Office of Medical Communications

Primary care physician Michael Latreille, M.D., assistant professor of medicine

(APRIL 2, 2024) Primary care physician Michael Latreille, M.D., assistant professor of medicine, discussed the impact of the climate crisis on our health in a VT Digger commentary urging support for a renewable energy bill.

The World Health Organization declared climate change the “single biggest health threat facing humanity,” a sentiment shared in a joint statement by more than 250 highly respected medical societies, Latreille wrote.

The Vermont House recently voted in favor of  overhauling our Renewable Energy Standard. The Vermont Senate will soon take up H.289, which represents a remarkable collaborative effort by a group of legislators, utilities and other stakeholders to modernize the existing standard, last passed in 2015. H.289 looks to the future, aiming for the ambitious goal of 100 percent renewable electricity in Vermont by 2035. The bill would also shift away from using biomass and large, potentially ecosystem-damaging, hydroelectric projects to truly renewable wind and solar.

Its broad support among utilities and climate advocacy groups alike is a testament to painstaking efforts made to balance cost-effectiveness and climate impact.

Our senators have an opportunity to do their part in protecting the health of [my son]’s generation and those that come after. Please, help them do the right thing, Latreille concluded.