“It took me aback because I would never refer to myself as a youth climate activist before that,” she said. “But it was really empowering for someone to label me as an activist because I never thought to see myself that way.”

Winter said that when she thinks about youth activists, she thinks about “huge figures” like Greta Thunberg, but she has started to see herself as an activist too. 

“Don’t worry that you don’t know enough, because that doesn’t matter,” she said. “When I first started getting involved with this work, I knew little to nothing. The point of joining up with other people is like sharing information. And don’t think that you won’t bring anything to the table because every single person has something that they can contribute, especially when it comes to environmentalism.”

Palmer added that getting involved in activism also helped her mental health. 

“I definitely struggled the first few years of COVID and coming to Vermont and just finding where my place was,” Palmer said. “[Something that helped with that] was getting involved with activism, just because it gives you a sense of purpose.” 

Activism can also be another task on an already full schedule, however.

“I have a full school schedule, CAC, [and] I work two jobs, and working around that is very hard sometimes,” Henjes said. “Having to prioritize what needs to get done versus what I want to get done [is hard]. And I often also just shut my laptop and I’m done for the day even though I should not be.”

Winter agreed that it can be hard to put her work away.

“I’ll be in class and I’ll be thinking about how we can figure out our campaign,” she said. “I’m constantly thinking about it and … it’s hard to put it aside or or take a moment to step away from it when it just feels so big and I love it.”

However, when activism feels restorative, and less like work, it can be easier to balance, Palmer added.

“I definitely consider CAC meetings to be productive and involve a lot of work, but it’s what makes it easy for me [to give up other things],” she said. “When I leave a climate group [meeting], I feel like I’ve just spent the night hanging out with some of my really great friends.”

Palmer is excited to see how the CAC will grow and change after she graduates this spring. 

“I hope that it grows into something that is the culmination of so many people’s passions and work and energy that it goes beyond something that I could have ever seen coming,” she said.

She hopes that the CAC will grow into a powerful force that attracts college students to the Burlington area, and she is optimistic that the CAC will get there.

“To watch all of [the members] really just jump in headfirst and make it their own and bring their own passion has renewed an entire new level of what I believe is possible with organizing.”

This story, one in a six-part package on student activism, was produced during the recently completed school year.