Health professionals tell House panel climate harms Vermonters now and urge keeping state climate policies

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Health professionals and climate advocates told the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee on March 12 that Vermonters are already experiencing health harms from climate change and urged legislators to keep state climate policies in place.

The testimony emphasized immediate local health effects — increased asthma and other respiratory illness tied to wildfire smoke, more Lyme disease from expanding tick range, and mental-health impacts after repeated severe storms — and asked the committee for data tying specific state actions to measurable health benefits.

"I've seen the effects of climate change directly on my patients," said John Adrienne, a family physician and participant with climate-health groups, recounting cases of worsening chronic lung disease, more frequent tick-borne illness and the stress on families after major floods. Adrienne told the committee the 2024 flooding affected about 28,000 acres and that farmland losses exceeded $16,000,000, saying those economic effects translate into health problems for families and communities.

Adrienne and Dan Quinnman, introduced to the…