Vermont Okays Climate Lawsuits

Plus, Jews are erased from school yearbook; Tiananmen anniversary

Buckets collect maple sap for boiling to syrup in this image from Vermont, which aims to sue oil companies over climate change.

Vermont has a new law that “will empower Vermont’s Attorney General to pursue payment from companies like ExxonMobil Corporation and Shell for a share of what climate change has cost the state since 1995, based on how much their products contributed to the problem globally,” Vermont Public Radio reports.

The governor of Vermont, Republican Phil Scott, allowed the legislation to pass into law without his signature, deciding not to veto it.

The Vermont Radio writeup had two elements that caught my eye. 

The article says the bill “earned tripartisan support in the Legislature.”

“Tripartisan?” It turns out that the Vermont legislature has Republicans, Democrats, and “Progressives” who are even to the left of the Democrats.  

Also, the article says, “During the legislative session, scientists at Dartmouth College testified to lawmakers that it’s scientifically feasible to attribute what role climate change played in making extreme weather events more frequent and intense, particularly for flooding.”

For any readers who think I’m overly obsessed with what happens on Ivy League campuses (which could be a fair criticism, I fully concede), this Dartmouth development, like yesterday’s piece about how Harvard got Alvin Bragg elected, is a nicely specific example of the universities fueling (forgive the attempt at a dad joke there (you know it’s a dad joke when the dad is the only one laughing)) sketchy public policy. 

What’s the standard by which ExxonMobil and Shell are liable for climate change but not Vermont dairy cooperatives (Cabot) and their customers (Ben and Jerry’s) for their methane-producing cows? Or country inns and ski lodges for wood-burning fireplaces? Why are the gasoline companies targeted but not the state and federal governments that built highways for the cars and approved parking lots for a car-based transportation system? It all seems like a scheme to find a deep-pocketed outside-of-Vermont villain to blame for climate change, rather than a constructive path forward or a just apportionment of responsibility for any damages. 

Jewish students erased from high school yearbook: At East Brunswick High School in New Jersey, where students have been grappling with an outbreak of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel hate, the newly released high school yearbook has the names of the Jewish Student Union members missing, and the photo of the Jewish group has been replaced with a picture of the Muslim student association.

The “Jewish Student Union” entry in the East Brunswick High School yearbook has no names and a picture of Muslim students appears instead.

I guess it’s remotely conceivable that this was some sort of innocent mistake, but given the context and background of the school, which has been hostile, parents and students are not viewing it that way. Parents at the school, Michael and Rachel Plawner, wrote to the superintendent of schools, Victor Valeski. “The Jewish Student Union’s entry is missing the list of its members, and shockingly, their group photo has been replaced with that of the Muslim Student Association,” they wrote. “We are deeply hurt and upset by this. This situation reeks of blatant antisemitism, and it’s unacceptable.” 

The Plawners called for a detailed investigation, a full recall and replacement of the flawed yearbooks, and “a concrete plan from East Brunswick Schools on how they will address and tackle the rising antisemitism that Jewish students are experiencing.”

“It’s not the intent but the impact that matters here,” they wrote. “It appears both intentional and certainly impactful.”

A message from the school issued this afternoon said, “We are aware of an error in the yearbook.” The school said it was “working with the publisher to correct” the problem and also “investigating how the error occurred.”

“We deeply apologize for this error and the disappointment it has caused,” the message from the school said.